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I wish the availability of those treatments would trickle down regular hospitals in non-US countries as well. I keep reading about all this amazing work being d
by askonomm 3y ago
I wish the availability of those treatments would trickle down regular hospitals in non-US countries as well. I keep reading about all this amazing work being done, and yet my local hospitals in Estonia most likely haven't heard of them, or can't afford to implement it.
- FooBarWidget 3y agoWhat does that mean for someone in Europe with cancer? They have to spend their life savings and sell their house for a trip to a US hospital to get treated?
- sannee 3y agoAssuming they have enough money, yes. Public charity drives for such cases are also pretty common.
- wahnfrieden 3y agois the knowledge not shared, or do other hospitals lack the means/initiative to learn and execute such advancements?
- thecyborganizer 3y agoAs a doctor, why bother spending your time learning about exotic foreign cancer treatments that aren't available in your country, and your patients couldn't afford if they were? It would be nice if doctors did anyway, but I can certainly understand why they wouldn't.
- pfdietz 3y agoI think the European health systems simply refuse to buy the relevant drugs at the prices being charged, and the producers refuse to reduce prices for them. The US health system is criticized for being expensive, but some of that is from the US effectively bankrolling the development of these new treatments, which the rest of the world gets after some delay.
- askonomm 3y agoExactly this. The hospitals will simply say that the treatments are too expensive and that they lack the funds, and you are on your own. In fact it's so bad that even basic chemotherapy is only covered to a certain point, and if you are not cured in that time, you have to pay additional runs of chemo from your own pocket, even though we have "national healthcare free for everyone who pays taxes".