Chemotherapy Ethical Dilemmas
Adelajda Zhgaba Medical Ethics PHL 211
Ethical considerations in chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients
1. Would it be ethically concerning to accept refusal of chemotherapy treatment from cancer patients, more importantly from teenagers diagnosed with this disease?
According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 12.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year and 7.6 million of them die from this disease. People usually undergo chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and some go towards alternative treatment to prolong their life, ameliorate it or even save it. Lately, there has been a high number of patients who have refused to pursue chemotherapy even though there was a high chance of improvement …show more content…
It works by stopping the cancer cell growth or slowing it down. At the same time, while it is destroying cancer cells, it also harms healthy cells that divide quickly. Damaging the healthy cells causes the patient to have numerous side effects that at times become very severe. However, there are pros to pursuing chemotherapy as numerous regimens are successful and can put the disease in remission despite the side effects. In most cases, chemotherapy can increase the patient’s lifespan and can increase the cancer survival rate. It is a scientific method to address a disease that is evolving daily since research continues to find new results on how cancer cells produce and respond to different …show more content…
There are cases of parents refusing treatment on behalf of their children with cancer who have a cure rate of more than 50% with conventional therapy treatments and if left untreated, it puts the child at considerable risk. At this point, physicians are obliged to seek legal intervention. Despite the decision that patients make after balancing the pros and cons, the chance of their recovery and prolonging their life, there should always be support from the physician. However, there is at times lack of communication between patients and physicians regarding treatment regimens. They fail to integrate the balancing of pros and cons with the personal perspective of the patient so this makes it difficult to develop a relationship for both
Ethical considerations in chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients
1. Would it be ethically concerning to accept refusal of chemotherapy treatment from cancer patients, more importantly from teenagers diagnosed with this disease?
According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 12.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year and 7.6 million of them die from this disease. People usually undergo chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and some go towards alternative treatment to prolong their life, ameliorate it or even save it. Lately, there has been a high number of patients who have refused to pursue chemotherapy even though there was a high chance of improvement …show more content…
It works by stopping the cancer cell growth or slowing it down. At the same time, while it is destroying cancer cells, it also harms healthy cells that divide quickly. Damaging the healthy cells causes the patient to have numerous side effects that at times become very severe. However, there are pros to pursuing chemotherapy as numerous regimens are successful and can put the disease in remission despite the side effects. In most cases, chemotherapy can increase the patient’s lifespan and can increase the cancer survival rate. It is a scientific method to address a disease that is evolving daily since research continues to find new results on how cancer cells produce and respond to different …show more content…
There are cases of parents refusing treatment on behalf of their children with cancer who have a cure rate of more than 50% with conventional therapy treatments and if left untreated, it puts the child at considerable risk. At this point, physicians are obliged to seek legal intervention. Despite the decision that patients make after balancing the pros and cons, the chance of their recovery and prolonging their life, there should always be support from the physician. However, there is at times lack of communication between patients and physicians regarding treatment regimens. They fail to integrate the balancing of pros and cons with the personal perspective of the patient so this makes it difficult to develop a relationship for both