Cancer patients `too polite' to ask for best treatment

Jeremy Laurance
Saturday 07 February 1998 00:02 GMT
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Cancer patients are dying of politeness, according to the Patients Association. Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, asks if they need to get angry to get better.

In cancer, reticence can be a death sentence and good manners can delay recovery. Patients who press for the best treatments and don't take "no" for an answer have a better chance of survival.

Cathy Gritzner, chief executive of the Patients' Association, told the International Congress on Anti-Cancer Treatment in Paris yesterday: "Patients, in particular women, are dying of politeness.

"People with cancer should take the lead in ensuring they have access to the very best care available by becoming more knowledgeable and demanding about their treatment."

"We have a lot to learn from the Americans. We should be more assertive, saying to doctors `tell me what this treatment is, and what are the alternatives?'

"Clearly it is a dilemma if some treatments [such as expensive drugs] are not funded [by health authorities] but I think patients need to know that rather than being kept in ignorance."

The conference heard that the UK's cancer survival record was worse than many other European countries and the United States. Ms Gritzner said the "yes, doctor" syndrome was one reason.

"It is because patients are not aware of what is available, what their choices are, where they can go for the best treatment," she said. The Patients' Association plans to work more closely with other medical charities and doctors to champion patients' rights, she added.

Research suggests that patients diagnosed with cancer differ in their coping strategies. Some take it in their stride while others react with hopelessness. Some studies have shown that patients with "fighting spirit" tend to do better but the term needs careful interpretation. It is a positive this-disease-can-be-licked response not a desperate, frightened, try-anything one. Evidence suggests that people who believe they are able to overcome their disease can tolerate higher doses of chemotherapy.

One of the commonest complaints of women with breast cancer is how their fear of the disease taking over their bodies was compounded by the way the medical system took over their lives.

Debbie Howells, wife of Tottenham Hotspur soccer player, David Howells, told the conference of her battle against ovarian cancer and urged other patients not to take everything doctors told them as gospel.

Ms Howells, 29, said: "I was lucky because I was asked to take part in a clinical trial at the Royal Marsden and received the best treatment."

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