Doctor Attitude Keeps Some Patient from Mesothelioma Chemotherapy
A new study suggests that some patients are missing out on chemotherapy for mesothelioma because their doctors do not believe it will work. Doctor “nihilism” – the idea that life is meaningless anyway – was the top reason that 20+ percent of pleural mesothelioma patients did not get the care that might have helped them. In other cases, patients were simply never referred to a cancer doctor who could prescribe chemotherapy for mesothelioma. Doctor Attitudes and Chemotherapy for Mesothelioma The Australian study is based on surveys with 107 doctors and 19 nurses. Most respondents were either lung specialists or cancer doctors. They completed the surveys in 2014. The surveys show that most of the doctors (90%) think at least one…