General Medicine

» tinuviel - Less Common Cancer Therapies

I agree with you. A person I know just died of cancer that was found at a very late stage. She wasn't given any medication except painkillers. She wasn't given any hope. I think a person in her situation would have jumped at the chance to participate in a cancer experiment. Even if the risks were to have been high, she would have already been facing death.

You are also right when you say those with less to gain would have greater difficulty making a decision to participate in experimentation. I have a question, though. How much would their participation actually help science? Would it help a lot, say, if a person with a less-advanced form of cancer tried out the new forms of medication for more advanced stages? What would their results predict about the results of a person in the final stages of cancer? Does science even make that distinction?

-- posted by tinuviel