Shocking and Incredible
"Right now cancer care is being rationed in the United States," says an article in the New York Times by oncologist Ezekiel Emmanuel, a former White House adviser. Incredibly, Emmanuel reveals that severe shortages exist in the United States of many proven generic drugs, especially for children's cancers, because they aren't profitable enough to manufacture. No such shortages exist in Europe.
As a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, I'm horrified at the thought that someone might die from a treatable cancer because no one cares enough to make sure she can get her chemo drugs. I'm even more appalled at the possibility that children might die from curable cancers. I remember the agony of watching my partner's nephew's child "little Peter," die at the age of five from incurable lymphoma. How much worse would it be if you knew a cure was available to some children but not to yours? Will we now see families with sick kids holding bake sales to raise money to fly to Europe to get their drugs?
Emmanuel offers some suggestions of how to remedy the shortages. What do you think?
Posted August 10, 2011.
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— Helen Schiff