Principles of Medical Ethics 

Before You Donate

Think very seriously before donating to any breastcancer organization, or fundraising program until you read their Annual Report to see who their top contributors are, and if they have a product that appears frequently in the message the organization sends to the public. That would be unethical and its illegal. The same applies to a request that the public buys products, but does not receive a "donor receipt" for tax-deductible purpose. Read any and all food labels that breastcancer "non-profits" are promoting to raise money. Some organizations tell the public to help them raise money by asking you to visit their websites, but that only gives them "hits" to increase their sponsors.

Another tip, "signing" an online Petition is not acceptable, so don't fall for such antics. An ethical non-profit, or professional will not request your visit to their website, nor use "cookies" placed on your computer when you visit their site.

Purchase the Breastcancer Postage Stamp, the Post Office will always give you your charitable deduction receipt. Its a valid form of fund raising.

MATTERS OF HEALTH, DRUGS, AND OTHER EFFECTS

ON OUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

June 30, 2006

Chemotherapy:  An enormous class of drugs to combat cancer, and other auto-immune disorders. It may save lives, or extends them, but patients are rarely told by medical scientists how it does all of this. No one opens up, and explains that it may permanent affect our central nervous system, for example, leaving us with peripheral neuropathy, like so many Diabetics experience. No one mentions that "chemo patients" may have a sudden onset of Osteoarthritis...my radiologist explained it to me, because there was no arthritis in my family because each bone scan showed the changes. Only when I started on Glusosamine sulfate with Chrondroiten did one doctor (a PM&R specialist) exclaim, "You're building up new cartilage." Now the Arthritis Foundation has endorsed that over the counter supplement (not the MSM variety, though). I wanted to know what was happening to me. I used to swim daily, and did that since the late 1960s, but I had miserable symptoms plaguing me that hurt and made some of my joints stiff (if it was in my muscles, I knew it would have been caused from childhood Polio.

When I knew I had to have "aggressive chemo," I was acutely aware of the side effects and complications, and my oncologist went over a great deal with me, but, in signing the "release," I no more knew what could continue to impact my general health and well-being than anyone else. That cannot be termed "informed consent." I learned more after my treatments, though, and most physicians were either quick to tell me, or had no idea about the body's response to chemotherapy drugs.

As I said, I knew what chemo could do, and did refuse one specific chemotherapy, then two, to be exact, as well as radiation—based on the fact that I had always believed that radiation is radiation, period.

One of my lifetime friends from childhood died eight years after combating Lymphoma, due to the chemotherapy she received, and the doctors not diagnosing her symptoms. For several years she was told she had emphysema from smoking for twelve years, causing her incredible guilt feelings because it limited her ability to be the wife and mother she so wanted to continue being...until I flew in to her town and talked her into seeing a lung specialist with me. That wasn't all that good, either. The doctor told her she was eligible for a lung transplant. I nearly went through the ceiling, and not quietly reminded this specialist tat my dear sister-friend had survived Lymphoma, and he anti-rejection drugs after any transplant would bring it back in full force. Now two of us were feeling guilty because I had chosen this specialist. Ultimately, within a year, my friend passed away, as her blood vessels hardened to the point of no return. She was fifty-eight, and we'd first met at the age of three months, and intertwined our little fingers, wrapped in blankets, in a playpen, on a cold day.

So in the next months, many articles will be posted here on the side effects or complications of chemotherapy. This is not intended to scare anyone, because if I had to have it again, I would—but because I believe an informed patient is a team player, and education makes everyone on a team dedicated to each other, resulting in a collective respect, understanding, and intensives the ethical aspects of caring for one another—without which lawsuits result. That is not the way anyone wants to practice medicine, or be the recipient of medical care.

The "meat" of new research and reports will be posted here, but some of the articles you may have to look up, or use Google or Yahoo search, or go to www.medscape.com. This page will summarize reports and give you their links, unless permission is given to copy them. Please realize unless permission is stated, the information is summarized for you to seek the full reported study or research. Always look for replicated research, performed by more than one institution, or it is not valid enough to base a single opinion without talking to your physicians, or scientists involved in the same research, or contacting the National Cancer Institute.