Are you worth it?

Feb. 1, 2012

When does your choice really matter in the scheme of things? We think we have control, but do we really have the control over our health we believe we have?

I constantly try to help those seeking medical information and medical assistance, facing the truths of a diagnosis and wanting to give to people the best information so choices, free choices can be made. The doctors continually tell people they are giving them every bit of information, putting it all on the table, so the patient can make a logical, educated decision regarding their health and/or outcome of an illness. But, what is this all mean in terms of truly making that decision?

Can we make our ultimate decision and can we have our decisions totally implemented as we wish? The unfortunate answer is no; we can only make decisions to the limit of what doctors are willing to do based on what insurance companies or medicare, or medicaid will allow. If you are extremely wealth, where money is no object, then you could make whatever choices you desire, theoretically, should a doctor of facility refuse, you may end up having to seek your choice to the ends of the earth and for some that might be the answer, depending on the illness. For most, such a liberal decision making process is not possible, at least not here and not now.

The more socialized medicine encroaches into our lives, the more decisions will be taken away from us and we shall be told to chose between a, b, or c. We will have multiple choice decisions and often neither a, b, or c will be what we want but it will be what is available to us. What if, a, b, or c will not save us, what if only a fourth choice or a fifth choice will be a life saving choice? This will be a time when families need to realize we have brought ourselves to this point, we allowed bigger agencies control our lives based on the dollar amount cost of our health over what will cure or save or maintain our health. We are giving up free choice for what?

There are many cancer treatments available but not all are traditional, conventional, some are new to the traditional, conventional medical world, those not yet earning their way, getting a place in the line up of cost effective drugs, will also be denied to us. Other treatments, not giving revenue to whatever part of the cancer industry will also be denied, not bringing the funds expected or desired to the industry. If there is something new, doctors, hospitals race to see who gets it first, the first in line gets the biggest bang; it’s all about the money, not about who is going to get the better care or best result. In the end, if the facility manages to win and get the newest treatment, there is no guarantee patients will be allowed to utilize it. The sad part, those that may benefit, may not get the treatment, based on protocols set up by the insurance or government agencies. A perfect example is the new proton treatment, facilities compete for it, but will it get to those that can benefit or will it be used only when an insurance company allows it?  See Full Story Here Or the mammography controversy, many specialists and scientists have studied the long term effects on routine mammograms, discovering sometimes the benefits of such scans are out weighed by the risks of mammograms causing cancer; recommending sonograms [being safe] over mammograms; yet the insurance industry needs forcing to pay for the sonogram a bit more costly over a mammogram.See Story Logically one would think, the risks out weigh the benefits, why would the insurance industry rather pay for a mammogram and cancer treatments should it cause cancer [very costly], rather than the sonogram and be done with it. Yet time and time again, people are denied what they chose, and forced to take the mammogram.

Are we any better today then we were a decade or more ago? The population has increased, people are living longer, but are we surviving cancer or do the treatments, being more plentiful, just keep us alive longer but do not cure us or put the cancer into remission? I believe the latter. Recently a doctor told me a number of years ago, they did not know enough about how breast cancer spread to the brain, and in fact, did not treat this often; in further explanation the doctor explained, as more and more chemo drugs become available we can switch from one to another and keep the patient alive longer, the cancer does not stop spreading but we keep them alive; we are now seeing more and more cases where the breast cancer spreads to the brain, now we understand it more because we are faced with it and we have to treat it.  How is this an advancement in cancer treatment, curing it, or putting it into remission; none of this applies, we are truly no better off in curing it, killing it or putting it into remission than we were decades or more ago. Do we seek new choices, and are the other choices available to us in order to change the statistics.

If one wants to make choices, and completely control the outcome; one needs to examine all choices. Finding the choices means you have to seek choices from far and near; you need to say to yourself , Am I Worth It? No doctor, caught up in the medical industry will put every treatment available on the table, for you, therefore, as it is your life, this is the one time your absolute devotion for yourself must take priority. Finding choices means enlisting family and friends to make calls, research and go into the discovery mode for you. Whether family or friends agree with your choice making decision, they must accept your choice, and respect your will in this matter, Clearly, YOU are Worth It!