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Breast Cancer | cancer survival | cancer treatment | clinical trials | from the author | health care costs | Medical News | Oncology (cancer) | Policy

No Room For Emotion or Exceptions to the Rule

Betsy testifying

My cousin tes­tified before the FDA oncology advisory board on Tuesday about her expe­rience taking Avastin. This is a tragedy, to deny the only drug that is keeping a 51 year old woman alive.

image from p.3 of today’s NYTimes business section

You have to wonder, are the advisory panel members so rational in all their behavior and choices? Are they always so razor-​​​​like in their oncology decisions?

Unlikely.

These experts have an agenda, here: It’s to be per­ceived as sci­en­tists, even when their knowledge is imperfect and excep­tions to the rule stand right in front of their eyes.

But clinical med­icine, as I know it, calls for flex­i­bility, and tai­loring of treatment to each case, and caring about each person, including those who fall at the tail, or in this case better end, of any Kaplan-​​​​Meier survival curve.

What would Larry Kramer do about this, I’ve been thinking: He’d scream, really

See more No Room For Emotion or Excep­tions to the Rule (on Avastin)

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