Behind a cancer-treatment firm's rosy survival claims (CTCA)

Special Report: Behind a cancer-treatment firm's rosy survival claims

By Sharon Begley and Robin Respaut


(Reuters) - When the local doctor who had been treating Vicky Hilborn told her that her rare cancer had spread throughout her body, including her brain, she and her husband refused to accept a death sentence. Within days, Keith Hilborn was on the phone with an "oncology information specialist" at Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Hilborn had seen CTCA's website touting survival rates better than national averages. His call secured Vicky an appointment at the for-profit, privately held company's Philadelphia affiliate, Eastern Regional Medical Center. There, the oncologist who examined Vicky told the couple he had treated other cases of histiocytic sarcoma, the cancer of immune-system cells that she had.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9250L820130306