This radio ad ENRAGED me

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On my drive home from work, I caught the tail end of a radio advertisement for a cancer center. A soothing voice stated that the staff in the cancer center treat each patient as if they were the only patient there. More flowery remarks were made by patients that had received tx at this facility, then the soothing voice made an outlandish statement, "Patients come to us because they like to hear what we have to say: remission. Make your appointment today for a second opinion before considering tx." WHHHAAAAAAAT?!?!?

Is it just me, or does this make anyone else angry?:devil:

Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
Ok I have a question for you guys. What in the hell is so wrong with those hospitals selling hope along with the first rate care that they provide? So they have healing gardens...nothing wrong with that for cancer patients need mental healing as well as physical healing. As to saying remission first thing. that is the goal of any cancer treatment, to put the person into remission. that is what the patient wants to hear, not that they only have 6 months to live, everyone wants a fighting chance to live and they want some ne to fight with them. These places are not quack medicine, they practice state of the art healthcare using the latest technology and drugs, and as for experimental treatment, have any of you ever worked in a big cancer canter? I worked for years at MD Anderson Cancer Center and a giant portion of their patients are on experimental treatments. I also have seen doctors there that are like those in the ad's, they have no personality and offer little or no hope. I would not want them treating me, I want the person that has hope and personality, and says he will foght for my life to the best of his skills.

What I am getting form some of the response seems like some people believe that the patients should just be happy that we are not using old metal bedpans and take whatever treatment we decide to offer to them. And like it or not healthcare IS A BUSINESS and will always remain a business, even in GB where there is the NHS, people strill go to private hospitals and see private doctors for the beter care they get and those places make money. There is no shame in making a profit doing business.

Of course there is no shame in making a profit. If nobody made a profit on healthcare none of us would have a job.

The SHAME here comes in selling lies for profit. There are some of us who believe it is time we start turning this whole "We will fight to cure anything with anything available until the bitter (and inevitable) end, spending tons of money on useless treatments, wasting valuable resources and causing unbelievable suffering" into something more along the lines of "There is such a thing as a good death. Rather than focusing on your disease, which is incurable (and this thread is ONLY addressing those with incurable cancer), let's focus on controlling your symptoms, managing your pain, extending your time as long as there is reasonable quality...let's help you define what "quality" means to you and let's help you define what you want the rest of your life to look like...and help you come to terms with your TERMINAL diagnosis so that you and your family can have PEACE both before and after your passing".

The idea that medicine is a business and therefore making a profit is expected is true. However, the idea that medicine is a business and out to make a profit and therefore should sell ANY MEDICINE AT ANY HUMAN COST SO LONG AS THERE IS A PROFIT TO BE MADE, even when the promised outcome is false is unconscienable. It is unethical and it is evil. And that is the line this particular facility is walking. It is preying on a vulnerable population at a vulnerable time. It makes me sick.

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I might can get some schnauzer urine...heard it's good for curing Alzheimers....anybody buying?

:mad: I see the places with no integrity as not being much different than this ...

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Specializes in Cardiac.
I might can get some schnauzer urine...heard it's good for curing Alzheimers....anybody buying?

:mad: I see the places with no integrity as not being much different than this ...

XT, you and you schauzer! lol Where'd his picture go?

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

You don't know what you're talking about until you have cancer.

And that's all i have to say about that.

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Specializes in psych, ambulatory care, ER.

OK. I'm gonna chime in on this.

In the early 80's, when we had just lost our mom to leukemia, there was a television advertisement for a mobile home company. They displayed a standard wooden coffin on the screen (a la Frankenstein's bed) and said, "Don't let this be the only home YOU ever own!!!" I do remember that I dropped the glass I was holding and then called the TV station. The commercial was yanked not long after that, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one offended by it.

I guess advertising hasn't changed all that much.

oldladyRN

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Specializes in Med Surg.

I hate those ads. Nothing makes me angrier than selling false hope to people who are desperate for any hope at all. Yes, some people survive, but some people don't and to promise a cure when none can be had is wrong.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
You don't know what you're talking about until you have cancer.

And that's all i have to say about that.

I agree completely. I would extend that statement this far - two of my children have had cancer, one brain tumor, one AML. One is alive and thriving, approaching 10 years out, one died nearly 5 years ago now after a pretty brutal, futile SCT, ventilator treatment and ultimate parental nightmare of having to decide when it was enough. I feel very qualified to speak on this issue and have powerful feelings on it.

Healing gardens? Great! Love it! My son would have wanted one with puppies in it and I would have rejoiced for him. Docs with a good personality and gentle demeanor? Of course. We need that. ETC ETC. We can have all those things and not be selling lies. One does not exclude the other. The implied promise of remission is the big issue here.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

See, the kind of crap that I'm reading in this thread is exactly why I'd love to stay away from all for-profit and "non profit" private facilities from now on. I work at a state psychiatric hospital and I'm loving it.

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XT, you and you schauzer! lol Where'd his picture go?

Traded for the goat with braces :D

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
On a recent thread about healthcare trends and the customer service mentality,

someone wisely stated that patients claim to want to hear the truth from their

doctors but they can't handle it when they do hear it.

.

Your point reminds me of an awkward position I found myself in while I was in Nicaragua on a surgical mission trip.

Our team was doing a hemiarthroplasty on a 52 year old woman with a pathologic fx. One of the surgeons is a close friend of mine, and her specialty is orthopaedic cancer. As soon as she saw the tumor, she suspected cancer and shared her opinion with the other surgeons, including the local ones. It takes 2 weeks to get lab results for any pathology specimens sent to Managua, so we didn't have a definitive dx. My friend asked the local docs to send the pt to get a CT/MRI to r/o mets. The docs refused, stating that they would have to explain further testing to the pt, and that if she knew that she had cancer, she would lose her will to live and quickly deteriorate in mind and body.

My friend struggled with this dilemma and encouraged the local surgeons to at least inform the pt that cancer was a high probability (the tumor was very obviously cancerous just from gross inspection), and that it is ethical to inform the pt. The staunchly refused, even getting visibly angry with my friend for making the suggestion. She cried herself to sleep that night, frustrated that the pt would not be given the choice to make final arrangements or spend more time with extended family.

So perhaps in some cultures, the truth regarding diagnoses can be viewed as more harmful than helpful. But to not even be given the CHOICE to live in denial or live the last days with passion and with loved ones is heartwrenching to me.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I have read in some cultures they never inform the dying loved one that they are dying. I would struggle with that too.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I saw a Dateline investigation (or 20/20 or 60 minutes...can't remember which) about people in Mexico setting up shops here selling "stem cell therapy" to people with ALS and other incurable diseases. They know it doesn't work. They know it is quackery. They charge thousands for this false treatment and have very sick people traveling to Mexico to recieve this bogus line of hope. When the guy facilitating this here in the US for the Mexican physician doing the treatment was confronted, he said "What price can you put on hope? I am selling them hope". And was serious. He thought he was doing a good thing.

Obviously this is an extreme example, but really...at what point does that line get drawn? Where is the line between selling false hope and being compassionately realistic? I personally feel it is wrong to sell hope in hopeless situations, but there are people who would rather have that hope than face the truth due to their inate fear of dying and fear of loss. My personal feeling is that there should be more focus on bringing our society to greater peace with the circle of life. Nobody gets out of here alive, but some are just convinced to accept that means giving up.

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