CancerConfidential

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doctors. There are many dangerously well-intentioned therapists out there,
who make all kinds of claims they can help you. Some of it is nothing more
than dogma with zeal and that kind of ignorance is no better (just as deadly) as
advice from the misguided oncologist. They too are after your money, remember,
and may want to exploit you for cash, even when they have no real ability to
help.

Hopefully, this book from a doctor who is not trying to recruit you as a patient or
sell you any products, will enable you to make more informed decisions on what
your choices are, without any commercial bias whatever.

Chemo is a bad enough problem on its own. But what about mistakes too?

A new study [Walsh, K. Journal of Clinical Oncology, published online ahead

of print Dec. 29, 2008] shows that medication errors are common among

children and adults taking chemotherapy drugs at home or in outpatient

clinics.

They showed that 7% of adults and 19% of children taking chemotherapy

drugs in outpatient clinics or at home were given the wrong dose or

experienced other medication mistakes.

In a news release, author Kathleen E. Walsh, MD, assistant professor of

pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, says that as

cancer care increasingly shifts to outpatient settings, the potential for errors

goes up correspondingly.

However the figures don’t really show what she claims! According to the

study more than 50% of errors involving adults were in clinic administration,

28% in ordering medications, and 7% in use of chemo in patients’ homes.

That seems to put the blame squarely on blunders by medical staff and the

pharmacy, not the family at home.