Surviving Cancerland by Kathleen O'Keefe-Kanavos

Response to Obamacare: The Potential For Stifling…

response by Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos

Five extra months of life for a terminally ill breast cancer patient may seem like a waste of time and money until one looks deeper at the ramifications. While going through treatment for stage 4 breast cancer recurrence, ( considered terminal), I watched some of my friends thrive while others died. I’m alive to give my opinion from first hand experience from the trenches of treatment.(www.survivingcancerland.com)

Unless Obama gets his way, scientific progress in the field of medicine will continue growing with leaps and bounds. What used to take 10 years to discover now takes 1/4 the amount of time.

The question is not, “Should we be extending terminally ill patient’s lives of six or eight months,” it is, “What are we learning from this information? How can it be applied to non-terminal patients, and possibly other related illnesses. And how many people declaired terminal went on to live a full and prosperous life?” The term terminal is relative. The terminially ill may be viewed as the ‘guinea pigs’ of the treatment indestry, so let’s honor them by applying the informaion gained from their sacrifices to the betterment of mankind.

If Obama gets his way, we won’t be able to afford this information and our progress on the medical front will come to a screeching halt.

Right now, there are excellent study groups through out the country available to patients who cannot afford health care. Doctors work hard to get needy patients into these groups. Both the groups and patients are growing in numbers because of the symbiotic need that exists between science for reliable data and people for experimental drugs when drugs on the market have failed. These groups exist because they have proved their worth. In most cases a few patients expected to die soon live longer as a result of the experminital treatments. That information is then compiled, computed, and adjusted for the next group of terminal patients. Again more patients survive longer and more comfortably than expected. And on, and on until a cure is found! These groups are a choice. Patients can chose not to be in one.

However, if Obama gets his way, there will be no need for these groups because the infomation will be unnecessary. Government will make all decisions concerning life and death. There will be no choices. The only thing available to severely ill patients will be death and that will affect the lives of everyone.

Click here to read original article that sparked this response from Kathleen