Cancer patients often wonder if going through treatments like chemotherapy and radiation are worth the risk of the side effects, in addition to the cancerous side effects. They feel that they can’t enjoy or relax in what a short amount of time they have left because they are bedridden from the nausea and pain that treatments put them through. Patients tell their loved ones to just let them die so long as they don’t have to go through any more pain. Those who are too old, are unable to recover from the effects, or are just too far in the grips of cancer, should refuse the more harsh treatments like chemo and radiation. On the positive side, refusing treatments after a certain point can save their families from the stress and cost of hospital bills. If caught early enough, patients can opt for safer and easier routes to getting rid of cancer like surgery or by doing a stem cell transplant. Cancer gets its name because of the finger-like projections spreading from its center mass make it look like a crab, and the Greek work for crab is cancer, and oncos is the Greek work for “swelling” which is now used as the name for …show more content…
We now can find what specific cancer a patient has and where, and give them a variety of treatment options such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and several other types of treatment including experimental drugs. But there is no 100% guarantee that these treatments work. Ancient physicians and surgeons knew that cancer usually came back after it was removed surgically and recognized that there was no cure once the cancer had spread, and thought that intervention may be more harmful that no treatment at all. Some people today still think of cancer as incurable and wait until the last minute to go to the doctor. Galen was a 2nd- century Greek doctor that claimed a breast cancer tumor could be completely removed if it was caught at an early enough
When it comes to a bad diagnosis it is often difficult for doctors to tell their patients this devastating news. The doctor will likely hold back from telling the patient the whole truth about their health because they believe the patient will become depressed. However, Schwartz argues that telling the patient the whole truth about their illness will cause depression and anxiety, but rather telling the patient the whole truth will empower and motivate the patient to make the most of their days. Many doctors will often also prescribe or offer treatment that will likely not help their health, but the doctors do so to make patients feel as though their may be a solution to the problem as they are unaware to the limited number of days they may have left. In comparison, people who are aware there is no cure to their diagnosis and many choose to live their last days not in the hospital or pain free from medications without a treatment holding them back. They can choose to live their last days with their family and will have more time and awareness to handle a will. Schwartz argues the importance of telling patients the truth about their diagnosis and communicating the person’s likely amount of time left as it will affect how the patient chooses to live their limited
If a situation came about where I was terminally ill and the doctors told me that I had just six months to live, I wouldn 't opt to end my life. This is probably because I’m young and I could desperately use those six months to see and do as much as I’d miss for the rest of my life. I’d ask that the doctor give me some medication for pain mediation, and then I’d scrape together whatever energy I had and I’d go travel and live what was left of my life. Even if I didn 't want to travel or I was bedridden, I’d still opt to live the time that I had left for the reasons that it would allow people who are close to me to spend time
On the other hand, patients can refuse treatment for their terminal condition, in which case physicians offer palliative or therapeutic treatment to relieve them of pain and stress.
The creation myth of Cancer is tied to the twelve labors of Hercules. While Hercules battled the Hydra, the goddess Hera saw an opportunity. Hercules was the son of Zeus, Hera’s
The body is composed of cells. Normally, these cells divide at a composed and calculated manner. If cells die or are destroyed, the body creates more cells through the division of existing cells. However, occasionally, problems with some cells in the body may occur.
Only people who have witnessed or experienced a terminal illness know how much it impacts a person’s life and their families. According to the Cancer Facts and Figures, in 2015, there was an estimate of 1,658,370 people who were diagnosed with cancer and 589,430 of those diagnosed with cancer had died (American Cancer Society). Medication evolves every day, yet there is little to do for cancer patients. They can go through various treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, however some patients these treatments are unbearable. In four states, physician assisted suicide is legal, many other states are debating on the issue at hand. States that have not legalized assisted suicide is due to it being considered murder and can result in imprisonment and doctor license revoked. There has been recent debates involving whether or not physician assisted suicide should be legalized because it is considered murder. Legalizing assisted suicide does not only provide an option to terminally ill patients, but gives others an option. Although some argue that physician assisted suicide should not be legalized, proponents argue that physician assisted suicide should allow options for the patients that are not suffering.
Cancer has become a very common illness world wide for any age but mostly affecting adults. One can get cancer from different places in the body that is why there are so many people with cancer, because of all the different types. Cancer can affect any gender, female or male, and any age. It varies from ovarian cancer to prostate cancer, skin cancer to lukemia. Cancer has been a problem for many years yet we have not found a cure to treat and prevent cancer. If one is affected by cancer there are treatments to help take away this illness affecting their body. This essay is about a specific type of treatment for cancer, radiation therapy. There are different types of forms of particles for radiation, for example, protons and waves like x-rays and visible light. These types of radiations are grouped on how much energy they contain because it can cause different affects. A low type of energy radiation can be radio waves and heat, also known as non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation has enough energy to break chemical bonds and knock electrons out of atoms, some examples of these are x-rays and ultraviolet light rays from the sun. That is why radiation is a way to treat cancer because of the strong energy it has to destroy a cancer cell, actually any cell in the body. That’s the issue with radiation therapy, is it worth the damage? It can damage any cell, wether it is healthy or cancerous, which can cause a major affect in the body later on. Although it sounds scary there are other types of treatments such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, etc. So if radiation therapy does not sound like the best there are always other options but they do not develop the same results for radiation therapy. Rad...
Ostrow, N. (2011). Screening for lung cancer with chest x-ray doesn’t cut deaths, study finds. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-26/screening-for-lung-cancer-with-chest-x-rays-doesn-t-cut-deaths.html.
Cancer is a deadly disease that affects millions of American families each year. In cancer, cell division isn't controlled. Usually, cells have to go through a set of checks and balances before they divide, in cancer that is nonexistent. The cells just keep duplicating until they eventually form disorganized clumps called tumors. Tumors can either be, benign, meaning that they do not possess the power to metastasize to surrounding areas. If a tumor has the power to metastasize, it is classified as a malignant tumor. In simple terms, a benign tumor is not cancerous, and a malignant tumor is. Cancer cells cannot perform the necessary functions they were created for. Some types of cancers, like pancreatic cancer, cannot be cured. Other cancers such as melanoma and breast cancer have high survival rates when caught early. The four major types of treatments used to treat cancer include, surgery to remove the affected organ, radiation, chemotherapy, or biological treatments.
“Just take my hand, together we can do it, I’m gonna love you through it.” (I’m Gonna Love You Through It- Martina McBride). Breast cancer is an awful disease that will change your life in a single moment. ”Everything in my life was turned upside-down. I really had a wonderful life; A husband, three children. And breast cancer came along and just smashed my world” (Janelle’s Journey). Breast cancer is an aggressive war that takes a great amount of fighting to survive. “You go from being perfectly healthy, to feeling like, ‘okay, I’m dying’. It started a whirlwind of things that I never anticipated having to go through.” (Bonnie’s Story- Beyond The Shock). Did you know that the youngest person ever to have been diagnosed with breast cancer
The leading cause of death in America is lung cancer. Lung cancer is ranked top 10 fatal cancers in the United States. There are many types of ways to get lung cancer. There is radon gas it occurs outdoors naturally. Then there is second hand smoke that comes from other people smoking. People are even getting lung cancer from cancer causing agents, this happens from carcinogens. You can also get it from air pollution indoors and outdoors. Also there are gene-mutations that form cancer causing cells. Then there is the one everyone blamed lung cancer is smoking.
Cancer has been seen in humans as one the most potentially fatal disease for thousands of years and only in the recent couple of hundred years have we discovered that most information necessary to bring us to today’s understanding and knowledge (Kenny 2007, Weinberg 1996) was achieved by extensive research of cells, DNA, and epidemiology studies. As we know, currently cancer is acknowledged as having over a hundred different diseases, and is known to be the result of mutations of the genes and almost similar DNA which are responsible for the amount of cell division and production (Kenny 2007). Restraint of cell growth modulators can be a direct lead and result of certain tumours being developed and subsequently allow these tumours to acquire the ability to attack and occupy the bloodstream and essentially be able to travel via the bloodstream to other parts and organs in human bodies which is known as metastasis (Loeb et Al 2003). Once this has occurred , the cancer is then categorized as malicious and becomes a dangerous and serious threat to the carrier (Weinberg 1996). In this essay I will describe and explain the process of this and how our genes mutate and lead to metastasis of cancer cells.
Cancer has become leading cause of death across world in the class of non-communicable diseases. This has led to massive research in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Diagnosis of cancer in early stages could prevent its spread to other organs of the body and possible cure of the patient. More and more different types of cancers are being identified and mostly they have to be treated differently. Cancer classification plays a very important role in cancer diagnosis. Earlier strategies used for cancer classification: morphological and clinical had some limitations. They were not able to predict cancer subtypes accurately. It has been identified that giving treatment according to the tumor type is more effective for the patients. Tumors of a particular type of cancer differ at the molecular level, i.e. the genetic level.
A person who is terminally ill will be able to leave this world without having to go through the process of the intense suffering predicted by a doctor. Why should a human being have to suffer on his/her last days on earth? Would they be truly living, or would they be imprisoned in a hospital room for the remaining days depressed and not in control of their life like they used to? They lose their quality of life. Marc Siegel, a doctor, talks about the two roles of a doctor, to prolong life and to ease suffering. He explains how sometimes they conflict with each other, and how the number one priority is to respect a patient’s wishes. He says that they, “…when pain predominates, when the patient is in agony, when reducing morphine cannot bring back quality of life. When the only choice is pain or death, doctors routinely¬ – with their patients’ advance approval – help them choose death” (821). The terminally ill patient does not suffer at the moment of death like she would if she would let nature take its course. Not only would they have a painless death, they would be able to choose when, where, and with whom they want to die. They will be able to say all the goodbyes they want, they could leave this world having made peace with everyone, and they would have the opportunity to really enjoy their quality of life. They will have the opportunity to not go through all the excruciating mental
First, let’s consider the reasoning behind the patients choosing to forego extraordinary treatment for their cancer. They have decided, as Beauchamp would put it, that refusing to prolong their lives in the face of pain and suffering “neither harms nor wrongs [them] and may provide a benefit” (Beauchamp, 76). They “intend to quit life because of its bleak possibilities” (Beauchamp, 77). The doctor readily complies with their wishes out of moral, legal, and professional obligation. A choice has been made to let both patients die, as a response to their “competent and authoritative refusal of treatment” (Beauchamp 74).