[Villages PL]

by Margaret I. Cuomo, M.D.

Did I agree with everything the author stated? No. But the author knows a lot about cancer and I learned some interesting things from this book.

One interesting point: She talked about a $100. per month drug for people who have terminal cancer. It would help keep them alive for about 3 months on average. A drug company comes along with a new drug that will keep terminal patients alive for an average of 3 months and 10 days. The monthly cost of this new drug? $10,000.00

This kind of money (10K) is being paid, even though the patients quality of life is horrific, and the side effects from the drug make things much worse than they would otherwise be.

I suppose doctors want to feel as though they are doing the very best they can do and patients might think they have a chance for a miracle recovery. But the drug does nothing more than buy a little extra time in misery.

What do you think? Is such a drug worth $10,000. for the promise of an extra 10 days?

Note: The author wants to focus more research money and attention on cancer prevention.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

by Margaret I. Cuomo, M.D.

Did I agree with everything the author stated? No. But the author knows a lot about cancer and I learned some interesting things from this book.

One interesting point: She talked about a $100. per month drug for people who have terminal cancer. It would help keep them alive for about 3 months on average. A drug company comes along with a new drug that will keep terminal patients alive for an average of 3 months and 10 days. The monthly cost of this new drug? $10,000.00

This kind of money (10K) is being paid, even though the patients quality of life is horrific, and the side effects from the drug make things much worse than they would otherwise be.

I suppose doctors want to feel as though they are doing the very best they can do and patients might think they have a chance for a miracle recovery. But the drug does nothing more than buy a little extra time in misery.

What do you think? Is such a drug worth $10,000. for the promise of an extra 10 days?

Note: The author wants to focus more research money and attention on cancer prevention.

I guess none of us would know how they'd feel unless it was THEIR LIFE on the line.


None of us can make those kinds of decisions for anyone else. And the ten days is just a guess. Sometimes it turns into much longer.

[2BNTV]

Something like the scenario you mention would fall under, "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin"?

Who's to say? it is an individual choice for everyone to make. some people would want to die rather than be in pain, and some people would hold onto any hope, that a cure might happen, in the time span they have left.

It's not an issue with money, because when you are dead, money doesn't matter to the deceased.

One has to make that decision for themselves, unless they are incapacitated, and need a health rider policy, so a love one can fulfill their wishes.

It is always the best option to have a will stating your wishes, a health medical rider and a power of attorney drawn up before something drastic happens.

A person that I worked with said he didn't need a will as he was going to leave everything to his wife and then she would give it to their only son.
I replied, "did you ever consider that you and your wife could get into a car accident and die at the same time'?

He said, the thought never occurred to him, and he did need a will. DOH!!!!

He need to get his affairs in order, before the mess would occur, and everyone would not know what his/her wishes would be.

[KeepingItReal]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I guess none of us would know how they'd feel unless it was THEIR LIFE on the line.

Correct, and this person is a radiologist that for whatever reason doesn't even work in the field now apparently..

MDS is an uncommon complication of breast cancer therapy, occurring in approximately 0.2% of cases.

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/myelody...astic-syndrome

Here is an article about Cuomo that might also be interesting. Always be wary of experts trying to sell a book.

Simplistic criticisms of cancer therapy by Dr. Margaret Cuomo

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...RsoSIIwkfjBsNQ

From the article at the link above:

So what we have here is a radiologist, who happens to be the daughter of Mario Cuomo and the sister of the current governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who for whatever reason has decided that, even after not having practiced radiology for quite some time and now working primarily as the president of the Italian Language Foundation in Manhattan, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting Italian language education in the United States, she is somehow uniquely qualified to pass judgment on the entire cancer care system in this country. Amusingly, she appears to be married to Howard Maier, who is known for producing the “Buns of Steel” video series. (I’m sorry; I just couldn’t resist mentioning it after I learned of it.) Why has Dr. Cuomo now decided to write a book assailing the “cancer culture” as “broken” and, if this HuffPo article is any indication, to promote unimpressive solutions? I have no idea. Perhaps she’ll explain in her book.

[Cisco Kid]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

by Margaret I. Cuomo, M.D.

Did I agree with everything the author stated? No. But the author knows a lot about cancer and I learned some interesting things from this book.

One interesting point: She talked about a $100. per month drug for people who have terminal cancer. It would help keep them alive for about 3 months on average. A drug company comes along with a new drug that will keep terminal patients alive for an average of 3 months and 10 days. The monthly cost of this new drug? $10,000.00

This kind of money (10K) is being paid, even though the patients quality of life is horrific, and the side effects from the drug make things much worse than they would otherwise be.

I suppose doctors want to feel as though they are doing the very best they can do and patients might think they have a chance for a miracle recovery. But the drug does nothing more than buy a little extra time in misery.

What do you think? Is such a drug worth $10,000. for the promise of an extra 10 days?

Note: The author wants to focus more research money and attention on cancer prevention.

I have been going to a Chemo unit for 8 years.

My eyes are wide open as to what I have on my plate.

I pay my insurance, and have for over 35 years.

out of pocket drugs $100 a month

Over the years I have become friends with may people @ the Cancer Center.
Luckily no one has matched Dr Cuomo time line . I have lost friends over years, not days.

If I would ask if anyone cancer buddies if they paid around $100 for meds they would all laugh.

As for the miracle recovery. I believe the Dr needs to put down the pen and spend some time at the hospital. We do not sit there at deaths door looking for three days.
The improvement in treatment just for me, thanks to research, new meds,,,
in the short time I have diagnose has went from a timeline ( average life span )
The Dr would say terminal,to being able to maintain and treat.
Now we have the good news, a possible cure with a drug in testing now with good results.
What Dr Cuomo wants is happing now.
IMO what the Dr wants is total control of health care.
I wonder if the good doc would have sent me to the death panel ?

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I guess none of us would know how they'd feel unless it was THEIR LIFE on the line.

I'm glad I learned about this ahead of time, so, if I'm ever in this situation, I'll know better than to make things worse by prolonging the inevitable.

None of us can make those kinds of decisions for anyone else. And the ten days is just a guess. Sometimes it turns into much longer.

That's why it was stated "3 months on average". With the pills, it could be 2 months or 4 months. She mentioned one such drug that destroys the stomach lining. So if you don't have enough pain with the cancer, you will have another pain to cope with as well.

No one can make the decision for anyone else but we can inform people so that they might make better decisions if they ever get diagnosed with terminal cancer.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Cisco Kid

I have been going to a Chemo unit for 8 years.

My eyes are wide open as to what I have on my plate.

I pay my insurance, and have for over 35 years.

out of pocket drugs $100 a month

Over the years I have become friends with may people @ the Cancer Center.
Luckily no one has matched Dr Cuomo time line . I have lost friends over years, not days.

If I would ask if anyone cancer buddies if they paid around $100 for meds they would all laugh.

As for the miracle recovery. I believe the Dr needs to put down the pen and spend some time at the hospital. We do not sit there at deaths door looking for three days.
The improvement in treatment just for me, thanks to research, new meds,,,
in the short time I have diagnose has went from a timeline ( average life span )
The Dr would say terminal,to being able to maintain and treat.
Now we have the good news, a possible cure with a drug in testing now with good results.
What Dr Cuomo wants is happing now.
IMO what the Dr wants is total control of health care.
I wonder if the good doc would have sent me to the death panel ?

Exactly. Every day new things are being developed. NO one knows what prolonging someone's life for a month may bring.


I HATE these kinds of threads. It is well and good if YOU aren't the one with the cancer diagnosis. It sure FEELS different when you are told you have cancer, or your child has cancer, or someone else you love has cancer.


I do not like this discussion. AT ALL.


Cisco. Thank you so much for making this more real for us.


There are many of us quietly, valiantly, bravely fighting this damned disease. These kinds of conversation do not help them much.

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by KeepingItReal

Correct, and this person is a radiologist that for whatever reason doesn't even work in the field now apparently..

MDS is an uncommon complication of breast cancer therapy, occurring in approximately 0.2% of cases.

What is myelodysplastic syndrome?

Here is an article about Cuomo that might also be interesting. Always be wary of experts trying to sell a book.

Simplistic criticisms of cancer therapy by Dr. Margaret Cuomo

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...RsoSIIwkfjBsNQ

From the article at the link above:

So what we have here is a radiologist, who happens to be the daughter of Mario Cuomo and the sister of the current governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who for whatever reason has decided that, even after not having practiced radiology for quite some time and now working primarily as the president of the Italian Language Foundation in Manhattan, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting Italian language education in the United States, she is somehow uniquely qualified to pass judgment on the entire cancer care system in this country. Amusingly, she appears to be married to Howard Maier, who is known for producing the “Buns of Steel” video series. (I’m sorry; I just couldn’t resist mentioning it after I learned of it.) Why has Dr. Cuomo now decided to write a book assailing the “cancer culture” as “broken” and, if this HuffPo article is any indication, to promote unimpressive solutions? I have no idea. Perhaps she’ll explain in her book.

If you read the first sentence in my opening post you will see that I didn't agree with everything the author stated. But now I feel like I'm in a position where I need to defend her. That's strange! I don't think the criticism is fair coming from "Orac"? Is that the name of the writer? It must be like "Cher". She's so famous she only needs to go by one name. She criticizes Cuomo's qualifications but what are her qualifications? Did she mention her qualifications? Is it Orac, M.D.?

Furthermore, Orac, hadn't even read Cuomo's book yet. She spent a lot of time trying to guess what Cuomo might recommend for prevention.

I'll give Cuomo more credit than Orac for the following reasons: 1) She owns up to her ideas by putting her full name on her book. 2) She gave her qualifications on the cover of the book and 3) she admitted in the book that she didn't have all the answers.

What does Orac believe? That there's no room for improvement when it comes to cancer treatment and prevention? And where is Orac's critique of the book, now that it has been out for a while? hmmm?

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by Cisco Kid

I have been going to a Chemo unit for 8 years.

My eyes are wide open as to what I have on my plate.

I pay my insurance, and have for over 35 years.

out of pocket drugs $100 a month

I'll see if I can find the name of that drug in her book. She does give the names of drugs so it can be checked. I'm sure she didn't just make it up.

Over the years I have become friends with may people @ the Cancer Center.
Luckily no one has matched Dr Cuomo time line . I have lost friends over years, not days.

Well, I've had relatives who were diagnosed with cancer. One cousin only lasted about a week after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Another cousin lasted a couple of weeks after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

As for the miracle recovery. I believe the Dr needs to put down the pen and spend some time at the hospital.

Well, she did work in a hospital, diagnosing cancer and consulting with other doctors. Working with patients etc..

We do not sit there at deaths door looking for three days.
The improvement in treatment just for me, thanks to research, new meds,,,
in the short time I have diagnose has went from a timeline ( average life span )
The Dr would say terminal,to being able to maintain and treat.
Now we have the good news, a possible cure with a drug in testing now with good results.
What Dr Cuomo wants is happing now.

What I understand is that it's being treated like any other chronic disease. It's an ongoing battle. They never say the word "cure" they say "remission". My aunt went through it, from breast cancer to brain cancer and years later it was brain cancer again. The last time it was right behind her eye and couldn't be operated on. Even if it could have been operated on she wouldn't have been able to withstand it because she was being treated for kidney failure.

If it's happening now, for you, then I'm happy for you. That's great! She did not recommend that we abandon standard cancer treatments as they exist today. She's hoping for more research on prevention. Wouldn't it be great if less people got cancer in the first place?

IMO what the Dr wants is total control of health care.
I wonder if the good doc would have sent me to the death panel ?

I don't think so. She didn't call for that in her book.

[ilovetv]

I wonder if Cuomo would decry the same way the R&D costs, cost effectiveness and prices of HIV-AIDS drugs over the last 3 decades, or if she would deem it silly to try to extend the life of an HIV-AIDS patient?

(Never mind the fact that AIDS has gone from being a slow, agonizing and costly death sentence to now being a manageable chronic disease with which people live decades beyond the date many predicted they'd die before).........

"....If the process for developing HIV drugs has been unusual, selling them has been even more so. America is the rich world's biggest market, with 841,000 patients diagnosed—ten times as many as in Britain.

More than 60% of HIV drugs in America are bought with public money.

Insurers give HIV special treatment: patients are rarely pressed to buy the cheapest pills, as they might be if they had another disease.

Distributing drugs in poor countries is harder. A decade ago, hardly any poor people could afford them. At first, drugs firms handled this badly. In 1998, 39 big Western firms sued South Africa to protect their HIV patents. Global uproar ensued; the firms backed down in 2001.

Then two things changed. First, rich countries started donating vast sums to fight AIDS in poor ones. In 2000 there was less than $2 billion for HIV programmes each year; by 2010 there was $15 billion, thanks to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and George Bush junior's President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Second, the price of AIDS drugs plunged. In May 2000 a year's “triple cocktail” therapy cost $10,000 or so. By 2011 the same pills sold for $62 in poor countries. PEPFAR cash buys generic versions of patented drugs, which may be supplied only to poor countries....."

The business of HIV: Battling the virus | The Economist

[Cisco Kid]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

I'll see if I can find the name of that drug in her book. She does give the names of drugs so it can be checked. I'm sure she didn't just make it up.



Well, I've had relatives who were diagnosed with cancer. One cousin only lasted about a week after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Another cousin lasted a couple of weeks after being diagnosed with liver cancer.



Well, she did work in a hospital, diagnosing cancer and consulting with other doctors. Working with patients etc..




What I understand is that it's being treated like any other chronic disease. It's an ongoing battle. They never say the word "cure" they say "remission". My aunt went threw it, from breast cancer to brain cancer and years later it was brain cancer again. The last time it was right behind her eye and couldn't be operated on. Even if it could have been operated on she wouldn't have been able to withstand it because she was being treated for kidney failure.

If it's happening now, for you, then I'm happy for you. That's great! She did not recommend that we abandon standard cancer treatments as they exist today. She's hoping for more research on prevention. Wouldn't it be great if less people got cancer in the first place?




I don't think so. She didn't call for that in her book.

Please don't read me wrong.
I was not directing my comments at you.
The cancers like the ones in your family are the worst.
I am sorry for you loss.