Jul
my brother-in-law started his chemo for colon cancer which was removed but he can no longer bare the ill effects of the chemo. He’s half way through the treatment.
Answer:
NO. There’s no reason the health insurance company to drop a person from coverage for this reason. Adjuvant chemotherapy for colon cancer does not change the outcome to a significant degree. It may help a few patients, but many are cured with surgery alone OR they will develop recurrence of their colon cancer whether they complete chemotherapy of not.
When I had patients who tolerated preventive chemotherapy very poorly, I would discuss the option of stopping it - - especially if they are halfway through which may be the point when they’ve already benefited as much as they ever will from the treatment. We do not know for certain how long EACH, INDIVIDUAL, special person needs to be on preventive systemic treatment after surgical resection.
Chemotherapy for colon cancer has only a limited effect on changing the course of the disease. It is very difficult for people to understand this. Your brother in law may do better overall without further treatment. Of course, if he later develops a recurrence, many will think it was due to the cessation of treatment. Second guessing occurs commonly in cancer management.
If you read the medical literature about the decrease in recurrence rate for colon cancer through the use of current chemotherapy regimens - as I’ve for years - - you’ll see the limited efficacy of these treatments. Chemotherapy is not a guarantee that the disease will be cured, and many people receive these preventive treatments because we don’t know which ones have already been cured with the surgical resection. A million residual cancer cells at the time of surgery is too small to be seen, and it might be too many to eradicate with the chemotherapy we’ve for this type of malignancy.
You should not need to worry about the insurance coverage being dropped because he stops taking the preventive chemotherapy for colon cancer.
Answer:
Urge him to ask his oncologist about an alternative to his current chemo or perhaps stronger drugs to counter the ill effects. If he's half way there, why not TRY to complete it. It will likely prolong his life and stave off the return for some time. I would think the insurance company would have no leeway in his refusal of a regimen. The prior responder is correct but the first source of information should be his policy. It should be available with all restrictions listed online or in printed form. Read it and then determine what they have the ability to do.
Answer:
Sorry to hear about your brother-in-law. Chemo can be yucky. However, it is HIS choice to continue with the treatments, NOT the insurance's. If they continue to make his life rougher than it needs to b e right now, tell him to contact his state's insurance co missioner. Their number is in the phone book listed in the say government. Book Mark it-> del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Facebook | Technorati | Google | StumbleUpon | Window Live | Tailrank | Furl | Netscape | Yahoo | BlinkList