Cancer patients ‘told to delay treatment’ due to coronavirus crisis
NewsColony
TREATMENT for cancer patients may be delayed as doctors are forced to make agonising decisions over due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some patients have been advised by their doctors not to get chemotherapy as the risk of them attending their appointments outweighs the benefit.
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Because cancer patients have a lower immune system they are more suscetible to contracting the deadly bug.
According to the Mail Online, the NHS had sent doctors guidance which stated that the risks of cancer treatments outweigh the benefits.
It stated: “Patients will want to discuss with their clinicians whether the risks of beginning or continuing their cancer treatment could outweigh the benefits, given that many patients receiving systemic therapies in particular are more at risk of becoming seriously unwell if they contract the coronavirus infection.”
Doctors have been told by the NHS to group their cancer patients into “priority levels” according to how immediately life-threatening their cancer is.
Patients who need the treatment to save their life rather than to extend it will be top priority along with patients who need immediate surgery.
Martin Ledwick, Cancer Research UK’s head information nurse, said: “Your specialist might want to discuss the possibility of delaying treatment in some situations, if they felt the risks outweighed the benefits.”
Heather Blake, of Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Some men and their clinicians are having to make decisions about whether to delay or change prostate cancer treatments in order to reduce their risk from Covid-19 during treatment, and to maximise the resources available.’
Dr Janet Ward, an independent scholar, said on social media: ‘My husband has been told today that his chemotherapy treatment is being cancelled. He only goes once a month and had four months left.
‘Reason is too vulnerable while under treatment. No choice given to us. I am distraught.’
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Source : The Sun | NewsColony: World News
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