Reply to What happens if you choose not to treat cancer?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My mom is an doctor and had a patient who wouldn't take a life saving blood transfusion (she was jehovah's witness and had a DNR). As she died they made both her and her husband sign all sorts of papers acknowledging that they knew this would lead to death and absolving the doctor and hospital of liability. I'd assume if you didn't want to treat your cancer they'd have you sign something. You'd need to have a DNR signed too or else your DH could step in when you were incapacitated. [/quote]
Thank you, this is sort of what I was looking for. I wasn’t sure if the doctor could require you to tell your spouse or get a mental competence certificate if you just opted against treatment.[/quote]

I feel like there's a wide expanse here.   The term "cancer" is essentially applied to different diseases at different stages with different prognoses.  You could have DCIS, like a pp and I did, which may turn into something bad or may not, so a "watchful waiting" option of non-treatment is possibly not unreasonable.  Or you could have a very advanced diagnosis, where the prognosis is poor and treatment is a trade-off between quality-of-remaining-life and quantity-of-remaining-life, and someone may reasonably choose a higher quality, but ultimately shorter remaining life without treatment.

Most of the time though, the diagnosis lies in the middle, especially with all the advancements that have been made in cancer treatment.  Many diagnoses now have a reasonable chance at good outcomes, either eliminating the cancer entirely or extending life spans greatly.

If this is something you're facing, I would encourage you to talk to your doctor and really understand where you are and what is truly the range of possible outcomes.  Whatever the situation is, hugs to you.  [/quote]

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