The Doctor Factor
Dr. Lois Ramondetta, a gynecologic oncologist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, met that challenge with Deborah Rose Sills, who had stage III ovarian cancer. Ramondetta was not Sills's primary doctor; she had a team of caregivers. But the two women became so close they wrote a book together, "The Light Within: The Extraordinary Friendship of a Doctor and Patient Brought Together by Cancer." The book, published last month, is a poignant account, filled with stories about children and romance, the women's views on spirituality and medicine, and tales of their travels abroad together. Ramondetta was captivated by Sills's luminous spirit and her bellowing "Good morning, Lois!" even when she had tubes coming out of her body. Sills, a professor of religion, relied on Ramondetta's straight talk, especially when her cancer recurred. When Sills asked what would happen when her body finally gave out, Ramondetta talked honestly about bowels and bloating and nausea. Toward the end, she visited Sills at home, then wrote her a letter acknowledging her dying: "I wish you peace of mind and an end to pain and suffering." Sills died in May 2006.
In cancer, the sword of Damocles hangs ever present, and compassionate doctors must learn to cope. Columbia's Fine cries during car rides home after his patients die. He goes to their funerals and gives eulogies, too. All this relieves the sadness, helps him recenter himself so he can be fully present for his patients and motivates him to work harder at finding a cure. Being engaged with patients doesn't cause burnout, says Fine. It helps prevent it. What matters most, he says, is that his work gives meaning to his mother's life: she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease when Fine was 10 and died eight years later. "The day she died, I made her a promise that I would devote my life to cancer therapy and cancer research," he says. "It's very personal for me."
Cancer is a cluster of cells run amok. Its effect on doctors and their patients is big and small all at once. One of Ramondetta's treasured gifts was a persimmon in a silver bag, given to her by a Thai patient. She has a plant named Florence—after a favorite patient who died. Dr. Judah Folkman, the groundbreaking cancer researcher who died in January, was so beloved by Tonya Kalesnik, 26, that she asked him to dance the father-daughter dance at her wedding. Kalesnik has pictures of Folkman up in her apartment and cries when she says, "He was so much more than a doctor."
Abby Gunn, 23, wants to be so much more, too. Now a clinic assistant at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Gunn plans to go to med school. Out of tragedy comes renewal: Gunn is Deborah Rose Sills's daughter. "My mom outlived all the statistics," she says. "I think the care she received had everything to do with it." It will be years before Gunn earns her white coat, but she talks about treating cancer patients like an M.D. with a soul. "It doesn't get much bigger," she says. Or more important.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: Fred R @ 09/27/2008 5:03:31 PM
Comment: Back to comment about health Insurance and employer based benefits.
Do you realize that the exact reason we do not have a national plan or universal to access to a universal plan is the employer based system which
1- is discriminatory ( try getting a group plan for small biz with some chronically ill employees)
2 segments the market for the benefit of , well, guess who, the insurance companies
3- reduces wages paid to employees ( everyone knows wages have not risen under bush but did you know that employer costs ( employee comepensation which counts heath insurance) has? This could have been wage increases.
4- keeps out small business and the self employed- work for the man ??? or else!
5- promotes wage slavery those who work in undesirable positions merely to obtain insurance.
6- Watch how fast a national plan or universal access would emerge if the work force was not indentured servants ( see health insurance hostages) .
Posted By: Bornita @ 07/16/2008 3:35:47 PM
Comment: Please refer to the comment i posted on (NOT) Worth Your Time.
There is a study going on on identical twins that prooves or will proove that drinking 8-12 cups of green tea per day, reduces the risk of developing cancer about 80-90 %. Experts will recommend a daily intake of two pills that contain the equivalent extracts. This will be published in a future edition of TIME magazine, online edition.
Posted By: Nins @ 07/07/2008 12:03:22 AM
Comment: Did you know that if McCain is elected you will have to pay income tax on the value of the medical insurance that your employer gives you? Worse still, he is offering a tax break for people who pay their own insurance, BUT only $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families.
Let's say you have a family of four. Your insurance policy costs would be at least $1,500-2,500 per month under a self-pay plan, which cost more than employer group plans. So, you pay $18,000 -$30,000 per year for insurance, and you get to deduct only $5,000 of that. If you paid $25,000 for you insurance, you would be out of pocket $20,000 per year. This is FAR WORSE than the current system, where if you are self employed you can deduct 100% of you medical insurance costs.
So, if you're not self employed, you would stick with your Employer's plan. Employer plans for a family of four have a value of $900-$1,500 per month totaling 10,800-$18,000 per year. Surprise! On April 15th, you owe tax on all of that as INCOME to you. Say your bracket is 25%, and the value of your Employer medical plan is $14,000. You will OWE THE IRS an additional $3,500, and that's ON TOP of whatever monthly premium you already pay to your employer for your insurance.
Many analysts say that McCain's new rules would encourage employers to stop offering health benefits. If that happened, then far fewer Americans would be insured than are insured today, because what family of four can afford $18,000-$30,000 out of pocket per year for self-pay health insurance?
Furthermore, McCain's plan does not require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions of people who self-pay their insurance. People under employer group plans have all of their pre-existing conditions covered. This is a hugely unfair aspect of the current system. Insurance companies can afford to cover the pre-existing conditions of the much larger pool of people with group insurance, but they refuse to pay the pre-existing conditions on the smaller pool of self-pay customers. They have been allowed to price gouge the self-pay customers, which is a form of market manipulation that should be illegal.
So let's say one of your kids had diabetes and you have high blood pressure, then your employer stops offering insurance. You now have to buy your own, but you and your child are INELIGIBLE due to pre-existing conditions. Oh, yeah, they will let you buy the insurance, but you can't use it for any pre-existing condition until you have paid on time every month for two years. And you know what happens at one year and 11 months? You get a letter saying your policy has been cancelled. I have many patients this has happened to.
McCain's plan SUCKS.
It does nothing to help middle class working Americans afford or obtain medical insurance. In fact, it makes the current system WORSE.