Wrong diagnoses fail cancer patients
DOCTORS are failing to diagnose many cancer cases, putting patient lives at risk, a new survey has found.
Nearly one in three cancer patients are initially wrongly told they have another illness, and one in eight wait six months to get a proper diagnosis, it says.
And it has emerged that Australian cancer patients are a lot more likely to have to pay for parts of their treatment than those in other developed countries.
Eight in 10 cancer patients in Australia had to part-fund their care compared with 14 per cent in the UK, 48 per cent in Canada and 68 per cent in the US.
A Consumers Health Forum survey last year found one in four cancer patients had out-ofpocket expenses of more than $10,000 because health funds and Medicare rebates did not cover the full cost of treatment.
The new All.can study, which included 850 Australian cancer patients as part of a worldwide investigation, was funded by pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen, MSD and Johnson & Johnson.
It found in 28 per cent of patients whose cancer was diagnosed outside a screening program, the cancer was diagnosed as something different, often multiple times.
Many patients reported lack of empathy, with some told they had cancer on a Friday night and having to wait until the next week for details.
More than a third did not feel involved enough in deciding the best treatment options, and half felt let down after their treatment ended, saying they did not get enough support to deal with ongoing symptoms and side-effects of their treatment.
Four in 10 said they did not get enough information from doctors about signs and symptoms suggesting their cancer was returning or getting worse.