Arnold Kling views Sicko and talks about an end of life care example the film brings up:
The case was of an African-American man who died of kidney cancer. His weeping wife had been told by a doctor that there was hope from a bone marrow transplant, but the insurance company denied the treatment. You were left to conclude that the decision was based on profits or racism.After the movie, I did a quick search on Google and Wikipedia for the treatments of kidney cancer, and I could not find bone marrow treatment. This reinforced the gut feeling that I had during that segment of the movie, which is that the guy’s cancer was so far gone that none of the standard treatments was going to work, and the bone marrow idea was a desperate, last-ditch “hail-Mary pass” that had no proven track record of success . . .
. . . In these sorts of cases, my guess is that other countries do not use as much hail-Mary medicine. My guess is that they tell the patient there is nothing more that can be done, and instead try to help the family let go.
Related posts:
- Sicko: Bone marrow transplant for kidney cancer?
- "We must ration health care, but we should do it morally"
- Bone marrow donor program closes due to a lack of minorities
- If you think medical school is already difficult, try doing it while battling leukemia
- Organ donation for freedom
- "Radiologists are sabotaging the practice of medicine"
- Sicko: Is the alternative any better?
{ 7 comments }
I am unaware of any non-investigational bone marrow therapies for advanced renal cell or transitional cell kidney cancer.
So is Michael Moore. But that doesn’t stop him from intentionally misleading gullible people.
Sad, but true.
gee. i wonder if michael moore cares enough about medicine to try to be a real doctor and apply to medical school and go thru what the rest of us do. maybe then he coudl really change the system from within. but hes not that type. hes disruptive and wants to run to the press and make a big scene. if this guy really wanted to help people , he would pursue an educational degree. but i dont think that mr moore has the interest in real accomplishment.
And now check this: Moore has backed out of a debate on health care with Tom Delay.
http://www.tomdelay.com/home/2007/6/21/sicko-is-scared-o.html
Chicken.
I’d never accuse Michael Moore of being particularly concerned about accuracy. I’ve seen several of his movies and know that he does pay loose with the truth sometimes. I’ve always seen his movies as part comedy, part cynicism, and part reality.
Misleading people is stupid and (obviously) dishonest. At the very least his movies bring important topics into the public dialog.
Personally I find him really annoying and arrogant but if his new movie sicko can help spur some badly needed changes in healthcare then more power to him!
Oh what hypocrites you all are. All this high dudgeon about Michael Moore when Kevin Pho, David Catron, Arnold Kling and many others admired here at this blog have posted inaccuracies, incomplete truths, and outright lies numerous times.
Elliot:
There are no non-experimental bone marrow treatment for renal cell cancer. Research with breast cancer/other solid tumors and bone marrow transplants in the 90’s did not pan out. Are you saying that the government/health plans should pay for every non-evidence based therapy out there? We will quickly empty the coffers and this totally goes against the idea of NHS (ie rationed but universal) care. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. The simple fact is if there is a single-payer/NHS/universal system, then there will be increased rationing. There will be less labor intensive/expensive procedures/therapies (ie bone-marrows, CABG’s, long-term dialysis in the elderly, etc). Your pie in the sky mentality may not believe these words but that is the truth from someone who works in the field and his worked with European docs for many years. Though I have always enjoyed Micheal Moore’s movies. In every movie (going back to Roger and Me), I have seen how he has played fast and inaccurately with the facts. I have never thought two wrongs make a right. Do you?
Comments on this entry are closed.