Can you refuse cancer treatment even if it would cure you?

[Jinglestreet]

I'd rather not post specifics as it'll become outing. My question is as the title, can you flatly refuse cancer treatment? Say the cancer is curable and in a middle aged person. it's caught at a fairly early stage and prognosis is excellent, is refusing treatment seen as an option or could family/next of kin go down the "not of sound mind" route even if the person was of perfectly sound mind? The cancer will eventually lead to death. Would doctors support treatment refusal?

of course, nothing can be done to your body without your permission

Of course you can refuse treatment.

As long as there deemed to have capacity and not seen as vulnerable them it’s there choice

They might want to assess the person's mental capacity to make the decision, but if they were found to have capacity, they'd have every right to refuse

I think you can refuse any medical treatment but probably the doctors would have to be fully satisfied that the person knew the seriousness, the prognosis, the treatment, everything, and would make all efforts to satisfy themselves that the person was indeed of sound mind. But ultimately, yes anyone can refuse treatment.

I really can’t see any oncologist forcing treatment on someone unwilling, even if they did not have capacity. It’s an abhorrent thought.

Its a personal choice.

I have been treated for cancer for the last 2 years

At every stage I am asked if I want to proceed with whatever treatment is being offered, and sign to say I do. Without that, nothing would be done.

I say yes to everything, but many of my friends on the cancer wards don't Some choose not to go ahead with different treatments if they don't think the benefits outweigh the risks for them. Lots of people choose to say no to chemotherapy. Some say no to surgery. My closest fellow sufferer friend that I went through surgery and chemo with has chosen not to take any hormone suppressants. I will take them for 10 years and suffer the side effects. She won't take them at all and live with the greater risk of cancer returning.

It is all personal choice.

It is very common to turn down some of the treatment you are offered, and certainly not unheard of to turn down all of it

If the person has full capacity you cannot say they don't. Even when my mum was struggling to speak due to her tumour and barely awake and at the end of her life she was still deemed as having capacity and her decision over medical care was considered. No one can be forced to have medical care they don't want and also whilst that cancer may be considered curable, the patient may feel itl only be a matter of time till it does eventually return, that's their choice to make. Chemo/radiation can be brutal and many people do choose quality of life over quantity, as is their right.

doctors support choice

I had cancer last year. My consultant went through all the options and one of the options was ‘do nothing’. The oncologist will go through the pros and cons, but in the end, It is the patients choice.

Would a doctor judge you for your decision?

No as it's your choice

They wouldn't judge you, but they would want to be very very sure that you really understood what you were choosing.

It's a fairly common choice for the elderly who have lived a full life already but less common for the middle-aged.

Yes you can, but why would why would you want to, it doesn't always lead to death.

No, they won’t judge. They would help you make the decision that is best for you. And that decision won’t be the one that’s best for everyone.

For you OP. I’m guessing you’re in the process of making difficult choices. No one can judge who is not in your shoes.

My friends

other did this and it was a major headfick for the kids. They felt like she chose a slow form of suicide. I would get counseling before making this decision.

I'm sure they'd be confused by it, but I doubt they'd judge. Who cares what they think anyway?

A person with capacity has the right to make choices, even those that might be considered unwise by others.

No clinical staff would judge, people make their own choices. Cancer treatment is rarely ‘easy’.

I think a doctor judging the decision maker would be the least of the decision makers concerns. What a strange question.

I really felt listened to when I went through cancer treatment, nothing was done without my consent.
In fact I felt it slightly odd about how listened to I was, given how little I know on the subject.

Who cares what the doctors think?

The cancer staff work bloody hard, I should think if your ‘friend’ decides not to take treatment it will free up space for someone else. So that’s an upside.

You could refuse it.
In the frail and elderly it's not uncommon but it would be suicide by omission IMO in a young healthy person.

Lots of people fear cancer treatment, not unreasonably as it's gruelling and lengthy but many cancers are genuinely curable.
A stage 4 cancer is different, any treatment is aimed at prolonging life but not cure.
When I had cancer everything was explained and it all required consent. The only thing I refused was the cold cap which carried no medical benefit.

If this is you and you think you might refuse treatment may I recommend you go to one of the cancer support charities like Maggie's and talk it all through with someone, away from a medicalised setting?

Until the law allows for people to be assisted should they decide to end their lives and need help to do so, it has absolutely no business in not allowing people to decide to forego any and all treatment if that's what they want.

Agree with PP, it is an abhorrent thought that treatment could be forced.

They might but they should NEVER make that obvious to you. Not even a slithering of it.

Because that’s a totally personal choice and no one can force an adult to get treatment they don’t want.

Id expect lengthy conversations about why the person makes that decision, the pros and cons etc…

I had breast cancer during first lockdown( long before vaccine) i declined chemo because if i caught Covid it would have killed me. I had intensive radiotherapy instead. My oncologist was very supportive and i was made aware I could decline any or all treatment at any time.