To hate this man who said 'cancer is the best way to die'

[Sallystyle]

Stop wasting billions trying to cure cancer, it's the best way to die,' says former BMJ editor

So death from cancer is the best ... You can say goodbye, reflect on your life, leave last messages, perhaps visit special places for a last time, listen to favourite pieces of music, read loved poems, and prepare, according to your beliefs, to meet your maker or enjoy eternal oblivion.

Well, fuck him I say.

he isnt talking about living a long or short life. most people would choose 70s and dying of anything over 40s and dying of anything. dying in your 40s is just shit, always, whether cancer, mnd, ms, or road accident, but even then maybe notice of death is better than no notice for those left behind? he doesnt talk about assisted suicide in his blog but personally i see that as having some benefits with something like mnd - you still get time to say goodbyes but skip the particularly nasty way to die bit

I have to say my experience earlier this year terrified me. I have major anxiety now that I'm going to collapse again but not be revived next time. Not tell anyone I love them again not get that last goodbye.

Cancer is fucking horrific. But dropping dead, suddenly, has me absolutely petrified

What makes you think that I am unemotional or illogical MrsDeVere?

I assure you that I’ve had my moments. On other occasions I have been very steely, as I am sure you have been too.

I have to be because our difference is that your steely occasions have been purely for your child. That’s very hard and you have my best wishes, even if it appears I don’t have yours.

I have a condition that is limiting my life and will undoubtedly cut it short with the result that my child might lose my financial support and my emotional support quite soon.

You choose what you think I care about the most.

That's the clue to my nickname btw.

It is a very general article which is probably targeted at the U.S. drugs approach to cancer where they never stop treating where is there is money to pay. Lionel Shrivers book on How to die is very sad story about treatment in US.

I have a friend who stopped her treatment where she had just had enough. I watched the Louis Therouex program on Edge of Life which was in a hospital in the US which was just heartbreaking, they kept on treating where there was no hope and it was a dreadful end.

Thank You to everyone who has contributed to cancer research. I was 44 when I was diagnosed, my children were 14 & 10. I'm a survivor & the millions spent on cancer research certainly made a difference to my family.

So good to hear Francis!
What a stupid comment to have made

Having watched one friend die of cancer and currently going through it again with another, I know I want to die fast and unaware of what's about to happen. Harder on my family possibly, but the thought of being told I'm going to die is terrifying. I know that my dear friend has just had her last Christmas I'm finding that hard enough to handle, how on earth she is coping is beyond my worst nightmares.

I think there does need to be some debate over the attitude we have to cancer.

I sometimes think all those people piously raising money for cancer are almost acting as though they are fighting to cheat death itself. They aren't. They are just dealing with cancer. And if we don't die from cancer what will we die from? Pneumonia ? Cardiovascular disease risk has been greatly eliminated but we will all die from something.

As someone who has worked for charity there is an uncomfortable unease about the way cancer dominates discussion and funding. It is odd the way people are so self congratulatory about discussing cancer which was once taboo, but hasn't been for a very long time. Disability, child poverty and domestic violence are chronically underfunded in this country but you don't get adverts with people with wobbling lips talking about raising money for that. Why? Because they don't have the money because cancer uk got it all.

It is a complex issue and I feel old age cancer is very different socially, morally and medically from other cancers (another debate entirely) but the single minded focus of many Britons with regards to 'curing cancer ' above all else does really need to be challenged IMO.

Ethelb you are looking for a different debate with your comments

The next taboo we need to break is death. We should be able to to talk about what is a good death, what is important to us when we know we are going to die soon, what is important to our loved ones, our greatest hopes and our deepest fears.

Although I don't believe that the guy from the BMJ was talking about the importance of good palliative care, I do think we should have a more open dialogue about when is the right time to take that step.

My MIL chose to have a DNR and, without it, a good attempt would have been made to resuscitate her as she was not terminally ill. Neither of her sons was able to talk with her about this decision before she died.

Although I feel strongly that this man has made wrongly some very sweeping judgements, I do think any dialogue about death sparked by the article can only be good.

U2TheEdge sorry to confuse you I mean I am apalled by the comments of the man, I feel he has no humanity.

I can sort of see the point of this perspective, but I still think I'd rather die in my sleep at a very advanced age.

I think when it comes to early death, whether we are talking about five year olds or fifty year olds, it's a moot point. It is nearly always a tragedy. For most of us, i expect the horror scenarios are losing a child or leaving a child, which some posters on this thread have experienced or had to square up to happening if receiving treatment or parenting children bereaved in this way. For those who have experienced loss of loved ones in fear or pain, the response also reflects this, inevitably.

I take it to refer to deaths in later life, in which case I agree, but mostly to support my family in saying goodbye. This is entirely different to the tragedy of early loss of life from rare, untreatable, untouchable cancers.

Goldmandra - quite a few of Richard Smith's blogs address the whole taboo surrounding death

e.g.
blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2012/01/30/richard-smith-death-festival-day-one/
blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2012/01/30/richard-smith-death-festival-day-two/
blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2012/01/30/richard-smith-death-festival-day-three/

I found it a very interesting read

here's a very snippet

Doctors, the “custodians of death,” were not very present in the festival, but David Seligman, a junior doctor, gave a sensitive and amusing description of how medical students and young doctors familiarise themselves with death—collapsing over the corpse in the anatomy dissecting room and climbing into the mortuary fridge to declare a corpse fit for cremation. Perhaps Seligman’s acutest observation was how his friends were starting to have babies and were very knowledgeable about pregnancy and birth and had birth plans. In contrast, the very sick and dying patients he sees in the hospital know little about death, can’t talk about it, and don’t have death plans.