27/09/2025
Are Oncologists Overtreating Cancer Patients?
Every year, millions of cancer patients are put through chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. But how many of these treatments actually extend life in a meaningful way?
In colon cancer, for example, some patients with advanced disease go through grueling regimens that cost families everything, yet survival may only improve by a few months. In breast cancer, many women are still given chemotherapy despite clear evidence that genomic testing could safely spare them from it.
The uncomfortable truth is that medicine is not always guided by science alone. Sometimes it’s driven by fear, tradition, or even profit. And patients often don’t know they have the right to ask hard questions: Will this treatment change my survival, or just my suffering?
Are we truly practicing patient-centered oncology, or are we stuck in a cycle where “doing something” feels better than saying, “This treatment won’t help”?
It’s time to ask: Are we saving lives, or are we prolonging dying?
What do you think? Should every available treatment always be given, no matter the cost and toxicity, or should we start saying “enough” when the evidence doesn’t add up?
Every day in my practice i face this dilemma. When to treat and when not to.
As a Medical Oncologist, I don’t have all the answers.
Some times the patients will to live is so strong, you don’t want to let them down.
Sometimes it’s the doctor wanting the patient to live longer when they are contempt.
It’s a tight balance.
No shoe👠 fits every patient the right way✅
God help us 🙏🏾🙏🏾
