Grandfather has lung cancer and doctor refuses treatment.

StylistNY · New User Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 3

We found the first week of June that my grandfather has lung cancer, he is in poor health due to a house fire that happened about 4 years old. The doctor has point-blank told us that she will not give him any kind of treatment. The cancer is in both lungs, but his blood, bone, and brain scan has all turned to be negative. Should we have a second opinion??

Don · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:06 am Post subject: What??????

This is just an initial first impression...but would the Doctor be guilty of malpractice?

I would get a second opinion at the very least.
_________________
Don B
Dec 07 Dx Follicular NHL, Grade I (Indolent)
Stage IIIA - No Symptoms
Watch and Wait - 6 Month Checks
Jan 09 Scan shows Progression - no symptoms
May 18, 09 - Started R-CVP
After Third Round, CT scan showed some tumor shrinkage
July 31,09 - Completed 6 Rounds R-CVP

onecoyote · Senior User Joined: 15 Jul 2008 Posts: 153

Hello StylistNY,
I am sorry to hear about your grandfather's diagnosis. All of us here share your worry and sadness. Since the cancer is in both lungs, your grandfather is in stage 4 of the disease.
As for the doctor denying treatment, are you hearing this from your grandfather or did you hear this directly? It may not have been phrased in that manner. Let me tell you that certain people, diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic disease, have extenuating circumstances which make further treatment worse than letting the disease take it's course. Cachexia which is muscle wasting and dramatic weight loss usually make chemo or radiation's side effect intolerable. Many other systemic diseases running concurrent with the cancer can make the treatment much more severe than for a healthy person starting out.
I am sure that the doctor would offer many palliative options to make your grandfather comfortable. I suggest you contac the doctor to hear about those options first hand.
I share your feelings, a cancer diagnosis is a shock and when the chemo/radiation is no longer an option, we feel hopeless. I have tried to focus on making my husband as comfortable as possible in the short time he will be with me. We have been living a lifetime just the condensed version since my husband's diagnosis.
Prayers sent out for your grandfather and the hopes of getting this straightened out. My motto has been and still is "knowledge is power". The more you know, the less you will be taken by surprise.
Charlene
_________________
Husband Danny, age 66,
diagnosed squamous cell June 6, 2008,
Right pneumonectomy performed with no adjuvant chemo or radiation on Sept. 2008
Metastatic lung cancer in the ribs, scapula and right kidney raised it's ugly head May 2009.
Renal cell carcinoma diagnosed May 2009
One round carbo/taxol, too weak to continue
Cancer racing like a freight train
Held my husband's hand when he passed away September 29, 2009

javajunkiee · Regular Joined: 11 Mar 2009 Posts: 20

Stylist, I'm sorry to hear about your grandfathers diagnosis. Those words "lung cancer" are hard enough to hear without also hearing that there are no viable treatment options available.

Should you get a second opinion? Sure. The more info you have the better. But be prepared that the 2nd opinion may be no different than the first. There are a number of factors that a doctor will consider when rendering an opinion that treatment will not be successful.

- The age and general health of the patient. If the patient is elderly and in ill health to begin with treatment may not be effective.
- The condition of the organs affected and the strength of the disease. If the lungs are already damaged, and the disease itself is aggressive, treatment may not be effective.
- The damage that could be done by treatment being greater than the benefit of a specific treatment. Chemo and radiation may be successful at killing cancer cells, but they also take the healthy ones too. It can also exacerbate other conditions; ie chemo can cause additional pain if a patient has neuropathy, like my mother did.
- The quality of life a patient may have post-treatment, coupled with the length of life still left. Treatments for cancer can cause the patient to become sicker and weaken them to the point that they don't return to a quality of life the patient finds acceptable.

As Charlene mentioned, did you hear from the Doctor him/herself that treatment wasn't an option? If not, has your grandfather given the Doctor permission to share the specifics of his condition with you? Contacting the Doctor directly to hear his prognosis and treatment opinion may help you to understand the situation more in depth.

Get as much information as possible, from as many sources as possible, as quickly as possible. Cancer that is already in both lungs is something that should be treated quickly, if treatment is possible.

Good Luck to you and your grandfather.
_________________
Mom dx 1/19/09 SCLC. Chemo ineffective. Initial prognosis less than 3 mos. Mom passed 7/22/09. The Lord has his hands full with the whirlwind he has just taken on.

StylistNY · New User Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 3

Well before they did the bone scan and other test the doctor told us that she wouldn't want to do treatment but if we WANTED her to that she would, a few days later after we got the results of all of the other test which all of them pretty much tested negative other than this illness is in both lungs, but when all of the other results came in she told us there is no way she would do treatment. Then I asked her straight out if we decided to do treatment if she would would do it and that is when she said that all of the other doctors that was caring for him at the time told her that she shouldn't do treatment and pleaded with her not to do treatment and she said she would not do treatment at all. [/b]

onecoyote · Senior User Joined: 15 Jul 2008 Posts: 153

Hi StylistNY,
Wow, I have never confronted a doctor that out and out refused to do treatment on someone with no other medical problems other than the cancer. Usually there is something in the doctor's bag of tricks that can be used to hold back, put into remission or palliate a cancer.
Like javajunkiee said, I would get a second opinion then. If that opinion comes back the same, ask for detailed information as to why they won't do any treatment. Even my husband who was down to 128 lbs and had cancer spread everywhere was given the choice to do treatment or not to.
Good luck and let us know how you and your grandfather are doing.
Regards,
Charlene
_________________
Husband Danny, age 66,
diagnosed squamous cell June 6, 2008,
Right pneumonectomy performed with no adjuvant chemo or radiation on Sept. 2008
Metastatic lung cancer in the ribs, scapula and right kidney raised it's ugly head May 2009.
Renal cell carcinoma diagnosed May 2009
One round carbo/taxol, too weak to continue
Cancer racing like a freight train
Held my husband's hand when he passed away September 29, 2009

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