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BLAST CANCER: Bloch's Leverage Against Substandard Treatment of Cancer

Reprinted with permission of R. A. Bloch Cancer Foundation, Inc.

The following proposal is introduced on the home page of the BLAST Cancer website.

"BLAST CANCER is a program to save lives of cancer patients by automatically offering each newly diagnosed cancer patient the opportunity of receiving a qualified second opinion promptly and prior to any treatment. It will insure every patient of being treated correctly the first time and having the best chance of beating the disease. It will avoid the patient being embarrassed to ask or the physician being too self confident to offer."

Not only does Richard Bloch make a strong case in presenting this idea through articles giving an overview, cost, viability, and comments, he has provided a table of Second Opinion Institutions. These are institutions that will, when "specifically requested by a cancer patient within 3 weeks of diagnosis or recurrence, provide a multidisciplinary second opinion with a physician representing each discipline that could possibly treat the specific type of cancer present simultaneously."

Every physician diagnosing cancer will arrange for a "second opinion" within 7 days of diagnosis and prior to any treatment with a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist and surgeon (unless their specialty is not applicable in treating the diagnosed type of cancer) for the purpose of honestly informing the patient of all their options and forming the best plan to successfully treat the disease. If the patient does not want this "second opinion", the patient will be requested to sign a release stating they were advised of its benefits and chose not to have it.

The goal is to reduce cancer mortality with what we know today! Cancer is a unique disease - if you don't treat it properly the first time, often there is no second chance. It is an extremely complex disease, generally requiring treatment by multiple specialists. It is rarely diagnosed by an oncologist. The initial physician often fails to give the best possible treatment.

The patient is entitled to make an informed decision. Being told that nothing can be done, that surgery is required tomorrow or take these pills and come back in 90 days is not making an informed decision. Over 1,000 Americans could be saved from dying from cancer each week very simply. The cost of treating recurrent cancer because the patient was not properly treated the first time would exceed the cost of all the second opinions, and that certainly would not count the pain and suffering saved. As to a sufficient supply of manpower, after a difficult and confusing start, there is currently more than sufficient manpower to accomplish this goal. Numerous top experts in this field are solidly behind this project.

This action will not only save the lives of 50,000 to 250,000 people annually, it will reduce the pain and suffering they and their families and friends go through as well as improve the quality of life for the other 1,000,000 cancer patients diagnosed annually because they will know they got the best treatment the first time.