The ethical and practical challenges of value-based cancer care at the patient’s bedside
Cet article présente les enjeux éthiques et pratiques liés à l'utilisation de traitements innovants et onéreux pour la prise en charge des patients atteints de cancer
Value-based cancer care has now taken center stage in both the mainstream media and academic arena. Professional societies have developed frameworks for evaluating the value of particular treatments, and I commend them for addressing a subject that was considered taboo only a few years ago. But how should these guidelines and other economic literature be used by practicing physicians? How do concepts of value intersect with the ethics of serving an individual patient as a physician? How does a physician’s responsibility to an individual patient tie in with economic responsibility to society as a whole? As both a practicing physician and a researcher who performs economic analyses, I am greatly challenged by these questions. As a researcher, I believe deeply in value-based cancer care. As a physician, I feel an intense responsibility to do anything within my power to support my patients and make them confident that they have heard about all the options that could possibly benefit them.