First words of the Hippocratic Oath -- PRIMUM NON NOCERE -- First Do No Harm.

Unfortunately, a lot of doctors lose sight of this when treating serious illnesses and neglect the person that's wrapped around that cancer, or bad heart, or whatever.

People have to have hope for the future -- it's been shown in peer-reviewed studies that optimistic people survive cancer better than pessimistic patients. So why isn't quality-of-life given a more important focus? For many it is as important as controlling the disease. Polls of cancer patients usually find that most would prefer less time and better QOL than more time with lower QOL.

We need to be better advocates for outselves...as someone else posted, doctors are not gods, don't treat them as if they were. It is YOUR life, not theirs'...

Barry Cooper's wife Gail
(using his log-in)

SPORE advocate, JH Urology