Valeria, February 4th was World Cancer Day.
That’s how every year we commemorate, as a way of fighting, World Cancer Day. This year under the motto “For fairer care”.
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in America cancer is the second most frequent cause of morbidity and mortality and an important basis for health inequalities.
At the same time, it is essential to know that cancer can be prevented and controlled, so the commitment, as with other complex, life-limiting and/or life-threatening chronic diseases, must be collective.
We know that a healthy lifestyle in terms of diet, regular physical activity, moderate alcohol intake, and not smoking, among other factors, reduces the risk of the disease. According to PAHO: Collectively, it is possible:
- Prevent cancer
- Detect cancer early and improve outcomes
- Effectively treat cancer, if detected in early stages
- Create healthy public policies to reduce cancer risk factors
- Improve access to cancer care and cancer treatment
- Demonstrate the need to invest in cancer detection, treatment and research
- Better understand the causes and risks of cancer and how to prevent it
- Train good professionals to fight cancer
- Educate the population to prevent cancer
Do you have a position related to the rights of people with cancer?
Yes, as a palliativist and bioethicist, I consider that all human suffering is a matter of public health. Every person who experiences a disease has the right to access appropriate treatments, this implies equity in health resources and adequate treatments for everyone, which in bioethics is distributive justice.
The ethics of care, derived from feminist ethics and of course I mean beyond gender, speaks to us about a contextualized, ecological subject and we are all agents of care in each society to which we belong.
“Relational ethics calls for promoting collective responsibility. From this perspective, autonomy is taken into account not only as an individual capacity but also as listening and reciprocal, interrelational recognition.
Therefore, listening is inherent in the doctor/therapist-patient relationship. The registration of the other in all aspects of life and during disease processes implies, at a collective level, the learning of care.
Dialogue and the transition from healing to caring are imperative.” And we advocate that this care be collective and compassionate.
On the other hand, certain nominations impact the subjectivity of people with cancer, such as the word terminal, critical areas in health or avoid the word cancer. We are all terminal from the minute we are born, the so-called critical areas in health would leave out non-critical patients and have an eminently biological perspective, and finally, putting into discourse what we are going through is essential to be able to process and treat it. These reductionist terms can also impact poor access to treatments. The person is going through a complex chronic disease that threatens their life and must be treated in a comprehensive manner, fundamentally taking into account their autonomy and decisions about their body and life project, even in children with whom we work from their progressive and relational autonomy, together with their family. , environment and treating professionals. The fact that the professional decides on the destination or treatment without consultation is a paternalistic act that violates rights.
What does care entail in these cases?
Palliative care, which is not only at the end of life, is essential to be provided from the beginning of the illness. These take into account the person with cancer in their mental health, physical health, spiritual aspects, guidance and support for families, environment and any need or requirement that implies quality of life, because we treat lives. At the same time, it is important to highlight that care is provided by interdisciplinary teams, taking into account the complexity of each case: we are doctors, psychologists, music therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, priests or representatives of the beliefs or religion of the person with cancer. Palliative care is an inalienable human right.
Every human being has the right to a dignified life until the moment of departure.
Thank you very much, Valeria. How can they contact your patients and families?
Many thanks to you. Through my page www.valeriacasal.com or my IG: @casalpassion
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by CEDOC