Rejecting standard cancer treatment like Elle Macpherson is a big risk

[Pelican Press 0]

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Rejecting standard ******* treatment like Elle Macpherson is a big risk

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Supermodel Elle Macpherson declined chemotherapy to treat ******* *******

*********** Associated Press/Alamy

Half of us will develop ******* at some point in our lives, but how many will be able to consult dozens of doctors and then feel confident rejecting mainstream medical advice?

In a recent interview with

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magazine, *********** supermodel Elle Macpherson revealed that she did exactly that. She told the publication that she was diagnosed with ******* ******* seven years ago, but declined chemotherapy in favour of “an intuitive, heart-led, holistic approach” to treatment.

According to the magazine, Macpherson deliberated over the decision for several weeks after consulting with “32 doctors and experts”. Eventually, in February 2017, she decided to pursue a non-pharmaceutical response led by her primary care doctor, a specialist in “integrative medicine”.

Happily, Macpherson is now in clinical remission – or, as she prefers to put it, “utter wellness”. Without knowing crucial details about the extent of her *******, the concurrent risk factors and the advice she received, it is futile to attempt to assess the riskiness of her decision to eschew chemotherapy. For example, she did have a lumpectomy – the initial surgery to remove a suspicious lump – which

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might have been sufficient treatment.

Nevertheless, the story has proved a lightning rod online, provoking both the growing numbers of people who mistrust “conventional medicine” and those who seek to defend it from mounting attacks.

What is behind this mistrust? Some researchers point to the covid-19 pandemic for a rise in

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around the world, with its heated debates about the severity of symptoms, merits of lockdowns and safety of vaccinations. The online world of “wellness”, too, is

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as a cover for anti-science views and even

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.

For members of ****** and ********* ******* communities,

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– extending to reluctance to undergo screening for *******, and even treatment – reflects public health and medical institutions’

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to engage with them and ensure equality of care in many countries.

And in the *** specifically, confidence in the National Health Service’s ability to treat ******* has

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, with

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of months-long delays to starting essential ******* therapies.

All of this means that, if you are diagnosed with ******* today, your options might seem less clear cut than they did in the past. Add to that the typically brutal experience of chemotherapy, and it isn’t a surprise that Macpherson’s story of “non-pharmaceutical” alternatives has generated such attention.

But it is worth keeping in mind that Macpherson isn’t exactly representative of the vast bulk of people with *******. With an

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worth of US $95 million, she can afford to seek multiple second opinions, then turn down chemotherapy: her wealth acts as a safety net. Her “ingestible wellness” company

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, and her historic romantic links to the

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, whom she

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, further complicate Macpherson’s story.

For most people, there is a real risk to rejecting healthcare.

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found that those with ******* who chose alternative medicine for their primary treatment had a greater risk of ****** within five years than those who chose conventional treatment.

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published the following year of nearly 2 million people with ******* in the US, found that use of complementary medicine was associated with refusing conventional ******* treatment, and resulted in double the risk of ****** within five years.

Certainly, oncologists are

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less chemotherapy, or to bypass it entirely –

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and awareness that targeted, tailored responses are the most effective.

But at least for now, the advice from organisations like ******* Research *** is unequivocal: there is no scientific or medical evidence that alternative therapies can cure *******. Amid widespread mistrust of medicine, Macpherson’s account – trumpeting a positive outcome, without crucial context – risks influencing people to take a dangerous path.

Everybody might be at risk of developing *******, but with the colossal resources at her disposal, The Body – as Macpherson was known at the peak of her modelling career – always had a better chance of surviving it than most people, regardless of her choices.

Elle Hunt is a freelance writer and journalist.

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#Rejecting #standard #******* #treatment #Elle #Macpherson #big #risk

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