WASHINGTON 鈥� It鈥檚 a new development in the relationship between cancer patients and their doctors: Patients who have successfully been treated are being asked for a donation to a medical center or for more research 鈥� by their doctors.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tricky, tricky area,鈥� Dr. Arthur L. Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at New York University鈥檚 Langone Medical Center, tells 海角社区app.
A recent study of more than 400 oncologists found that nearly half said they had been taught to identify patients who might have the money to make substantial donations, and about one-third of them had been asked to appeal directly to patients for donations, .
鈥淚t鈥檚 not really new; it鈥檚 just accelerating,鈥� Caplan tells 海角社区app, adding that the practice is probably here to stay. As funding for the National Institutes of Health remains basically flat and the cost of research goes up, 鈥測ou see more and more areas of medicine, like oncology, turning to gifts,鈥� Caplan says.
Development offices know, Caplan says, that an appeal from the doctor who has just treated you, putting in long hours in the process, is much harder to ignore than a fundraising letter that arrives weeks after your treatments are over.
But, he adds, 鈥淭he most charged ethical problem is when your doctor, who you鈥檙e grateful to, and you want to please because you鈥檝e worked with him or her, is asking for a gift.鈥�
Patients are 鈥減retty vulnerable that the time the treating doctor might come and ask them 鈥� They don鈥檛 want to be ungrateful.鈥�
Cancer treatments are expensive, and being asked for a donation from a doctor who makes considerably more money than his or her patients can be grating, Caplan says. It can be uncomfortable for doctors, too. About half the doctors who had been asked to make appeals in the study refused.
He says patients aren鈥檛 alone in this, either.
鈥淒octors get approached too 鈥� the development office comes after us and does make requests, and people know who gave and who hasn鈥檛.鈥�
It may change the face of giving, and not in a good way, Caplan says.
鈥淧hilanthropy, you want to say, is an altruistic choice, but what we don鈥檛 want to see it become, for doctors or patients, is a coerced mandate.聽I don鈥檛 think we really have aired it out fully.鈥�
