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Cancer
patients’ legal needs not being met
Newswise — Cancer
patients have significant concerns about
legal-medical issues that are not being
adequately addressed and impact the quality
of their lives, according to a study
conducted by Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Results of the study were published in a
recent issue of Cancer and presented
at the annual meeting of the American
Psychological Association.
“The objectives of the
study were to identify specific medically
related legal needs of cancer patients, the
importance of these needs to patients, the
extent to which these needs are addressed in
their standard care and their impact on the
quality of life of patients,” said Michael
A. Zevon, PhD, Chairman of Psychosocial
Oncology at Roswell Park.
Zevon and his
colleagues Steven Schwabish, PhD, James
Donnelly, PhD, and Kerry Rodabaugh, MD
assessed how well the legal concerns of
cancer patients were being addressed by 50
patients (28 women and 22 men, mean age 52)
to identify and rate legal needs associated
with their cancer care.
Patients identified 30
medically related legal needs and results of
a multidimensional scaling analysis
identified four distinct medical-legal areas
experienced by patients.
Patients rated all of
the medical-legal areas as important to
their quality of life, with legal needs
related to their health care exhibiting the
strongest relationship to their quality of
life, followed by employment related legal
needs, financial planning and estate related
needs. Despite the clear association of
medical-legal needs and patient quality of
life, patients reported that these needs
were not being adequately addressed in their
standard medical and supportive care.
“It seems we are
falling short in meeting the medically
related legal needs of these patients,"
notes Dr. Zevon. "These findings underscore
the need to integrate legal resources into
cancer care to enhance the quality of life
of patients and reduce the stress associated
with treatment of life-threatening
illnesses.”
Roswell Park Cancer
Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s
first cancer research, treatment and
education center and is the only National
Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive
cancer center in Upstate New York. RPCI is a
member of the prestigious National
Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of
the nation’s leading cancer centers. Roswell
Park has affiliate sites and collaborative
programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and in
China. For more information, visit RPCI’s
website at
http://www.roswellpark.org, call
1-877-ASK RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or email
askrpci@roswellpark.org.
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