Amanda Bennett: "The Cost of Hope"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-06-06/amanda-bennett-cost-hope
Terence Bryan Foley was an American expert on agriculture and Asia who earned his Ph.D. when he was in his 60s. He played more than 15 musical instruments and spoke six languages. He was funny, eccentric and beloved by his wife, award-winning journalist and editor Amanda Bennett. In a memoir, Bennett writes of their marriage, their travels and their battle for more life together after Foley was diagnosed with cancer. She takes us on a journey through the complex and often maddening American medical system. And she questions whether the emotional, physical and monetary price was worth it.
Guests
Amanda Bennett
an executive editor at Bloomberg News; Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter; former editor, Philadelphia Inquirer; and former managing editor, The Oregonian.
Related Items
Related Images
Family photos of Terence and Amanda. Photos courtesy Amanda Bennett. All rights reserved.
Read An Excerpt
Excerpt from "The Cost of Hope: A Memoir" by Amanda Bennett. Copyright 2012 by Amanda Bennett. Reprinted here by permission of Random House. All rights reserved.
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enjoyed the newsweek article. had similar experience with different outcome when my father died. He was a retired medical professional, navy corpsman then medical photographer. Cancer was found when a kidney blockage was removed. When cancer returned a year later, he decided to do nothing. No options offered had a good outcome. Surgery would mean lifetime cathater. Chemo and radiation would probably kill him. He remained active until 2 weeks before his death. We were all able to see him and say goodbye. When the pain was severe, he checked into the Hospice he had made arrangements with several months before. He died in his sleep several days later. He was 87.
scott livesey
sanford, nc
Amanda, I had read the excerpt of your book in Reader Digest. I applaud the strength it took you to look at these issues.
Our medical system make money from, and thus survives off of, keeping people alive...I am not sure how we get medical professionals to face the approach of death.
My prayers to go out to you and your children.
This is the basic argument over autonomy vs. futility in medicine. The ability for a doctor to say this is a futile effort & not a wise use of resources for a person, who will not survive anyway & would be better served by palliative care, is so overshadowed by the threat of litigation that medical administration & legal precedent has mostly eliminated it. The saddest part is that its being proven that palliative care improves quallity of life & often extends life by a few months. The latter often due to medical interventions being more than an already weak person can take. I feel many people would chose palliative care if they had a real discussion with medical experts who explain the big picture, but this does not happen, is discouraged in the Medical setting & even hospice is not given as an option until there are days/hours to live. This causes so much unnecessary suffering for the dying to make the living survivors feel "like they've done everything" & avoid the possibility of litigation. I am a nurse & see this all the time.
the use of Gmo foods is causing cancers of which the govt is aware and does nothing about because it curtails the population growth and contributes to medical costs. hospitals are in the business of making money hence the overuse of tests and useless medicines. Gmos are in most American crops, especially corn, canola, soy, causing cancer of kidney and liver.
why is it that no one is familiar with Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski from the Burzynski clinic in Houston TX? www.burzynskiclinic.com and www.burzynskimovie.com are both very good reference points. The movie tells of Dr. Burzynski's trials and tribulations with the US government as well as the State of TX Medical Board. Watch the documentary by Eric Merola and be utterly stunned at the way our government and medical industry has tried to get rid of him and his treatments that are curing cancer. YES, curing cancers for over 30 years. He discovered antineoplastins in 1967 and has been treating and curing cancers successfully since them. I personally know someone who was sent home to die from the University of Michigan with an inoperable brain tumor. She had a year's worth of radiation and chemotherapy and they said they could not do anything more for her. Her parents found Dr. Burzynski (who is now in FDA sponsored clinical trials) and it's been almost 4 years since her treatments with him ended and she is doing FANTASTIC. Please PLEASE educate yourselves about what else is out there besides the standard treatments.
Amanda, you are a very brave person trying to change the medical system. I hope you are successful. Another person, Dr. Otis Brawley, Chief Medical Officer with the American Cancer Society has published a book about the atrocities in that same medical system and as far as I can see, is not getting anywhere, which is sad. His book is The Harm We Do. You would think someone with that kind of credibility would be able to get through...
I haven't yet read the book but I heard you say something about the many scans your husband had. It sounded like 79. If so, that's an awful lot of scans over 7 years - they are not free of harm. And, I also heard you say the docs did not communicate well with each other. This is SUCH an issue for all of us. Doctors don't even bother to speak to specialists in another area - they all go on as though their part of your (or his) body is the only thing that counts. It's crazy and makes people more ill, and causes more suffering. We have only one body and all its parts are connected!
I had cancer, fought it using natural methods - called 'alternatives' - and was lucky, I am still here 19 years later.
I founded an all-volunteer nonprofit Annie Appleseed Project to tell others about natural therapies, issues of interest, and ways that may reduce toxicity when going the conventional route.
In my opinion, the search for options is NEVER over until you have taken a look at the vast array of 'alternatives'.
#CAM4CancerSF
Wonderful show. Thank you so much for giving this topic time for a thoughtful conversation.
I read the Newsweek article about the end of life of Amanda's spouse. When are we, as people of the USA, going to do something about the Price Fixing of health care? When are we going to refuse to be "Profitized" in our health care system? When are we going to force our government to put a stop to this outrage.
I reviewed a family member who died a horrible death from Asbestiosis. For 18 months, the "Medical Professionals" Milked Medicare with falsified and trumped up care for "Profit". When I was asked to review his "Chart", and asked the doctor to meet with the family to review the treatment, the doctor refused. I called the State Medical Licensing board and verified that the doctor could not be compelled to meet with the family. He could just ignore our requests. All we could request was a "Confidential Review" by his peers at the Hospital who treated him and the "review would be confidential and not shared with the family".
What?
I got a doctor to review his chart. In 18 months, he was treated for 47 diseases (Forty seven) according to what was submitted to Medicare. Eventually, they operated with an "Experimental procedure" and he died shortly thereafter, not from the 47 diseases, but from the surgery.
The Medical Monopoly for Profit is breaking the bank and is driven by, as Amanda stated, Money. Money, Money, Money.
I have been to Australia, and other countries that have Universal Health Care, and it works at half the cost and there is not "cooking up treatments" for Profit at end of life.
Our President gave 18 months of his first term to Universal Health Care, and the Health Care Monopoly spent $1 Billion to defeat it and we wound up with less than a Single Payer system, that they are trying to kill and return to the "For Profit without boundaries" Medical Health Care Monopoly Fixing Prices at 8% annually".
Disgusting and how we are so stupid to allow the Price Fixing and "Profit Mongering" of the final stage of life.