BMJ  2007;334:18 (6 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39080.481551.47

observations

Sucked into the Herceptin maelstrom

Jane Keidan, consultant haematologist

1 Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn NHS Trust

Jane.Keidan@qehkl.nhs.uk Breast cancer patient and doctor Jane Keidan narrowly escaped being turned into a media star when campaigning to get prescribed Herceptin. Is this what patients seeking best treatment are now driven to?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I was diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer in August 2005. Before my diagnosis, I had little knowledge of the modern management of breast cancer and, like many patients, used online resources for information. The Breast Cancer Care website was running a campaign to make Herceptin (trastuzumab) available to all HER2+ women and I signed up. I simply could not understand from the data presented on the website and in the media why such an effective agent should be denied to women who, if they relapsed, would receive it anyway. The logic seemed flawed. I wrote letters to everyone—both primary care trusts (PCTs) in the area, the chair of policy at the Cancer Network, my member of parliament, the prime minister, the chief executives of the strategic health authority and the hospital trust—asking when and if the drug would be made available to me and other HER2+ women.

In the . . . [Full text of this article]


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Wilson, P. M, Booth, A. M, Eastwood, A., Watt, I. S (2008). Deconstructing media coverage of trastuzumab (Herceptin): an analysis of national newspaper coverage. JRSM 101: 125-132 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Breast Cancer Care response
Christine Fogg
bmj.com, 6 Jan 2007 [Full text]
Weathering media maelstroms
Christine E Hine
bmj.com, 8 Jan 2007 [Full text]
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