Questions to ask about alternative and unproven cancer treatments
Be cautious
Ask questions
Confirm claims
Key points
Whether you are choosing a cancer specialist (surgeon and/or medical oncologist and/or radiation oncologist) or an alternative therapist, you need to be able to trust and talk openly with that person. This does not mean that you need to have warm feelings for each other. The person you choose may not even be very friendly! However, you will need to feel that they are expert, approachable, respectful, supportive and able to meet your needs for information and advice.
One way of finding out if the person is expert is to ask questions about their qualifications and experience.
Here are some questions that may help when you choose a medical or alternative practitioner. (You could ask your general practitioner some of these questions, if he or she is referring you to a specialist.)
- What training does the practitioner have? Is their degree from an educational institution you know of or can find out about?
- Does the practitioner treat patients in hospitals where doctors are trained?
- What will the practitioner charge for a visit? How many visits will you need to make?
- Are there additional costs, for example, for different stages of treatment or additional expertise?
- Is the practitioner willing to refer you to publications that demonstrate that the treatment works?
- Are they members of a professional group that registers and represents that group of specialists in dealing with state and federal departments of health?
Also ask yourself if you are comfortable with the practitioner. Do you feel that they are attentive, trustworthy and level-headed?
Do you know other people who have been patients or clients of the practitioner? What do they say about them?
You may wish to find out more about the treatment the practitioner recommends. To find out if a treatment is worth trying, be cautious, ask questions and confirm claims.
Be cautious
You don't have to uncritically accept any claims made by a person seeking to treat you. You may trust the practitioner, and still wish to independently check their advice. Beware of 'pseudoscience': things that sound very scientific and plausible but which are not actually backed up by evidence of proven benefit.
Ask questions
You will be surer of the treatment if you get satisfactory answers to the following questions:
- In what way will this treatment benefit me?
- What results can I expect to see?
- Are there any long-term risks associated with this treatment? If so, what are they?
- What side effects do people have with this treatment?
- How much will it cost?
- Will Medicare/my private health insurance cover the cost?
- How long will the treatment take?
- When could I expect to see a result from the treatment?
- How many people have received this treatment?
- How many of them responded?
- What happened to the ones that didn't respond?
- What's in it for the person offering me this treatment?
Confirm claims
Established treatments are subjected to scientific testing. This means:
- the theory behind a proposed treatment is based on accepted scientific principles
- testing on animals usually occurs before a new treatment is tested on humans
- the results of these trial/s are published in 'peer-reviewed' medical and scientific journals. This means that other specialists with expertise in the field check that the study was conducted correctly and that the results are valid.
- the results of trials are also verified by trials from specialist cancer hospitals throughout the world.
If you want to check that a treatment has been trialled and the results published, you can do a literature search through a medical library or via PubMed. A health information service for consumers may be able to help you, for example the Cancer Council Helpline 13 11 20.
Key points
- Ask your cancer specialist questions that are important to you: Will the treatment work? How do they know the treatment will work? When will I see results? What side effects can occur? How much will it cost?
- Be sure that you have confidence in the practitioner. If you don't have confidence in a cancer specialist, ask your general practitioner for referral to another specialist. If you are seeking to change alternative practitioners, your general practitioner or a trusted friend or adviser may be able to refer you on.
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Updated September 2004
