Confronting Stigma From Opioid Use Diorder in Cancer Care

by Fitzgerald Jones, Ho, Sager, Rosielle and MerlinHave you ever been so distressed by a perspective piece that it kept you up at night? The type of rumination that fills you with so much angst that you have no choice but to act. This is exactly how we felt when we read theAAHPM Quarterly Winter 2020 Let ’s Think About It Again.1 (member paywall)The column, which is structured as a sort of written debate in which two authors argue a clinical question, describes a case of a 45-year-old man with severe substance use disorder (SUD) recently diagnosed with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer. He was offered aggressive chemotherapy and a referral to a clinic to address his opioid use disorder but did not follow up in the SUD clinic and later presented to an emergency department after a heroin overdose that reversed with naloxone. At his oncology follow-up, he expresses a desire to proceed with chemotherapy but a reluctance to take medication for addiction, stating he can manage his heroin use on his own. The case  notes a history of long standing depression and recent homelessness.  The column then poses the question: Should a patient be offered chemotherapy if he does not receive appropriate care for his ongoing SUD?Two authors then wrote their different responses to that question (yes give him chemo, or no). Should a patient be offered chemotherapy if he does not receive appropriate care for his ongoing SUD? If this question does not immed...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Care Tags: ftigerald jones ho merlin rosielle sager Source Type: blogs