Specialists urged to think about patients’ wallets
20th June 2016
By Kathryn Ryan
Specialists who fail to disclose all costs that might affect a patient’s treatment decisions have been slammed by two of the country’s leading cancer experts.

The rapid rise in out-of-pocket costs is described as “financial toxicity” by Professor David Currow, CEO of the Cancer Institute NSW, and Professor Sanchia Aranda, CEO of the Cancer Council Australia.
Writing in this week’s Medical Journal of Australia, they say: “Procedures and interventions, at times with marginal health gains, are being promoted actively, frequently with high costs and little