A man recently was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His name was Ulysses. He was an older man and likely would do well but his degree and involvement of tumor were significant and the physicians felt he should be treated. After discussion, they chose radiation therapy and, because of some studies showing an advantage when given concurrently, a pituitary agonist which exhausts pituitary stimulus of male hormone and consequently lowers hormone levels was prescribed to be given with the radiation. The therapy was disallowed by Medicare because of a conflict between the diagnosis and the gender: They did not know that Ulysses--an ancient name of a famous warrior and the name of a famous Civil War general and U.S. President--was a man's name and they thought prostate cancer therapy was being planned for a woman. More, they thought the people taking care of him could make such an error--or a fraud.
These are simply not serious people.
These are simply not serious people.
No comments:
Post a Comment