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Can you treat cancer with surgery?

On Behalf of | Feb 18, 2020 | Surgical Errors |

People often talk about chemotherapy as one method of treating cancer, and it certainly is common. It is notorious for being hard on the body, as the chemo itself can make you feel sick — as it destroys the cancer.

It is important to note, though, that chemo is not the only option. In many cases, it is possible to use surgery. Though some types of surgery do have long recovery times, many are actually easier to get through than chemo.

For instance, superficial skin cancer that has not spread to other body parts is often treated with surgery. A doctor may be able to cut off all of the cancerous cells in an hour or less, fully removing the disease so that it cannot spread at all.

Of course, surgery is not always possible. One main example is when a person has a brain tumor. Some tumors are positioned in such a way that doing surgery would also do extensive damage to the brain or may even kill the patient. In a case like that, doctors will explore other options.

It is important for doctors and surgeons to decide on the right type of treatment. Ignoring surgery when it could eliminate the disease puts the patient at risk, but so does doing surgery when there is not a proper margin of safety. Plus, doctors who make mistakes during surgery or in post-op care can also harm patients and may even cause fatalities.

Those who experience these errors, and the family members of those who pass away, must know what legal options they have.

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