The cost of cancer treatments has been rising steadily since their introduction, but why? A simple reason is this:

The longer you are sick, the more money they make.

Since 1995, the price of 58 leading cancer treatments has increased by 10 percent every year. And the effectiveness of the treatments doesn’t seem to be improving, but the prices keep rising. Why?

Because they want to keep making more money.

Who are “they”? Well, big-pharma, naturally. The Genentechs and Bristol-Myers Squibbs in the world of Pay-Per-Pharma, who keep our health, and lives, in their back pockets. Right next to their ever-inflating wallet.

Genentech, in 2004, introduced Avastin, a drug used to combat late-stage colorectal cancers. The treatment offered a five month life-extension at $50, 000 per session. That’s $10, 000 a month. And that was 2004.

In 2011, Bristol-Meyers Squibb unleashed Yervoy on the world. Yervoy is a $120, 000 treatment for melanoma. The average life-extension? Four months. That’s $30, 000 per month.

That’s crazy, is what it is.

But when the treatment may be your only hope, you’ve got to consider “crazy” as a possibility. It sounds twisted. It sounds unfair. And it certainly sounds contrary to the Hippocratic Oath, to which our doctors swear.

“I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.”

Where is the warmth in selling treatments with inflated prices? Where is the sympathy when drug corporations only allow doctors to sell one type of treatment with diminishing outcomes at prices that constantly inflate?

“…I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being…”

Treat, not the cancer, but the human. And doctors shouldn’t just treat patients, but treat them well, treat them nicely.

The word “treat” is an interesting one; as a noun a treat is something we want, something we’re given when we deserve it. With doctors, this treat came at the end of our childhood visits in the form of a lollipop.

As a verb, ‘treat’ has much more to do with doctors.

‘To treat’ means to consider or deal with in an according way, as in, “to treat a matter with importance.” A matter such as cancer. Another form of the verb is quite literally to deal with a suffering patient in hopes of achieving a remedy or cure.

Doctors should treat the patient, and treat them like a human being.

“I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings…”

Not just special obligations to big medical corporations that pay. Not just special obligations to big-pharma and the bottom line. That is the real reason the price of cancer treatments has skyrocketed.

Cancer is scary. We still don’t know exactly where it comes from. We do understand that is an overgrowth of cells, which attacks our immune systems and overall health. But is it unavoidable?

As of right now, the best way to avoid cancer is to eat healthy, whole, unprocessed foods and to maintain an active, healthy lifestyle. Stay away from smoking, drinking, and fast foods, and stay informed about new types and causes of cancer.

Is cancer curable?

Yes and no. If detected early, cancer can be pushed into remission. This may or may not rid the body of cancer. Cancer is curable, but not always.

The drug corporations continue to profit from society’s sicknesses. And the worst part about Pay-Per-Pharma? Price depends on price, not value.

Price should depend on value.

The price of new medication is based on the prices of existing medications. Even if the meds have nothing to do with each other. As long as the price of new meds isn’t bumped up too much higher than existing ones, doctors can explain the price of new drugs by saying they “fall in line with other cancer treatments.”

Drug manufacturers are not looking to make better, longer-lasting cancer treatment drugs. Why? Because drugs that work, sell; drugs that only just work, sell more. A lot more.

The last paragraph of the Hippocratic Oath seems to be constantly overlooked by our trusted medical professionals:

“If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art… May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help…”

The oath is violated and yet, our doctors constantly have the means to enjoy life and art. Do they always act to preserve the finest traditions? Or are those traditions evolving into an ugly, money-fuelled beast?

The longer we seek, the harder we fall

“…And may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.”

And the longer we seek their help, the longer the they’ll experience the financial joys of treating us. Treating us to cancer meds that don’t quite cure, that continue to rise in price, that are less and less effective.