The Big C: Cathy Goes For Treatment

In this week’s episode, Boo!, Cathy wakes up in the morning eager and ready to start treatment on a clinical trial. The day doesn’t go well – the local treatment center doesn’t have needed information about her insurance, which can’t be tracked down on time, her 15 year old son gets in trouble at school, and her husband loses his job.

That kind of day – when it seems like everything possible that can go wrong, goes wrong – will seem familiar to many if not all cancer patients. 

But the show continues to fail in providing any meaningful cancer information whatsoever. OK, I’m starting to accept the fact that ratings would suffer if the doctor gave even a 30 second mini-talk on BRAF mutations in melanoma. There will be no science on Showtime. But the scriptwriters could, at least, have included the discussion of the doctor and Cathy’s signing informed consent for the trial. There’s not a word about what treatment she’s getting, or what the shots she took in the last episode were for.

You’ve got to wonder if Laura Linney’s character, the “patient,” understands the purpose of the trial she’s on, the nature of the experimental treatment and risks.  The FDA approved Yervoy (ipilimumab) for patients with advanced melanoma months ago (considered here). Did her oncologist offer her that drug and, if so, why did she choose the clinical trial? Might the oncologist have a conflict of interest, in regard to the research? Is Cathy enrolled in a Phase I, II or III trial?

Please tell me something about her treatment! So far I see the Big C as a lost opportunity for teaching about cancer medicine – through humor and the potential talent of a terrific actress, or about meaningful and realistic patient-doctor relationships, or about informed consent.

If I hadn’t said I would follow the show and post on it this season, I’m not sure I’d bother watching it any further.

But I’m a compulsive sort of doctor-blogger-patient: I’ll keep watching it, at least for this year’s episodes, and I’ll keep you posted, in case you care about Cathy’s predicament, or if you want to share her thoughts on the show.

—

Related Posts:

• How Much Do You Want Your Doctors To Say About Risks of Treatment?
• What’s Next on the Big C? (Hopefully a Second Opinion)
• Interleukin 2, Cathy’s Planned Treatment in the Big C
• Does Cathy Make the Right Cancer Treatment Decision in the Big C?
• A Conference on Bioethics and Humanities, and Future Planning