The Law & Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer has become a popular option. Chemotherapy treatment involves several different legal issues. Some of these issues include medical malpractice, standards of care required in treating cancer, medical ethics, informed consent, confidentiality of medical records, possible bad faith insurance coverage denial and other insurance policy coverage considerations.

Chemotherapy Versus Other Treatment Options

• Chemotherapy employs strong drugs to kill cancer cell. Other cancer treatment options include holistic means---natural methods and a healthy diet---radiation therapy or a combination of these methods. The minimum treatment standards of care required for an oncologist physician are different with each these forms of treatment.

Legal Issues

• An oncologist's failure to meet reasonable treatment standards of care (i.e., failure to exercise due care that a "reasonable," competent physician would have used) can lead to a medical malpractice lawsuit. Physicians committing malpractice may also be disciplined by a state medical licensing board by the issuance of a public reproval, license probation, temporary license suspension or even a permanent bar from practicing medicine. Another major legal issue relative to the patient's course of treatment involves informed consent laws. Informed consent laws require that patients be informed of a diagnosis, treatment options, disclosure of risks and possible side effects that can occur with chemotherapy treatment.

Insurance Coverage

• Insurance policy coverage for the treatment of cancer by chemotherapy. Treating chemotherapy may not be covered in your medical insurance policy. A medical insurance company can, however, be held civilly liable for engaging in "bad faith" denial of coverage if your insurance claim is wrongfully denied for chemotherapy treatment (e.g., wrongfully denying coverage based on an alleged pre-existing condition).