Legal needs of cancer patients not being met

Cancer patients have significant concerns about legal-medical issues that are not being adequately addressed and impact the quality of their lives, according to a study conducted by Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Results of the study were published in a recent issue of Cancer and presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.

“The objectives of the study were to identify specific medically related legal needs of cancer patients, the importance of these needs to patients, the extent to which these needs are addressed in their standard care and their impact on the quality of life of patients,” said Michael A. Zevon, PhD, Chairman of Psychosocial Oncology at Roswell Park.

Zevon and his colleagues Steven Schwabish, PhD, James Donnelly, PhD, and Kerry Rodabaugh, MD assessed how well the legal concerns of cancer patients were being addressed by 50 patients (28 women and 22 men, mean age 52) to identify and rate legal needs associated with their cancer care. Patients identified 30 medically related legal needs and results of a multidimensional scaling analysis identified four distinct medical-legal areas experienced by patients.

Patients rated all of the medical-legal areas as important to their quality of life, with legal needs related to their health care exhibiting the strongest relationship to their quality of life, followed by employment related legal needs, financial planning and estate related needs. Despite the clear association of medical-legal needs and patient quality of life, patients reported that these needs were not being adequately addressed in their standard medical and supportive care.

“It seems we are falling short in meeting the medically related legal needs of these patients," notes Dr. Zevon. "These findings underscore the need to integrate legal resources into cancer care to enhance the quality of life of patients and reduce the stress associated with treatment of life-threatening illnesses.”

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation's first cancer research, treatment and education center and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation's leading cancer centers. Roswell Park has affiliate sites and collaborative programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and in China.