"When many cures are offered for a disease, it means the disease is not curable" -Anton Chekhov
''Once you tell people there's a cure for something, the more likely they are to pressure doctors to prescribe it.'' -Robert Ehrlich, drug advertising executive.
"Opinions are like sphincters, everyone has one." - Chris Rangel
Power of Myth: A disconcertingly high number of patients believe that contact with air makes lung cancer worse. As a result, many refuse to have their lung cancers resected:
Thirty-eight percent of patients who responded to a survey in five urban clinics believed the myth that cancer spreads when exposed to air during surgery.
....Of the 38 percent who said they believed that cancer spreads when exposed to air, 24 percent said they would reject lung cancer surgery based on that belief. Nineteen percent said they would reject surgery even if their doctor told them the belief had no scientific basis.
