Montreal Gazette - A life extended, savings depleted

In a piece about cancer medications that are not publicly funded and the patient has no recourse to private insurance, Petr Kavan, associate professor of oncology at McGill University and an oncologist at the Jewish General Hospital and Royal Victoria Hospital, says he’s “feeling more and more uncomfortable” proposing treatment regimens to patients who can’t afford them. But he’s also ethically bound to inform them of national and internationally recognized medical standards that would be beneficial.

“But at the same time I know that the patient has no private insurance, the drug is not covered in Quebec, and the hospital will not provide the medication because it has no budget for new drugs.

“So I don’t act in the patient’s best interest, because I’m making the situation worse,” said Kavan, who is calling for equal access to effective medication, particularly in Canada which extols universal health care.