You can change your mind later if you want to. In the UK, as an adult you can refuse medical care and treatment if you don't want to have it. Doctors can only give you treatment and medicines with your permission. You can set out your instructions about treatments you would like and which you don't want in a document called an advance decision.
This is called an advanced directive in Scotland. You could ask your doctor or nurse to talk to your family and explain how you feel, if this is a problem for you. When you have a terminal illness, your doctors may explain that they won't try to restart your heart and lungs if they stop working. Trying to restart them is called cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR. Of course, it might be very upsetting for you and your family to hear this. But your doctors are saying this because trying to start your heart and lungs again won't work if you are very ill with advanced cancer.
You also have the right to refuse CPR. You can discuss your views about CPR with your healthcare team. You can tell them whether or not you want them to try it. Your doctors write the decision in your medical notes. You make the advance decision, as long as you have the mental capacity to make such decisions.
You may want to make an advance decision with the support of a clinician. If you decide to refuse life-sustaining treatment in the future, your advance decision needs to be:. Read more about advance decisions and end of life care. Page last reviewed: 11 October Next review due: 11 October Do I have the right to refuse treatment?
In most cases yes. Voluntary and informed decisions For consent to treatment or refusal of treatment to be valid, the decision must be voluntary and you must be appropriately informed: Voluntary: you must make your decision to consent to or refuse treatment alone, and your decision must not be due to pressure by healthcare professionals, friends or family. Appropriately informed: you must be given full information about what the treatment involves, including the benefits and risks, whether there are reasonable alternative treatments, and what will happen if treatment does not go ahead.
We have many more chemotherapy drug options to choose from than ever before. These drugs may be used in combination with one another or with other innovative treatments, so they may be just one piece of your cancer care. More and better medications and supportive therapies are available to help patients prevent and manage potential side effects. Many patients are surprised to find that not everyone experiences hair loss , and some patients actually feel better after starting chemotherapy when it causes the disease to regress.
Can you refuse chemotherapy? Your doctor presents what he or she feels are the most appropriate treatment options for your specific cancer type and stage while also considering your overall health, but you have the right to make final decisions regarding your care.
To help you make an informed decision about the benefits and risks of chemotherapy, this article addresses:. How chemotherapy is used in treatment depends on the type and stage of the cancer and how aggressive it is.
Some cancers, such as an indolent lymphoma or prostate cancer , may not need immediate treatment, but chemotherapy may eventually be recommended if the cancer progresses. Other cancers require immediate treatment. Chemotherapy may be used alone as the primary treatment for a cancer, or it may be used in combination with other treatments, such as surgery , radiation therapy , targeted therapy or immunotherapy.
For example, in a patient with breast cancer, chemotherapy may be used before surgery, to try to shrink the tumor. The same patient may benefit from chemotherapy after surgery to try to destroy remaining cancer cells. Some of these patients may be able to take occasional breaks from treatment. Chemotherapy drugs are often delivered by infusion—a process that may take several hours.
Oral drugs, however, are now an option for many patients, which allows some patients the convenience of chemotherapy treatment at home. Other delivery options may include injections, topical creams and drugs that are injected directly in the abdominal cavity or the central nervous system.
The main benefit of chemotherapy is its potential to destroy cancer cells. It remains one of the most potent tools we have to fight cancer. The potential benefit to each patient depends on treatment goals, which depend on the type of cancer, how advanced it is and what the patient hopes to get out of treatment. Or the goal might be to control disease progression as much as possible.
In these cases, the benefit is obvious. Some patients say they actually feel better and have more energy soon after starting chemotherapy because the symptoms of their cancer regress.
Is chemotherapy worth it? The first discussion with your doctor needs to be: What are we trying to accomplish with treatment? You can then decide whether to proceed or consider other options.
While chemotherapy may kill rapidly growing cancer cells, the downside is that it may also damage healthy cells in the process. This is often the cause of some common side effects of chemotherapy. For example, chemotherapy may temporarily decrease the production of red and white blood cells in the bone marrow, which may lead to anemia, fatigue and a suppressed immune system.
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