Diary of a slow suicide

Among the very deadliest things around is cancer. It's the second leading cause of death in the United States, right after heart disease. If you're an American, or a citizen of one of the so-called industrialized nations, you probably know someone who has it, will know such a person in the future, will suffer cancer yourself, or--heaven forbid--it could likely be the cause of your own unfortunate passing.

Cancer is real. It's something we'll all have to think about at some point in our life.

And famously, there is no cure for the dread disease. However, medical science is getting closer and closer to sure-fire treatments. Among the most promising is the genetic re-engineering of viruses to attack cancerous cells in our bodies. This treatment is still in its earliest stages of experimentation, but perhaps one day it will be the thing that saves us all from the "big C."

Meanwhile, the standard treatment for cancer is to have the tumor removed surgically, if possible, and then to have either chemotherapy, radiation therapy or a combination of the two. The exact details of an individual's cancer treatment are best determined by a good doctor. The most fortunate among us will have a team of crack oncologists at our disposal.

Possibly the worst thing anyone can do once diagnosed with cancer is to leave the tumor intact and to try to treat the disease with “alternative therapies.” Yet, quite a lot of people make this choice. Among this population is one Susan Insole, a former British nurse and the mind behind the Natural Health Benefits website.

It's always encouraging to see those with strong ideas put their own physical well being on the line in support of their opinions. Aside from that, though, a bad idea is still a bad idea. Insole is not only forgoing a tumorectomy and subsequent treatment for her breast cancer, but she is also taking on a self-proscribed dietary regimen and chronicling the progress of her disease on the anti-medical website What Doctors Don't Tell You.

It is not an unusual thing at all to choose an alternative treatment over an actual one, but to make the additional decision to write about the process on the internet is something else entirely. Insole's story raises more issues than can be counted, among them the role that the internet plays in helping misguided people support one another in maintaining their delusions.

The best thing that can happen for Insole is for her cancer to go into spontaneous remission, despite her decision to avoid proper treatment. This is not likely, but all the same, we hope that it happens, despite any damage that such a turn of events will do to the public's opinion of science-based medicine.