Medicine is About Relationships

This month, Dr. Arjun Gupta, authored The Caregiver in The New England Journal of Medicine. His article is an insightful piece in which he shares his experience with Lara, the family caregiver of his patient, Ron. He perfectly expresses “at its core, oncology remains fundamentally about relationships — not just between patients and oncologists, but also with caregivers.” He also acknowledges how fortunate he was to be able to rely on Lara as a caregiver to Ron and even occasionally to himself.

Dr. Gupta recognizes the tremendous strength of caregivers as they shoulder numerous and varied responsibilities every day. He recounts that Lara “drove from the clinic to the pharmacy, picked up their daughter from school, brought her family home, walked the dogs, bought groceries, prepared dinner, and then spent hours catching up with a full-time professional job.” When the patient with a complex chronic condition is also your spouse, parent or child, you walk every step of the journey with them. Family members are part of the care team. Family caregivers do not get a day off.

Caregivers shouldn’t have added stress, uncertainty and instability from misguided Medicare policies like the Most Favored Nation (MFN) model. MFN will restrict access to therapies for Medicare patients, cause disruptions in treatment schedules and complicate access to personalized treatment. The burden of these care changes impact caregivers, particularly those caring for the sickest and most vulnerable. Join with Patients and Providers United and CONTACT CONGRESS NOW to preserve access to the medication, procedures and care recommended in comprehensive treatment plans physicians tailor for each patient.