Dr. Redberg said doctors recently treated her mother for melanoma – the most serious type of skin cancer. After the cancer was removed from her leg, Dr. Redberg’s mother was urged by a doctor to undergo an additional surgery to cut away more tissue and nearby lymph nodes, which can harbor cancerous cells.
“Every time she went in, the dermatologist wanted to refer her to a surgeon,” Dr. Redberg said. And “Medicare would have been happy to pay for it.”
But her mother often has problems with wounds healing, she said, and recovery would likely have taken 3 months. When Dr. Redberg pressed a surgeon about the benefits, he said the procedure could reduce the chances of cancer coming back within 3-5 years.
Dr. Redberg said her mother laughed and said, “I’m not interested in doing something that will help me in 3-5 years. I doubt I’ll be here.”