Cancer Treatment Centers of America, anybody?

They turned down treatment of my sister because she was on Medicare and not wealthy.  They will only accept patients that have at least a 95% chance of total remission.  They only want "good commercial material"....they don't care about the actual patient.  My niece works at one as a dietician and she verified that they only want to "treat" people who can be "cured" easily.  They are smoke and mirrors and strictly for profit.

Phoenix Rising said:

What a sham

That is one big cancer sham. Anything for money.

I did some more goodling and the founder of the company is affiliated and sponsers many of the lobbing groups sponsored by the Koch brothers and supporting the tea baggers.

Icemantoo

srbelle1 said:

in the first week following

in the first week following my husband's diagnosis, this place was one of my many calls and was told they didn't accept Medicare.

That was it for me; a part of the Tea Party, Koch brothers????? Oh, wow!

sarah

Upon Dx in 2006, I was grasping at straws.  CTCA would be more than happy to set up an appointment with me, run tests that had already been done, and see what they could recomment.  And this would have been after traveling from Southern Oregon to Phoenix, AZ, getting a motel room, renting a car, etc. etc.  Then go home and come back for treatment later, if they could do anything.  And I do remember them saying that I had good insurance.

I went with radical surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University for the Stage IV in the kidney, liver, and nodes. They felt they removed all sites and because there were no active sites, I didn't fit into a trial and they didn't want to use any of the other drugs that were approved at that time.  Yes, the cancer appeared two more times in nodes, which were surgically removed.

On the flip side, a new member at our support group here, was living in Phoenix when she was diagnosed.  As an RN, she knew what she was going through and chose CTCA. I think she was satisfied with the center, but made some other changes in her life and has come back to Oregon to finish treatment and be closer to family.

It's your body, your choice.Good Luck

Donna

gatorbob said:

Bad MoJo

May I remind IceManToo the purpose of this site is to assist those fighting a horrible disease to find someone who might help make their journey a little easier!!!! It is NOT a place to air your political point of view!!! To do so is a slap in the face to all those seeking help and all those trying to give it. There are plenty of sites dedicated to that. Find one!!!!

As an aside......the term"teabagger" is street talk for Child Molester.A bad lable to assign to anyone when "you knoweth not where you speak".

BC

Even if I disagreed with Iceman's politics, I don't think his intention was to bring anyone down. When you are dealing with major health issues, I think it's important to know the priorities of your providers. For-profit and aligning yourself politically with controversial allies may make some people rethink using your services. If their concern is about money (ie making sure they only provide to wealthy and those with good insurance), some might rethink using their services. it's good to have all the information when making decisions. 

Phoenix Rising said:

Misunderstanding

I don't think Icemantoo meant "teabaggers" in a sexual or vulgar sense.... he meant Tea Party supporters, right?  And if CTCA is a money syphon that is not the altruistic organization that it makes itself out to be, and does not truly lend to improving all our lives, yet takes our money for the purpose of supporting political causes-- be they Republican, Democrat, muskrat... I don't mind the mention of it.  I have now done my own research, as well, but I wanted to hear from my forum friends, because that is what we are here to do.  We are here to inform and support each other.  Someone else may have these same questions and may gain knowledge from our responses without participating in the conversation.

**Steps down from soapbox**

Carry on!  Anybody else have experience with CTCA?

Pointing at you Phoenix! It's good to know what you're paying for and what the priorities of your providers are. I would feel the same no matter what political alliance CTCA has. And while the word teabaggers may have another meaning, context is important. I try not to be offended as much as possible!

mrs_blkjak said:

What he said!

Pointing at you Phoenix! It's good to know what you're paying for and what the priorities of your providers are. I would feel the same no matter what political alliance CTCA has. And while the word teabaggers may have another meaning, context is important. I try not to be offended as much as possible!

I agree that context is important and I too think people get too offended too easily. I also agree that you should know what you paying for and who you are signing those checks for!! I looked into CTCA in the spring and for the same "for-profit" reasons decided to stay away, same for my family members that have/had cancer.

Truth is - the term never had a another meaning until someone made a bad joke - KNOWING full well what they were doing.  Just because someone calls someone else a derogatory name and then says - "oh I only meant to offend you because of some other quality I dislike about you," doesn't make it ok.

Context is important - just as "There is a time and a place" - and this is niether in my opinion. I just don't think it's ever ok to go out of one's way to be rude and call people names just because one can ...not sure why thats a bad thing...

ok Im done now lol

As a side note -  I am niether a member of the Tea Party or Republican Party.

MeMeJoy said:

Agree

I agree that context is important and I too think people get too offended too easily. I also agree that you should know what you paying for and who you are signing those checks for!! I looked into CTCA in the spring and for the same "for-profit" reasons decided to stay away, same for my family members that have/had cancer.

Truth is - the term never had a another meaning until someone made a bad joke - KNOWING full well what they were doing.  Just because someone calls someone else a derogatory name and then says - "oh I only meant to offend you because of some other quality I dislike about you," doesn't make it ok.

Context is important - just as "There is a time and a place" - and this is niether in my opinion. I just don't think it's ever ok to go out of one's way to be rude and call people names just because one can ...not sure why thats a bad thing...

ok Im done now lol

 

As a side note -  I am niether a member of the Tea Party or Republican Party.

I will try and stay more relevant. I have been worked up the past few weeks about so called patriots and how particularly obnoxios they are and how damaging I and many others believe they are to the country. Discovering that the founder of CTCA and the Koch brothers who I fear are likewise dangerous had a fundraising connectiion together just got me a little worked up.

I should of stopped where I started off with suggesting that the reader google the hits for CTCA that are not self generated and that would have been sufficient. Checking the founder of CATC on Wikepedia just made my blood boil.  From now on I will try and act apoitical which fortunately I am not.

Really I will try to tone down my politics.

Icemantoo

Can't make everybody happy.

I guess I will go back to limiting my advice to Kidney Cancer where it belongs.

Icemantoo