Your Right to Know Treatment Options

We all have the right to make our own health care decisions. When making those decisions, it helps to be as informed about your condition and treatment options as possible. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen. You see, in addition to all of the wonderfully advanced aggressive treatments that modern medicine has to offer, there are other choices. Some of these choices make some health care providers very uncomfortable. Choices that may mean focusing on comfort and quality of life rather than curing an illness may be perceived as "giving up" and therefore may not presented as options to patients.

While this is usually an exception rather than a rule, it's important to know that to make informed decisions about your treatment options, you need to be in control and ask the right questions. After all, how can you make a decision that you didn't even know existed?

Read more about your right to know and how to make difficult decisions:

Your Right to Know about Treatment Options (and to Refuse Them)

6 questions for Your Doctor about Treatment Options

California's AB 2747, the Terminal Patients' Right to Know End-of-Life Options Act

Palliative Chemotherapy: 5 Questions for Your Doctor