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Cancer Care Institutions and Advertising-Reply.

Cancer Care Institutions and Advertising To the Editor The editorial by Schwartz and Woloshin1 in a recent issue of JAMA Internal Medicine raises important legal and ethical questions about the role of advertising in helping inform patients about possible treatment options and the choice of where to receive care. We concur with the recommendation that a common standard should apply to all cancer care advertising, regardless of the for-profit or not-for-profit status of the institution. These recommendations should be developed by an industry task force composed of oncologists and clinicians who are actively practicing in oncology-related fields and guided by input from those we serve: patients with cancer and their caregivers. In our judgment, the editorial by Schwartz and Woloshin1 fails to raise a fundamental question we must address as clinicians. Specifically, the question should not be whether institutions that provide cancer care advertise or the extent to which they do. Rather, it should be whether any organization or entity should have the authority to restrict patient access to information they may find helpful as they evaluate treatment options and centers. We firmly believe patients have an absolute right to access this information, and advertising represents an efficient way to disseminate it. This right should not be compromised or obstructed. As evidenced by the increase in advertising cited in the editorial by Schwartz and Woloshin,1 other cancer care centers (including several leading national academic medical centers) have elected to use this channel as a timely and efficient way to disseminate information to patients. Educated decision making leads to a much greater likelihood of patients selecting the treatment, clinician, and center that reflect their personal preferences. Advertising is certainly not a perfect solution. But the medical community must be aware of the information that patients value and provide that information in a timely and comprehensible way. Patients with cancer have the right to access the latest information on treatment options from any source they find helpful as they prepare for what is likely to be the most important decision they will ever make. We have a responsibility to give them that information, even if imperfect, rather than decide what information they should have, or how it should be presented.