An acquaintance of mine is dying, slowly. He was diagnosed with lung cancer 3 years ago. During that time I have seen him change from a good-looking man in the prime of life(glossy black hair, sparkling dark eyes, honey-colored skin) to an emaciated shell in a wheelchair, gray, bald, half-blind.

How much money is being made off of Cesar's death?

I don't know. Couldn't weed through the data on individual's costs. I do know that cancer is a HUGE moneymaker overall. It's a growth industry! And the longer they can stretch out the decline, the more money there is to be made.






http://progressreport.cancer.gov/doc_detail.asp?pid=1&did=2005&chid=25&coid=2...


"The financial costs of cancer treatment are a burden to people diagnosed with cancer, their families, and society as a whole. Cancer treatment accounted for an estimated $72.1 billion in 2004. This is just under 5 percent of total U.S. spending for medical treatment. Between 1995 and 2004, the overall costs of treating cancer increased by 75 percent. In the near future it is expected that cancer costs may increase at a faster rate than overall medical expenditures. As the population ages, the absolute number of people treated for cancer will increase faster than the overall population, and cancer cases will increase relative to other disease categories-even if cancer incidence rates remain constant or decrease somewhat. Costs also are likely to increase at the individual level as new, more advanced, and more expensive treatments are adopted as standards of care."

extracted from govt. doublespeak on "survival rates".


http://www.epa.gov/oppt/coi/pubs/II_5.pdf


"Although most lung cancer patients will die of lung cancer, some may die of other causes."

Costs associated with lung cancer were assigned to three post-diagnostic
time periods:
• initial treatment, during the first three months following diagnosis;
• maintenance care, between initial and terminal treatment; and
• terminal treatment during the final six months prior to death.

~"terminal treatment"? I'll say.

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Clint Eastwood, in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"~ "Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy."

beg to differ, Josey. Death is lucrative.