THE DOCTOR AS PATIENT

Doctors are experts in guiding patients through the healthcare maze. But what happens when the tables are turned and the doctor becomes the patient, faced with his or her own personal battle against cancer?

While doctors are quick to acknowledge that they have been fortunate to be able to consult with colleagues who either are, or can recommend, top doctors in the field, they admit that ultimately they take the same approaches that they would recommend to their patients.

"People think that if you’re a doctor, you can handle this kind of diagnosis better," said Dr. Dara Richardson-Heron, an internist who completed her medical training and residency at New York University Langone Medical Center and is currently CEO of the Greater New York Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. In 1997, at the age of 34, Dr. Richardson-Heron discovered she had breast cancer, just one month after getting married. "When you learn you have cancer," she continued, "all your medical training leaves you for a few minutes and you think about your own mortality. When I was training at NYU in the mid- to-late 80s, I saw many women with breast cancer, and they almost always died."

Immediately after her diagnosis, Dr. Richardson-Heron began to look for more information online and at medical libraries, and requested studies from the National Cancer Institute. "As I started researching about breast cancer in younger women, I became more afraid because I discovered that in women younger than 40, and particularly in African Americans, breast cancer was really aggressive," she said. "It was very frightening."

Trusted Colleagues

Ultimately, Dr. Richardson-Heron discovered that her best resource was her professors in medical school. They provided her with advice and she felt secure entrusting them with her care. "When you are diagnosed with cancer, you need a physician that has excellent judgment, as well as concern and care for you," she said. "When you are a doctor who is diagnosed with cancer, you may know too much, and your medical judgment could become clouded."

This clouded judgment was apparent, she said, when she told her oncologist that she would prefer not to take a specific chemotherapy drug because she knew it would cause hair loss. "My doctor let me have it, because I was choosing vanity over what was best for me," said Dr. Richardson-Heron, who underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, and now is an 11-year breast cancer survivor.

"It’s so important to get the best physician you can possibly find at the outset of your diagnosis, because it allays your fears," she added. She recommends reaching out to comprehensive cancer centers for recommendations, researching doctors’ credentials online, consulting physician referral services and exploring recommendations from trusted friends, family or support groups.

Expert Advice

For Dr. Ronald M. Davis, a preventive medicine specialist at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and immediate past president of the American Medical Association, finding an expert in pancreatic cancer was his primary mission after being diagnosed in February 2008.

"Pancreatic cancer is one of the worst cancers you can have from the standpoint of mortality statistics, even if you catch it at an early stage. When I was diagnosed, it had already spread to my liver, making me ineligible for surgery," Dr. Davis said. "One of the things I wanted to do, given the challenging odds, was to consult an oncologist who is an expert in dealing with this type of cancer."

Davis knew there was a lot of research underway about treatments for pancreatic cancer, but felt that, even with his medical knowledge, there was too much information for him to track down and sort through as a patient. "I felt like I needed someone who was already following that research and who could give me guidance on what it meant for me, and what tried and true treatment options were available for people in my situation," he said.

Dr. Davis talked to many of his medical colleagues, including his step-brother, a rheumatologist at Evanston Hospital in Illinois who put him in touch with a surgeon there who has treated many pancreatic cancer patients. That surgeon recommended Dr. Robert Wolff, a leading pancreatic cancer specialist who is based at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.