failed to understand “If you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more ..

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Does “If you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more, there can be a bit of finger-pointing going on” mean "If you are diagnosed to have develop cancer, and then you are waiting doctors to find out more cancers in your body, there will be contradicted results to come for you"?

Context:

“The standard in the field is that you shouldn’t be making decisions based on things we don’t understand, but it’s very complicated,” says cancer geneticist Fergus Couch of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “If you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more, there can be a bit of finger-pointing going on.”

More:
http://www.nature.com/news/gene-counsellors-expect-resurgence-of-jolie-effect-1.17184

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 581 • Replies: 7

[+3] - FBM - 04/11/2015Find out more about the causes and most effective treatments for cancer. If doctors insist on waiting until they know everything about cancer before doing treatments or making recommendations on...

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

Mark: zero replies.

0 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Does “If you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more, there can be a bit of finger-pointing going on” mean "If you are diagnosed to have develop cancer, and then you are waiting doctors to find out more cancers in your body, there will be contradicted results to come for you"?

I don't think so.

The "while you’re waiting to find out more" is talking about people who have developed one of those mutations that are of unknown risk given humanity's present level of knowledge. If they wait for more research to be done, it will eventually become clear whether or not the mutation is likely to cause cancer.

"Finger-pointing" refers to accusations or blaming (or maybe blame shifting, if someone wants to argue that they shouldn't be blamed for a problem because else is responsible for causing it).

So it is saying that if someone has one of these ambiguous mutations, if they develop cancer while they are waiting for the scientific community to decide whether their mutation is deadly, there can be recriminations.

1 Reply

@oralloy,

oralloy wrote:

oristarA wrote:
Does “If you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more, there can be a bit of finger-pointing going on” mean "If you are diagnosed to have develop cancer, and then you are waiting doctors to find out more cancers in your body, there will be contradicted results to come for you"?

I don't think so.

The "while you’re waiting to find out more" is talking about people who have developed one of those mutations that are of unknown risk given humanity's present level of knowledge. If they wait for more research to be done, it will eventually become clear whether or not the mutation is likely to cause cancer.

"Finger-pointing" refers to accusations or blaming (or maybe blame shifting, if someone wants to argue that they shouldn't be blamed for a problem because else is responsible for causing it).

So it is saying that if someone has one of these ambiguous mutations, if they develop cancer while they are waiting for the scientific community to decide whether their mutation is deadly, there can be recriminations.

Thank you Oralloy.

Two questions remained:

(1) "More" what in "to find out more"? More mutaions? Or more details about the mutation that has been found?

(2) there can be recriminations between doctors and patients?

2 Replies

@oristarA,

Find out more about the causes and most effective treatments for cancer.

If doctors insist on waiting until they know everything about cancer before doing treatments or making recommendations on how to prevent it, then they can be blamed by the public for their inaction. A lot of people will develop cancer while the doctors are waiting to learn everything. The dilemma is that doctors have to work with incomplete information, even if they're not confident that the chosen treatment (or prevention) will ultimately be the best one.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

(1) "More" what in "to find out more"? More mutaions? Or more details about the mutation that has been found?

The second one: More details about the mutation that has already been found.

That part of the article was talking about mutations that we don't presently know much about, and don't know if the mutation causes cancer or is harmless. It may even turn out to be helpful.

It takes time to conduct more research before we find out what the nature of the mutation is. If the mutation causes someone to get cancer while they are waiting to find out if it is dangerous, they might be upset about having waited around doing nothing when they could have been having their breasts and ovaries removed to prevent the cancer.

oristarA wrote:

(2) there can be recriminations between doctors and patients?

Not always, but it happens. Lawsuits as well.

There can also be recriminations between doctors and/or scientists.

0 Replies

@FBM,

FBM wrote:

Find out more about the causes and most effective treatments for cancer.

If doctors insist on waiting until they know everything about cancer before doing treatments or making recommendations on how to prevent it, then they can be blamed by the public for their inaction. A lot of people will develop cancer while the doctors are waiting to learn everything. The dilemma is that doctors have to work with incomplete information, even if they're not confident that the chosen treatment (or prevention) will ultimately be the best one.

Your explanation could be understood clearly. But the author says "if you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more" - that is, a patient develops cancer and the patient waiting, not doctors waiting.

0 Replies

"“If you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more, there can be a bit of finger-pointing going on.”

Let's say a woman gets a mammogram and her physician, after reading the report of the radiologist, tells the patient, that the results of her mammography are not definitive.

The physician suggests to the patient, that they accept what is called in medicine
"A wait and see " attitude. Let us wait and see, if the observed lesion under goes changes suggestive of the necessity for further tests/evaluations.

Sometimes, nothing serious comes of waiting and seeing. The so-called lesion doesn't change or even disappears from the mammogram. On the other hand, there is of course the possibility that the lesion, being pre-cancerous becomes what is medically defined as "cancerous". This event may lead to "finger-pointing" and possible legal action against the hospital, the physician and the radiologist.

Of even a more serious nature, is the death of the patient...a death that could have been prevented.

0 Replies

failed to understand “If you develop cancer while you’re waiting to find out more ..

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know