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Hugh H. Hussey, MD

JAMA. 1976;236(10):1150.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

This editorial is not about a military march; more nearly, a parade of incensed demonstrators comes to mind.

The story begins with the March 28, 1976, issue of Parade—a magazine supplement inserted in many Sunday editions of newspapers. That issue published an article by Donald Robinson that struck a spark with its banner line—"Does Your Doctor Know How to Treat Cancer?"—and then huffed and puffed to light a flame.

Just as unchecked cancer spreads like fire throughout the body, cancerphobia spreads through the mind and so damages personal fulfillment of the individual as sometimes to be a threat of substantial magnitude. And Robinson's message was calculated to have that effect. To whet the reader's appetite for scandal, the author described the cases of cancer in two women whose initial attending physicians were portrayed as inept and whose lives were saved because they somehow (Robinson doesn't say how) received "curative" . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Address editorial communications to the Editor, 535 N Dearborn St, Chicago 60610

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