Doctors need to stop speculating about Kate Middleton

No, you don't know if 'preventive chemotherapy' means adjuvant chemotherapy, so please just decline commenting to the press.

I always find it shameless when a celebrity becomes ill and armchair doctors chime in about their condition. In 2016, Jonathan Reiner said this about Carrie Fisher’s mother, who died very shortly after her daughter.

But his comment turned out to be not only in poor taste, but also incorrect.

Last week, Kate Middleton announced she had cancer, which was found during abdominal surgery, and was receiving ‘preventive chemotherapy’. That’s as vague as it gets, and no good doctor would assume anything about a person’s medical history from that.

Enter the latest cycle of uninformed doctors. Here, they try to explain what preventive chemotherapy means, but in doing so, make assumptions that have not been verified.

Just 3 examples:

#1

#2

#3

Here is the problem: Adjuvant chemotherapy is a well described medical term, but preventive chemotherapy is a colloquialism. None of these doctors actually knows if Kate Middleton is getting adjuvant therapy, and it is possible she meant something different by the term preventive. For some patients, all chemotherapy may be preventive — as it aims to prevent something worse.

If a patient saw me in clinic and said, the other doctor gave me preventive chemotherapy. I would not say, “of course, I know exactly what you mean… you must have gotten 4-6 cycles of the usual adjuvant chemotherapy we give every 3-4 weeks.” I would call over to the other office and, with the patient’s permission, get a copy of all the records — because I am not incompetent.

Here is what interests me the most: What sort of doctor agrees to speak to a reporter about another person’s cancer diagnosis when you know nothing? To me, the only explanation that fits is narcissism. You think your voice is so important, and want to see it in print so badly, that you ignore the fact that you literally have nothing to contribute to the discussion. The honorable thing is to remain silent.

When it comes to inpatient care, we know what the honorable thing is to do. When dignitaries, celebrities or other VIPs are admitted to the hospital, extreme protections are placed to ensure privacy. When Bill Clinton was hospitalized, this is what NY Presbyterian did:

And yet, when it comes to publicly commenting about celebrities — our ethical standards are bankrupt. We are eager to comment and gossip about what they might have, and what they might be facing.

I also strongly suspect that these opportunists copy each other. One doctor assumes preventive means adjuvant, and the rest parrot this. That’s the typical way groupthink works. Most pundits are unoriginal.

Some argue that these discussions raise awareness of cancer, and may encourage others to seek out care if they feel symptoms. That’s simply world-class bullshit. There has never been any credible data that disease awareness improves outcomes for people — and more to the point — that gossiping about a celebrities condition causes such disease awareness. This is not a justification, but a rationalization.

Doctors need to stop speculating about Kate Middleton, and other celebrities who get sick. It is not a teachable moment for the public, it doesn’t raise awareness in any meaningful way, it is just another example of shameless opportunism.