The high price of cancer drugs in the US relative to European countries with universal health care raises ethical issues of access, financial burden on patients, and unsustainability of the health care system.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(8):750-753. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.8.nlit1-1508.
Physicians who base end-of-life care decisions for patients on their own preferences may offer less treatment than the patients themselves would have wanted.
Physicians can help reduce the large number of patients who do not take their prescription drugs due to the high cost by proactively discussing the topic of drug costs during the clinical encounter and developing a plan for assistance.