My mother refused treatment for her breast cancer. Her doctors should have respected her choice. Instead they dismissed her--and criticized me.

My mother refused treatment for her breast cancer. Her doctors should have respected her choice. Instead they dismissed her--and criticized me.
STAT; by Joy Lisi Rankin; 7/21/25
My mother died in January 2007. She told the family that she had breast cancer in 2002. We still don’t know when she knew, or when she had been diagnosed. One thing we did know: She chose not to treat the cancer. In her encounters with health care professionals — doctors, nurses, assistants — during the last years of her life, her choice was met with disbelief and disdain. “Why aren’t you treating your cancer?” “Do you understand what’s going to happen?” “You know you’re going to die, right?” A final thought went unsaid but was clear: “If you’re not going to do what I recommend, I can’t do anything for you.” [Limited access to STAT with three stories per month.]