Cancer treatment in the UK seems to be less successful than in other similar countries, and treatment delays for cancers across the NHS have been exacerbated by the pandemic. If patients seek treatment options outside the NHS, they must fund these out-of-pocket. However, since most people do not have cash reserves set aside for this, they increasingly choose to use the internet to crowdfund. This process is not without potential ethical issues.
CANCER TREATMENT IN THE UK
Population-based studies have compared cancer outcomes between countries and showed that the UK, while improving, still lags behind other similarly developed countries in terms of cancer mortality, especially for lung, pancreatic, and colon cancer.
Furthermore, the British public is increasingly less satisfied with the services provided by the NHS. Combining this dissatisfaction with the shortcomings of cancer treatments available to them, it is not surprising that some patients seek alternative options to manage their cancer diagnoses.
THE BASICS OF CROWDFUNDING
Crowdfunding is defined as raising a large amount of money by collecting multiple small donations from altruistic donors. Crowdfunding for medical treatment is an increasingly popular method to finance healthcare-related expenses, and within this, its use for cancer care has gained considerable traction in recent years.
Crowdfunding offers people agency — whether it sponsors individuals for a sporting event, pays for a legal battle, or in this case, funds a medical treatment. It allows individuals to take rapid charge. In a few minutes, anyone with an email address can set up an account on a crowdfunding platform like GoFundMe.com or JustGiving.com. For medical goals, neither authentication by a clinician nor proof of treatment by a medical establishment is necessary.
Fundraisers’ donation pages can contain their campaign ‘story’ and fundraising goal, while sharing updates with donors. Over the past few years, such campaigns have been increasingly used to finance the treatment of …