Rare Tumors: An Appeal for Justice
T. Patrick Hill*, 1, 2, 3
1 Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08903-0019, USA
2 The Cancer Institute of New Jersey;
3 The Neonatology Division, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey, NJ 08903-0019, USA
Abstract
While cancers with 40,000 or fewer diagnoses a year are considered rare, they make up about 25% of cancer mortalities. Despite this, rare cancers remain largely ignored by investigators because of insufficient research funding. Their neglect has been justified in the belief that a focus on common tumors will yield benefits for all tumors, including rare tumors. This however has not happened. One solution proposed to address this problem is to mobilize those diagnosed with rare tumors to advocate for research in rare tumors. But is it fair to place a burden of self-advocacy on some cancer patients but not on others? A better solution, proposed here, invokes a theory of justice developed by John Rawls, and offers an alternative statement of the ethical basis for involving human subjects in research and suggestions for restructuring the cancer research enterprise itself.
Keywords: : Common tumors, rare tumors, justice.
Article Information
Article History:
Received Date: 24/2/2010
Revision Received Date: 17/5/2010
Acceptance Date: 25/5/2010
Electronic publication date: 24
/8/2010
Collection year: 2010
© T. Patrick Hill; Licensee Bentham Open.
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (
http: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
* Address correspondence to this author at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ 08903-0019, USA; Tel: 732-530-7969; Fax: 732-932-2253; E-mail: tpatri@rci.rutgers.edu
Open Peer Review Details |
Manuscript submitted on 24-2-2010 |
Original Manuscript |
Rare Tumors: An Appeal for Justice |