Oncologist Recounts Regret Over Prioritizing Cancer Treatment Over Patient‘s Mental Health
Melbourne, Australia – An Australian oncologist has publicly shared her regret over focusing solely on the physical aspects of a patient’s cancer treatment, overlooking critical mental health needs that ultimately contributed to the patient’s distress. Dr. Ranjana Srivastava, writing in The Guardian, details a recent experience that prompted a painful re-evaluation of her approach to patient care, highlighting a systemic failure to adequately integrate mental healthcare within cancer services.
Srivastava recounts initially feeling “smug” about the extent of medical assistance she provided, only to be shaken by a text message revealing the patient’s profound struggle.This incident led her to reflect on how her “fervour for treating her cancer got the better of my duty to protect her mental health,” and sparked a broader concern about the cognitive overload placed on patients with pre-existing mental health vulnerabilities when facing a serious illness. She believes that when a physical illness is diagnosed, mental healthcare should be expanded, not neglected.
The oncologist argues that the current system fails patients, with timely psychological and psychiatric assistance proving difficult to access, particularly within the time-sensitive context of cancer care. “Everyone I know struggles to access timely psychological and psychiatric assistance. But in a cancer clinic where there is also a race against time, the practical reality is that people give up – both doctors and patients,” Srivastava wrote. She proposes embedding counsellors or psychologists within every public hospital cancer service, with more complex cases referred to psychiatrists, arguing this would be a cost-effective investment given the prevalence of mental illness and its intersection with cancer.
Srivastava shared a moment of relief when a nurse successfully contacted the patient and confirmed her commitment to attending appointments, receiving a simple text message: “Just confirming your patient has agreed to attend all her appointments.”
The piece serves as a call for systemic change, emphasizing the crucial need to address the often-overlooked mental health component of cancer care. Srivastava is an award-winning author and Fulbright scholar, and her latest book is every Word Matters: Writing to Engage the Public.
