Formal Disclaimer:
“The Breast Cancer School for Patients is an educational website and forum that is designed to share evidence-based breast health information to breast cancer patients and the general population. We do not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. In fact, our stated goal is to encourage active, educated, and engaged discussions with your own physicians. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this or any website.
The information contained within is presented in formats such as videos, lessons, external information and original written content. All information is created to be easily accessible to all and without cost. The Breast Cancer School for Patients is not a formal institution or accredited educational entity. Our patient advocacy website and our overall goal is to share quality information about breast cancer with newly diagnosed patients to encourage them to engage their own treating physicians in their community.”
Why a Disclaimer?
Quality cancer care requires shared decision making between you and your cancer team. It is important to clarify that the Breast Cancer School for Patients does not intend, nor participate in any doctor-patient decision making. We outline below our intent, the complexities of cancer care, and the current limitations of information and treatment options. In no way should any information presented by physicians or health care providers on behalf of the Breast Cancer School for Patients be construed as recommendations for medical care.
All educational information provided by Breast Cancer School for Patient’s affiliated physicians is completely separate from an individual’s clinical practice, affiliated businesses or other institutions. The Breast Cancer School for Patients is only a source for information on breast cancer. We make no treatment recommendations, nor do we intend to influence someone’s care beyond encouraging them to engage their own treating physicians in evidence based treatment options.
Our intent:
To put forward relevant breast cancer information to patients in a modern format that is easily accessible. The topics we cover about breast care are designed to help you engage physicians in your local community. All diagnostic and treatment decisions must be made within your formal, and established “doctor-patient” relationship. The Breast Cancer School for Patients cannot be held liable for decisions made by patients in conjunction with their treating physicians. We strive to provide quality breast health and breast cancer information to patients. We advocate the premise: When patients are well informed, shared decision making with their physicians yields better outcomes. Unfortunately, nothing completely guarantees good outcomes or a lack of complications, even with modern breast care.
Cancer decisions are complicated
Breast cancer itself is complicated and still not well understood. Breast cancer diagnostic and treatment options can result in very different approaches to identical breast cancer situations. In other words, even the best physicians often recommend different treatment options for the same patient. It is important to realize that any information presented here is designed to educate and should not play a role in someone’s clinical care. Making good breast cancer treatment decisions takes into account the uniqueness of a person’s health situation and are made together within an established “doctor-patient” relationship. The Breast Cancer School for Patients’ educational platform in no way constitutes any part of a true “doctor-patient” relationship.
We prioritize “evidence-based” information
We attempt to present information about breast health that is based on scientific study and techniques commonly used in clinical practice. It is important to take into consideration that there are significant disagreements between physicians, healthcare institutions, professional societies and governmental agencies about breast cancer information and treatment recommendations. Clinical trials and even established national breast cancer treatment guidelines often conflict with one another. We attempt to provide relevant medical information without the excessive detail that is so common in most healthcare related websites.
Information is edited for clarity
The volume of available breast cancer information is overwhelming. We edit and summarize just like every other patient advocacy website. Please pursue more detailed information when felt needed. We facilitate this with website links to well-known evidence based institutions on nearly every topic discussed. Any topic discussed within this site can be fact checked with a simple “Google” search. We encourage all to seek information from various sources when learning about breast cancer care.
Breast cancer care evolves and changes.
Breast cancer care is a rapidly evolving field of medicine. It is different now than it was 5 years ago. Care will continue to evolve and change in the future. This evolution in knowledge makes it difficult for physicians and patients to obtain up-to-date information. We attempt to present some of the cutting edge advances and technologies in breast cancer care. Some of these will last for years and others will be quickly supplanted by better technologies. Even some advances that are quickly adopted will later be proven to be unhelpful or even harmful. This is how medical progress occurs. We attempt to balance existing and evolving breast cancer information into an easy to navigate website.
Complications with breast cancer treatment
The goal of breast cancer medicine is to improve overall outcomes and lessen treatment side effects. Side effects and complications are an inherent part of any type of medical care, even when in the best of hands. All decisions to pursue diagnostic tests, cutting edge technologies and specific treatment decisions are made by individual patients with their treating physicians. This “shared decision making” model has proven to be the best approach to lessen mortality and treatment complications with cancer care. Your doctor must exercise his or her individual medical judgment in making treatment decisions as each patient has a unique clinical presentation and treatment needs. Complications and suboptimal outcomes still can occur with every aspect of diagnostics, genetics, genomics and breast cancer treatment.
Links to other websites
The Breast Cancer School for Patients contains links to other websites of interest. Once you have left our site, please note that we do not have any control over that content. We cannot be held responsible for the privacy and protection of any information you provide when visiting such sites. Such sites are not governed by our privacy policy.
Our privacy policy
No personal information provided to the Breast Cancer School for Patients will be shared with any other person, business or governmental agency.
