Mesothelioma

One of the Cancer Organization that is alarmed by Somers’ book is The American Cancer Society (ACS). Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Otis Brawley, said in the recent Associated Press Articles that:

“I am very afraid that people are going to listen to her message and follow what she says and be harmed by it. We use current treatments because they’ve been proven to prolong life. They’ve gone through a logical, scientific method of evaluation. I don’t know if Suzanne Somers even knows there is a logical, scientific method. ” ~ Dr. Otis Brawley

Somers, a diagnosed breast cancer patient 10 years ago, is not the only celebrity that promotes alternative medicine. Searching for alternatives isn’t new at all. During 1980′s actor Steve McQueen, who died by Mesothelioma, cancer caused by asbestos, travelled to Mexico hoping to find new ways to cure the tough-to-fight form of cancer.

Mesothelioma is a kind of cancer that is not generally diagnosed until its late stage and often kills the person after a year of the diagnosis.

So, recent doctors such as Dr. David Sugarbaker, MD, of Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Center are still in the process of researching new treatments for this form of cancer.

In the meantime, doctors and the ACS hope that the people who watch over celebrities take Somers’ advice as a proverbial grain of salt. Added by Dr. Brawley: “There’s a tendency [for celebrities] to oversimplify medical messages. Well, oversimplification can kill“.