Russian cancer patients are killing themselves because they can’t get pain meds
by Katerina Gordeeva
In Feb. 2014 in Moscow alone, 11 cancer patients committed suicide.
Theres no end to the pain. It wont stop the next morning, or tomorrow, or the day after, whispers Tanya, 29, a Russian cancer patient. It wont disappear if a tooth is pulled out or if drops of medicine are squeezed into your ear. If you dont relieve the pain somehow, it eats you up right to the end. Its absolutely unbearable.
In line at the oncologists office with 14 other people, Tanya and her son, Maxim, wait to see the doctor who will give them a diagnosis and a prescription. Maxim is five years old. Between a green plant, a windowsill gray from cracks, and the battered, old waiting room chairs, Maxim amuses himself, commanding an imaginary army. This isnt the first time he and his mother have been here. People in line frown at the boy. A pallid-faced man cant resist and says, You should have left him at home. You know that, dont you?
Young children are a source of infection for older patients. They are dangerous for adults whose bodies have been weakened by cancer and chemotherapy. But Tanya has nobody to watch Maxim. Her mother, Maxims grandmother, is at work. And there is nobody else in the family.
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http://qz.com/370054/russian-cancer-patients-are-killing-themselves-because-they-cant-get-pain-meds/