Report Mainz
Millions of doctor treatments are omitted in the pandemic, diseases remain undetected for a long time – with fatal consequences
If lung cancer is detected too late, even doctors can usually hardly help.
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For fear of being infected with the coronavirus in the practice, many think twice about whether a visit to the doctor is really necessary. The result: Many diseases are discovered late, often too late, as a survey shows.
The lungs hurt, the back pinches, the intestines rumble. But for fear of being infected with the coronavirus at the doctor’s, many steer clear of the practices. Millions of treatments have been canceled since the pandemic began. The Central Institute of Statutory Health Insurance is assuming more than 20 million treatments that did not take place in 2020 alone. The AOK Scientific Institute states that 20 percent fewer treatments took place between October 2020 and February 2021 than in the previous year, and in 2020 it was 27 percent fewer than in 2019. Figures that do not prove that people in Germany are suddenly healthier .
The effects a delayed diagnosis can have can be seen, among other things, on cancer wards. Report Mainz looked at the development in patients with lung tumors and asked the 20 hospitals that treat most lung cancer patients. Because lung cancer has to be treated quickly. Once the disease has progressed, there is often little that doctors can do. Instead of healing, therapies usually only bring a little more life.
Late diagnosis, little chance
Before the pandemic, a good 41 percent of lung cancer patients were operated on at the Marienhaus Clinic in Mainz. In 2021, this was only possible in a quarter of the cases. With the others, the tumors were already too big, an operation too dangerous. The survey by Report Mainz is not representative, but it shows that the people of Mainz are not alone with their experiences. In many of the hospitals surveyed (71 percent), the number of people seriously ill with lung cancer has risen sharply compared to 2019. In the Thorax Clinic in Heidelberg and in the Evangelical Lung Hospital in Berlin alone by a fifth.
Experts have been warning of the dangers of missed doctor’s visits since the beginning of the pandemic. On the one hand, they criticized the fact that those affected shied away from medical practices and hospitals for fear of contracting the coronavirus there. It was observed that patients only came to the clinic at very advanced stages of the tumor. As early as May 2020, the specialist society drew attention to the fact that precautionary and protective measures had been taken so that patients could safely take therapies, for example – and that for the vast majority of patients, cancer was the “far greater risk to their lives” than Covid-19.
Wrong risk assessment in the Corona period
Health Minister Jens Spahn had already made an appeal in an ARD interview in May of last year that he could “only encourage all sick people, chronically and acutely ill, to actually go to the doctor if necessary”. Despite the corona crisis, when in doubt, it is always better to go to the doctor, especially if there is a complaint or if it is a check-up for a chronically ill person, he said. In February he recommended colon cancer screening. But is such an appeal enough?
The increase in serious cases is an effect of a failed crisis communication by the Federal Ministry of Health. At least that’s how Ruth Hecker, chairwoman of the Patient Safety Action Alliance, sees it. You believe that the Federal Minister of Health, “who was the figurehead in the crisis, should have taken more responsibility to provide specific information to target groups,” said Hecker of “tagesschau”.
An accusation that the Ministry rejects in a statement to Report Mainz and emphasizes that it is the treating doctors who are best able to assess what is medically and therapeutically necessary. In addition, it was always made clear that only operations that were not medically urgent should be postponed.
Neglected Patients?
Nevertheless, at the end of 2020, the Corona Task Force from German Cancer Aid (DKH), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and German Cancer Society (DKG) warned against neglecting cancer patients. The group, which observes the care situation of cancer patients, criticized: “More and more oncological interventions are being postponed, diagnostic examinations and follow-up care are being severely reduced in some cases.”
According to the Mainz report, it is by no means only affected by cancer patients. The situation is therefore worsening in other areas as well. The survey also included 20 diabetes and 20 pain clinics. The result: there, too, the number of serious cases has increased massively in the past few months. 44 percent of the pain clinics report that the patient’s condition has deteriorated significantly. Every second diabetes clinic complains about a significant increase in severe cases.
Source: daily News, ZDF, Dpa