The photo of this woman was on the front page of the New York Times last week. Her name is Mrs Sesay and she is suffering pain from breast cancer.
Quote (NYT September 10,2007: Donald G.McNeil Jr.):
"She had breast cancer in a form that Western doctors rarely see anymore - the tumor had burst through her skin, looking like a putrid head of cauliflower weeping small amounts of blood at its edges.
(...) she is destined to die in pain. She cannot get the drug she needs - one that is cheap, effective, perfectly legal for medical uses under treaties signed by virtually every country, made in large quantities and has been around since Hippocrates praised its source, the opium poppy. She cannot get morphine.
That is not merely because of her poverty, or that of Sierra Leone. Narcotics incite fear: doctors fear addicting patients and law enforcement officials fear drug crime. (...)"
1 comment:
Thanks for this perspective. How can anyone do something about this?
s2
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