HAVING JUST COMPLETED SIX months of radiation and chemotherapy for stage 3B colorectal cancer, I’m thankful for an exceptional health care experience and the best possible outcome, which doctors cautiously call “No Evidence of Disease.”
Though I’ll need anxiety-provoking scans every few months for the foreseeable future, my oncologist reviewed my recent results, congratulated me with all the usual caveats and emphasized: “It’s not every day I’m able to share such good news.”
His declaration left me relieved but painfully aware of persistent disparities, not only in cancer care but [also] in the way we treat other diseases; namely, addiction.
I’m a white, middle-class, well-insured man who
