Diagnosis Denial

Many who sing the tunes of the legendary Bob Marley were not even born when he died. Bob didn’t have to die at such a young age. Although he was diagnosed with melanoma it could have been treated surgically. Many black people today tend to believe that “black people don’t get skin cancer”. This is not true. It is just as inaccurate as “men don’t get breast cancer”.

While wanting a second opinion is every patient’s right and indeed doctors are human and therefore fallible, diagnosis denial can be deadly and have damaging effects on you and your loved ones.

In my experience there are a few reasons for diagnosis denial:

1)      Lack of understanding

2)      Fear

3)      Lack of trust