http://www.bcaction.org/Pages/SearchablePages/1995Newsletters/Newsletter028H.html

"..."challenge dogma and redirect research efforts along more fruitful
lines."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Book Review: Patient No More: The Politics of Breast Cancer by Sharon
Batt

Published by Gynergy Books, Softcover, $16.95

Reviewed by Norma Peterson

If ever a breast cancer book was destined to be a classic, Sharon
Batt's Patient No More, is it. From the early chapters on mammography
and surgery to the dosing sections on advocacy, I was dazzled by Batt's
grasp of the politics of breast cancer, impeccable research, and
incisive analysis of uncomfortable truths.

Equally impressive, Batt manages to interweave a moving personal
account of her own battle with breast cancer throughout this compelling
critique of the breast cancer industry and drives it all with a bright,
fastpaced journalistic style that is often as gripping as a detective
novel.

The book is organized around five major sections. 1) Thrown, an account
of Batt's diagnosis, 2) Mapping the Grey Zones, a penetrating look at
treatment, from surgery to alternative therapies 3) Filters, a biting
analysis of cancer charities and media coverage of the disease, 4) From
Silence to Language and Action, the story of Batt's movement into
advocacy, inspired by peptalks from BCA's own Elenore Pred and Linda
Reyes during the early 1990s, and 5) Brugge, a summary of the recent
conference whose aim was to "challenge dogma and redirect research
efforts along more fruitful lines."

Batt's examination of the American Cancer Society's backroom
relationship with the National Cancer Institute and its attitude toward
women is truly illuminating. Begun early in the century by doctors who
wanted to challenge the popular pessimism about cancer, ACS sponsors
recruited influential people to advance an optimistic message of hope,
even though they were well aware they hadn't a due how to cure most
types of cancer. The obsession with appearance has continued throughout
the century. One Reach to Recovery volunteer, for example, was
forbidden to visit patients without her prosthesis because, "We like
our volunteers to look normal."

Batt also gives us riveting revelations about professional in-fighting.
Surgeons, who once "owned" breast cancer treatment now must jockey for
prestige and control with an evercrowded field of specialists,
including chemotherapists, radiotherapists, and oncologists. Meanwhile,
researchers like to take credit for turning the tide against the
radical mastectomy in North America, but it was really lobbying by
women that ultimately led to treatment choices.

Batt writes compellingly about "the institutionalization of our
problem," in which the system designed to control cancer really
controls the woman. "We continue to feel that others are doing things
to us rather than for us. When I decided to speak out publicly, I felt
exhilarated...engaged in a personal, meaningful struggle."

Throughout the book, Batt makes a powerful point: The cure for breast
cancer is political activism.