[Bioethics of cancer chemotherapy]

In 2007, Japan has launched a comprehensive national scheme for the management of cancer. Since cancer is often fatal, social aspects surrounding cancer therapy should be thought-out. Particularly, recent events remind us that the Japanese people still have a traditional view on death, i.e., the stop of the heart-beating and respiration is not a death of the person. Such a view enforces doctors to do all means to prolong a dying process, which inevitably induces and heightens an illusion towards medicine. Particularly, patients with incurable cancer are vulnerable to a medical illusion. To overcome such a medical illusion, both evidence-based medicine (EBM) and narrative-based medicine (NBM) are necessary especially in cancer chemotherapy.