[maxaf]

Don’t just leave us hanging! Would you mind listing some possible reasons to reject cancer treatment in favor of pseudoscience?

[cwzwarich]

Walter Isaacson quoted Steve Jobs as giving this reason:

"I didn't want my body to be opened... I didn't want to be violated in that way."

It's still not a good reason to avoid surgery, but it's also not a rejection of medical science.

[Ididntdothis]

I have talked to cancer patients and treatment really violates people. You go through endless tests, get treatments with horrific side effects and basically are just treated like an object. I have heard several times that they wanted to stop treatment just because it was such a terrible experience physically and psychologically. Not sure how to do better but it’s understandable.

[Balgair]

It's a real pickle for practitioners, that is why consent is a HUGE deal with the medical field.

ICU Psychosis is a 'good' example of what kinds of things can happen with patients undergoing lifesaving treatment.

https://www.medicinenet.com/icu_psychosis/article.htm

Here is a story about undergoing ICU Psychosis: https://icupsychosis.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-own-story.html

Even in countries that have functional medical systems, medical treatment can be very de-humanizing. It's not something that may every go away, as medical practice fundamentally clashes with most people's idea of selfhood.

[egdod]

Plenty of people have opted out of the horrors of chemotherapy, choosing to die at home in relative comfort.

[papermachete]

Not paying exorbitant fees to pump poison in your body that makes you wish you were dead anyway. Not giving your family false hope that you will get better while looking like a stepped-on prune. The humiliation of trying experimental, unproven treatments.

At least with witch doctors, you'll keep your family somewhat calm and won't take a toll on your wallet. More inheritance for them.