Did Time magazine get it wrong??
 

OK, maybe my poor chemo-addled brain is not absorbing this correctly and maybe you all can help me understand, but it seems to me that Time magazine, which I normally feel pretty confident in, has made a fairly substantial mistake regarding Herceptin in an article on bc.

The October 16th Time has a cover story on BC spreading around the world. I read the not very in-depth article and was surprised by the following sentence at the bottom of page 38 in referece to ER+ cancer ...

"Since the cancer relies on estrogen to grow, drugs like taxmoxifen and Herceptin, which block hormone receptors on malignant cells, can help starve the disease".

Did they totally miss the boat on this one? And (probably more important) am I overreacting? This seems like a pretty big mistake in a national publication.

The media misquotes and screws up information all the time. This is just one big mistake - especially for newly diagnosed women who really don't know anything yet. Some women reading that who are ER+ but Her2 neg will want their Herceptin because Time Magazine said it was so!

Oh well, you got it right that this was wrong.

Becky, thanks for confirming for me. You have such a vast knowledge base regarding BC - I always read your posts with interest!

I think I am going to write Time a letter.
Thanks

They got it wrong, no surprise. I try not to rely on Time/Newsweek, etc anymore as real news mags, especially when it comes to medical reporting...

That's a very serious mistake they made in printing. I would think they should be made to make a correction. That could pose a major problem especially for newly diagnosed women.

Maybe they could repent by doing a major story (about 10 pages!!!) next month to redeem themselves! Oh, yea, and send it to some "real" experts to be checked before publishing! Maybe the editor is on chemo!

Erin...
 

I READ it too AND said the same thing. I used to be a proofreader so I know that THEY are not at error as they don't look for context.

Rhonda

I agree that this is a serious mistake because it's so easy to confuse information. For example, a few weeks ago, I was talking to a Her2 pos. friend of mine who went through treatment with me, and I realized that she had confused Her2 with being Estrogen Positive. She actually said "when you're her2 positive your tumor is sensitive to estrogen." Maybe she's confused because the oncologist told her that although she's finished with Herceptin, she is still in treatment because she is taking Arimidex. Perhaps she thinks the Arimidex is treating Her2. I tried to gently give her some information but she got agitated and I backed off.