Life insurance information used for cancer treatments

by Brian Turner

Story link: Life insurance information used for cancer treatments

Data from life insurance companies is being used on a trial basis to determine which treatments will be most effective for individual patients with prostate cancer.

The insurance information is consulted to predict the life expectancy of the patients based on what type of prostate cancer they have.

Those predictions are then used jointly by doctors and patients to decide whether or not to perform surgery. So far, the computer-based system has been used to make decisions for about 40 patients.