Giving Compass' Take:

· According to a study in the journal Cancer, the costs associated with cancer treatment have long-lasting negative impacts on those who suffer. Reuters discusses the financial burden that comes along with the battle against cancer and why doctors should play a bigger part in helping their patients.

· How can doctors better support their patients' financial burdens due to treatment? How can donors help this cause? 

· The U.S. has access to modern healthcare, but that's not a benefit seen in every corner of the world. Here are 5 steps to ensure access to cancer care everywhere. 

U.S. doctors must realize that many cancer patients battle “financial toxicity” along with their disease, researchers say.

The costs associated with treatment, even for those with insurance, often create hardship and distress, according to a new study in the journal Cancer.

After surveying hundreds of doctors and thousands of patients, researchers concluded that the “financial devastation that many patients face” is not adequately being addressed by the health care providers treating them.

“We are seeing in our survey data, especially among vulnerable populations such as ethnic and racial minorities, non-trivial rates of terrible privation, including losing a home or having the utilities turned off,” said Dr. Reshma Jagsi, director of the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “We as physicians are ethically obligated to help.”

Read the full article about the financial toxicity of cancer by Linda Carroll at Reuters.