How Should Relief Organizations Fund Care of Patient-Asylees Who Have Cancer?

Several clinical and ethical dilemmas arise when caring for refugees with complex, costly, and chronic conditions in low- and middle-income countries where they often first seek asylum. This commentary responds to a case involving a patient asylee with a malignant brain tumor and considers these questions: (1) Should refugee care costs be allocated as a specific amount per refugee or designated to fund only specific interventions? (2) Should interventions not available to host population members with low incomes be available to refugees? (3) Should refugee cancer care focus on cure, rehabilitation, and palliation or on just one or two of these areas? This commentary responds to these questions by considering how to approach trade-offs between numbers of patients treated and per patient expenditures.