The headline read:
"Why are so many cancer patients needlessly dying from blood clots?"

I'd change that to "Why are so many people needlessly dying from blood clots?"

I was one that almost died 'needlessly' because my doctor didn't even recognize the symptoms.

For the same reason as for other persons having clots: it is difficult to diagnose. I guess especially if you have cancer and perhaps is more tired than usual already...!

Yeah so many of us don't get the right dx. I suspect some of that may be because many of us don't have obvious risk factors. But to me, and hey, what do I know, cancer IS an obvious risk factor although this article would lead you to believe that's lost on gps and oncologists. I think most oncologists in particular are aware of that given the hematology connection.

Cancer patients are at a high risk of developing blood clot for several reason:

http://patientblog.clotconnect.org/2012/07/17/cancer-and-blood-clots/

Back in 2005, Dr. John Heit of the Mayo clinic presented the American Society of Hemotology the findings of a study regarding the incidence of annual VTE:

http://www.theheart.org/article/618745/print.do

That study had shown that during autopsy reports, a large majority of cancer patient who died did so because of a PE and not because of the illness they were being treated for (Cancer). Of course that study also showed that only 7% of the nearly 300,000 patients who died were actually diagnosed with a blood clot and being treated for it.

Dr. Heit's number for me are probably the most accurate to date and even the CDC acknowledges that even though their accepted numbers are lower. Part of that reason is there were some disparities in the reporting methods during in the Heit study and because of this, the statistics from his study were not considered actuate enough for the CDC/NHLBI to adopt. I do know, talking to the CDC, they are trying to create a national surveillance study to better understand what the rate of annual occurences are. Sadly, this has been talked about since 2010 and there has been no progress to date.

I think PEOPLE don't know about blood clots. When my son-in-law had lung cancer, one day he complained to his wife that he had terrible leg cramps and asked her to please massage his legs. She did (because no one had told her not to) and he soon was taken to the ER where he was diagnosed with PE. Why didn't the medical staff in that TOP oncologist's office just mention the possibility of clots to them! Maybe I learned the answer to that just yesterday in my GP's office -- doctors are overwhelmed by the demands of health care practice today. The 3 doctors in my doctor's office just hired a nurse care coordinator so maybe she will be able to fill those missing pieces of information the doctors just can't get to. And people blame Obamacare and it won't even go into effect until 2014 I'm told! We (the patients) just have to take more responsibility in our own care. In the small city I live in my local senior center is offering a free workshop on "Chronic Disease Management" and I am findng it very helpful. Encourage others to get involved in their senior centers.