I have written before about how Great Britain’s National Health Service compounds its disgraceful refusal to provide up-to-date cancer drugs by punishing patients who are willing to pay for these medications out of their own pockets.
That’s right. If a patient buys a drug like cetuximab or Avastin with her own money, she is no longer entitled to free care via the NHS. The Telegraph reports on a case that illustrates how this sadistic policy affects real people:
A woman who was refused free NHS cancer treatment after she paid for extra drugs has died, reigniting the debate over whether patients should be allowed to “top up” their care.
The government bureaucrats who run Britain’s dilapidated system of socialized medicine would rather let a patient die than allow her to break the rules. And what is the overarching principle at work here?
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, claims that co-payment will create a two-tier NHS, with preferential treatment for patients who can afford the extra drugs.
Cancer patients are, in other words, being sacrificed on the altar of “equality.” Mr. Johnson and his fellow bureaucrats are determined that British patients will all be “equal,” even if it kills them.
This is government-run health care, folks.
Comments 7
We’ve been through all this before - there’s nothing stopping anyone with money going for private treatment in the UK, and in the US access to tier 4 experimental drugs is severely limited thanks to the huge copays.
Posted 04 Jun 2008 at 4:29 pm ¶Murder pure and simple. For anyone to defend this level of needless cruelty says a lot about such a person.
Posted 04 Jun 2008 at 10:40 pm ¶How would you characterise the thousands of excess deaths through lack of health insurance in the US, and the unaffordability of many treatments, most of which are standard in the UK, France and other countries? You should also bear in mind that without long term data, standard treatment (which all in the UK get, unlike the US) may well be as good as or better than some recently approved wonder drugs, such as Sutent, which has now been shown to cause heart failure.
Posted 05 Jun 2008 at 9:23 am ¶“standard treatment (which all in the UK get, unlike the US) may well be as good as or better than some recently approved wonder drugs”
Does this standard treatment include the “magic water” homeopathy therapy your government is funding? Do you also believe in the power of magic water?
Posted 05 Jun 2008 at 10:49 am ¶Ha ha - coming from the home of quack medicine and creationism that’s really funny.
Posted 05 Jun 2008 at 12:21 pm ¶^As usual, you miss the point. Quackery is *everywhere*, but at least we aren’t burning public funds on it like the NHS is. You talk about “excellent fiscal management”, but the Royal Homeoquack Hospital is a pretty good example of the NHS shoveling cash straight into the incinerator.
Posted 05 Jun 2008 at 3:13 pm ¶Did you know your government is funding research into homeopathy?
See http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy/
10. Is NCCAM funding research on homeopathy?
Yes, NCCAM supports a number of studies in this area. For example:
* Homeopathy for physical, mental, and emotional symptoms of fibromyalgia (a chronic disorder involving widespread musculoskeletal pain, multiple tender points on the body, and fatigue).
* Homeopathy for brain deterioration and damage in animal models for stroke and dementia.
* The homeopathic remedy cadmium, to find out whether it can prevent damage to the cells of the prostate when those cells are exposed to toxins.
Also:
The manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States was written into federal law in 1938 under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, making the manufacture and sale of homeopathic medicines legal in this country. Most are available without a prescription.
Posted 06 Jun 2008 at 3:32 am ¶Post a Comment