Naughty Or NICE
‘TRY not to get old. And while youre at it, try not to smoke, drink or grow fat.
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Will Prezza have to go private? |
Should you indulge in any of these modern taboos you will be ostracised from polite society, viewed as a pariah and forced to live in a McDonalds restaurant.
The Governments treatment watchdog has done some calculations, measured heads and waists and decreed what is acceptable and what is not. And the suggestion is that smokers, drinkers and the overweight may be denied medical treatment.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says that doctors who take a look at the patient and think treatment might be a waste of time can refuse it.
This is in keeping with the recent ruling by three primary care trusts in East Suffolk that obese patients are to be refused hip or knee transplants.
The thinking is that theres little point in giving a fat man a new knee because itll wear out quicker. And enabling the fat patient to walk without pain will only encourage him to make repeated visits to the fridge. Better if hes left to see out his days housebound and in abject agony.
So it is that NICE says that in some case the patients lifestyle should be taken into account.
As the report says: If the self-inflicted cause of the condition will influence the likely outcome of a particular treatment, then it may be appropriate to take into account in some circumstances.
Fair enough. But lets make if fairer still. Lets return the money the overweight, the smoker and the drinker paid the Government by way of taxes.
The new NHS will be smaller, but it will have fewer and slimmer patients. And the rest of us will have more money to spend on lard, tobacco and hooch…’
Posted: 9th, December 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
