Death Panels in Action

From Best of the Web, May 3, 2010

 

 Great Moments in Socialized Medicine
"A doctor denied vital cancer treatment said yesterday that she had been betrayed by the NHS," reports London's Daily Mail. The NHS, of course, is the National Health Service, Britain's socialized medical system:

Becky Smith, 30, has been refused a breakthrough treatment which could prolong her life by up to 20 years.

The drug refusal came after her breast cancer was missed four times.

Without the treatment she may only have 18 months to live, the NHS surgeon has been told.

She said: "I feel so let down. I've given my all to the NHS and I could give it another 20 years, doing the work I love. I just need this treatment to give me a fighting chance."

Dr Smith's NHS trust has refused to pay for the £23,000 [$35,000] treatment, although it is available from 40 others, including one only five miles from her family's home.

She now faces the agonising decision of whether to cancel her wedding to her childhood sweetheart and allow her retired parents to remortgage their home to buy her the chance of extra years of life.

Things would be much easier for Dr. Smith if she would just heed the words of former Enron adviser Paul Krugman: "In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We've all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false."