Posted on 11/02/2009 4:31:24 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
THREE thousand Britons a year die because of a lack of lung cancer treatment, it emerged yesterday.
Vital areas of care are "woefully inadequate" and there are shortages of key surgical staff, according to new research.
A review has revealed a shambolic postcode lottery where treatment varies from one part of Britain to another.
In some areas, fewer than one in TEN patients get any kind of treatment at all and there are "huge variations and vast inequalities" in others, the UK Lung Cancer Coalition reported after a review of services.
There are only 44 thoracic surgeons - specialists in chest problems including lung conditions - spread thinly over 240 cancer teams.
The NHS is failing to fast-track thousands of patients to consultants every year or prescribe them life-prolonging drugs.
And a third of people stricken by lung cancer never have biopsies carried out.
Dr Mick Peake, head of the UKLCC's clinical advisory group, said: "Alarmingly, patients who are fit for surgery are being turned down.
"We are calling for a 70 per cent active treatment rate across the board, which would mean a massive reduction in the number of deaths. Up to 3,000 lives could potentially be saved each year."
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK with around 39,000 diagnosed each year.
The UKLCC's chairman Dame Gill Oliver said: "We are still letting down lung cancer patients."
Coming to a country near you under 0bamacare.
Agreed, most definately something we will all experience in one form or another in the near future....if the Dems have their way.
i live in the middle of the boondocks and there’s a first rate chest cutter(lungs) 20 minutes from here... heart, an hour
THis sickens me. I have cancer, saw a topnotch surgeon 72 hours after diagnosis, had amazing surgery, first rate chemo for the last 14 months. I would be dead with any wait at all. I may die anyway but have had a great run the last year with modern treatment and a small chance of a cure and a larger chance of remission.
For people to die because of the NHS is the most immoral thing in health care, disgusting and frightening.
This is our future and it is chilling.
THis sickens me. I have cancer, saw a topnotch surgeon 72 hours after diagnosis, had amazing surgery, first rate chemo for the last 14 months. I would be dead with any wait at all. I may die anyway but have had a great run the last year with modern treatment and a small chance of a cure and a larger chance of remission.
For people to die because of the NHS is the most immoral thing in health care, disgusting and frightening.
This is our future and it is chilling.
My 11yr old son is going on 2 years OT for leukemia.
We will be praying for you.
God bless you and your recovery.
bfl
Yes, but if they did have them, at least they'd be FREE, dammit!
A country near me would be Canada or Mexico.????
In Obamacare, the cheapest treatment is nothing resulting in death. If this legislation passes, it will come to pass in the USA. It need not be this way. For the life of me I cannot understand the dems driving the lemmings they rule over off of a cliff. When this reality hits home, the dems will be destroyed, but that will take 10 years.
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