UK fat patients claim discrimination (overweight patients are denied surgery)

star ledger ^ | 11/16/2007 | MARIA CHENG

[Coleus]

For two years, Frances Kinley-Manton says she lived with arthritis pain in her hips, a condition that kept her in a wheelchair. She wanted hip replacement surgery. But doctors at Britain's National Health Service said she was too fat for the operation. "They wouldn't even put me on a waiting list," Kinley-Manton recalled.

Her doctor told the 210-pound woman to lose about 30 pounds before he would consider her for surgery. Unable to drop the weight through dieting, the 68-year-old Scotland resident took out a mortgage on her house to pay for a private operation on the Mediterranean island of Malta. She had her first hip operation in July. Now she's awaiting surgery on the other hip.

"I had no alternative," she said in a telephone interview from the island. "NHS said they wouldn't operate on me because I'm overweight, but I think they were just trying to keep their costs down." Since the first operation, Kinley-Manton said she's lost about 10 pounds, is walking more and is less dependent on her wheelchair.

Patient advocates say that Kinley-Manton is one of a small but possibly growing number of patients being denied nonessential surgeries by British health authorities because of their weight. No statistics exist on how many people are in a similar position, but patients' groups say they are getting a steady stream of complaints. Doctors say obese people are at higher risk for surgical complications like infections and pneumonia, and that asking patients to lose weight is a fair request.

[Coleus]

.

[Kozak]

It’s the Golden Rule....

[tips up]

Hillary care at it’s finest...

[Palladin]

Coming to a Health System near you soon...

[neverdem]

Thanks for the ping. I remember reading in a journal, BMJ or Lancet, about a cigarette smoker with coronary artery disease who needed a bypass, IIRC. They wouldn’t schedule him for surgery him until he quit smoking. He finally quit smoking, and they scheduled him for surgery, but he died right before the surgery.

[mtbopfuyn]

It’d be interesting to know the BMI of the person who denied her.

[Mark]

I wonder how Fat Al Gore feels about this story?

[cricket]

"NHS said they wouldn't operate on me because I'm overweight, but I think they were just trying to keep their costs down."

There is a pityful 'god-complex' at work in the MO of Liberals. Their 'means' justifies whatever end, they deem appropriate.

We hear ad nauseum their justification. 'It is for their own good'; absolves their conscience while it feeds what is in truth, their unabashed; no-excuses arrogance.

And all this, coming to America soon; brought to us by Democrats in power; should we allow it.

[JoeDetweiler]

I wonder how Michael Moore feels about it?

[doc1019]

I guess the lives of some people are worth less than others. And here I thought socialism was designed to give equality to all. Obviously the overweight are equal, but less so.

[cricket]

I wonder how Fat Al Gore feels about this story?

Suspect he feels less than a twinge here; as he probably - smugly - imagines he is safe from the 'life of the little people'.

[cricket]

I wonder how Michael Moore feels about it?Oh that someone would ask him; and ask as well, Algore and Ted. . .but they are hardly exclusive here. . .

. . .how about, the 'growing of Hillary'? Now 'ever-wide' in the beam et al. . .What might she say in response? Perhaps next debate; Wolf could brave that question to her.

(BTW. . .is Ted back at work since his carotid artery was cleaned out; and if so; does he look any thinner?)

[cricket]

Obviously the overweight are equal, but less so.

The 'more is less' measurement does not balance out too well here, for sure.

[Gay State Conservative]

Being overweight constitutes a risk factor in all types of surgery.And when a substantially overweight patient needs non-urgent surgery there's a real logic in such a policy.IOW,if 250 pound Mr Smith wants a hip or knee replacement,for example,there's something to be said for telling him "you lose 25 pounds and you have a much better chance of surviving the surgery and of having a successful outcome".

And no,I'm not at all a fan of the British or Canadian health systems.

[ladyjane]

If she is 5’5” her BMI is 35.

[yankeedame]

Thanks for the ping. I remember reading in a journal, BMJ or Lancet, about a cigarette smoker with coronary artery disease who needed a bypass, IIRC. They wouldn’t schedule him for surgery him until he quit smoking. He finally quit smoking, and they scheduled him for surgery, but he died right before the surgery.

To which the NHS bureaucrats shrugged their shoulders and said, "Oh, well..."

[familyop]

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Considered by the national health care system as "too fat for the operation . . . [a] 68-year-old Scotland resident took out a mortgage on her house to pay for a private operation"

Somewhere deep in the mind of Hillary: "Hmmm.. 68 years old and denied health care. Almost 80 million baby boomers about to get aboard Social Security. Big, big problems for us, need the money for other programs. Got to cut that number drastically. . National health care! Yes! What was it Governor Lamm said? (Got to make private health care illegal.) Yeah, he said that the infirm and the elderly have a duty to die and get out of the way. . . ."

[Age of Reason]

And if she lost 100 lbs, she might not even need surgery.