Posted on 04/03/2010 5:15:46 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Cancer sufferers in the UK are still failing to get drugs widely available elsewhere in Europe despite government efforts to speed up approvals, say the Tories.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said no treatment had been given full watchdog approval since proposals to speed up the process were unveiled in November 2008.
In addition, schemes allowing patients to share the cost of expensive drugs while under NHS care were not being considered by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) in almost half of cases.
Nice has defended its record and said it would be "misleading" to patients and a waste of taxpayers' money to recommend the widespread use of drugs for patients who may not benefit.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
Hmmmm. Sounds like rationing, and shall we say, death panels? Nah, only someone as stupid as Palin would say that.
It sounds like ‘we are not going to let you waste your time on drugs that we don’t like.’ Such arrogance. I hope they all get cancer and have to deal with it themselves.
May not benefit? Since every drug I know of can cause an allergic reaction or might not work in some patients, can't you say that using any drug from aspirin to the latest in experimental anti-cancer drugs "may not benefit" a patient?
My wife’s life has been saved by THE drug needed for her breast cancer. They denied it to women in Britain as “too expensive”.
Repeal.
Salt and vinegar as treatment would be relatively inexpensive, and for many ailments, work just fine.
Won’t do a thing for most cancers, though.
I read that Conservative politicians in Britain (the equivalent of Republicans) privately agree that socializing medicine was a collossal mistake but don’t dare say it aloud.
Republican Senators are starting to squish out in America as well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.