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health care and Brit.system
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Is it true with the British health care system, that if you are elderly, say 80+, you would be denied expensive surgery due to your age, is age figured in whether you get the care or not? I am in U.S. and there are rumors flying around. Of course they are related to our newly passed Health care legislation.
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Any surgery expensive or otherwise would be performed on clinical assessment, rather than age.
Of course, if you are over 80years of age then clearly certain surgical procedures such as cosmetic surgery would not be entertained.
Surgical emergencies e.g bowel obstruction, perforations and other life threatening conditions would certainly be performed despite age.
The age factor however cannot be ruled out and the question that all surgeons at some time in their lives would have to ask is that would an operation in this patient aged 80+ benefit and if the answer was no, then the operation would not be performed.
Clinical judgement. rather than age would decide.
I hope!
Of course, if you are over 80years of age then clearly certain surgical procedures such as cosmetic surgery would not be entertained.
Surgical emergencies e.g bowel obstruction, perforations and other life threatening conditions would certainly be performed despite age.
The age factor however cannot be ruled out and the question that all surgeons at some time in their lives would have to ask is that would an operation in this patient aged 80+ benefit and if the answer was no, then the operation would not be performed.
Clinical judgement. rather than age would decide.
I hope!
nohorn....my first response to your question was from a medical ethic point of view, but remember that in any State Funded Healthcare System there is a Political aspect and there is not "bottomless pit" of money to be spent.
" He who pays the piper calls the tune"
The UK cannot afford the healthcare given by the NHS and there will come a time, very shortly in ,my opinion when the Government will give money to the hospital trusts, GP's and say that is it and once you have spent it there is no more.
That is when age may come into play.
Not a reassuring second answer for you nohorn.
" He who pays the piper calls the tune"
The UK cannot afford the healthcare given by the NHS and there will come a time, very shortly in ,my opinion when the Government will give money to the hospital trusts, GP's and say that is it and once you have spent it there is no more.
That is when age may come into play.
Not a reassuring second answer for you nohorn.
Morning sqad (and nohorn & tambo) - the new White Paper says just that - the GPs are to become commissioning consortia, all but central contracting will be done at consortium level. The Strategic HAs are going (although (hmm) to be replaced by a National Commissioning Board) and the PCTs will be gone by 2013. Not particularly good news for me as my service is currently hosted by a PCT but we look forward - a time of opportunity for primary care.
I would agree with what others have said. There isn't abottomless pit of money which is why the national Institute for clinical excellence has started to issue guidelines on what drugs and treatments provide VFM. You may or may not agree with their findings, I am just saying what happens. I have never, either as a clinician or relative come across age being used as a factor to deny treatment, although the things that can go along with age (poor heart, poor healing etcet) may mean that the treatment is not in the best interests of the patient. To go further, just before I retired, our local orthopaedic service did a huge review and service changes that they could to more complex and lengthy surgery on older frail peoples' broken hips and femurs without killing them in the process. prior to the new protocols, some very very frail folk with fractures couldn't have them mended because the risk of death on the table or death by complications was deemed too high.
Molly, a principalled surgeon would not perform cosmetic surgery on someone who is too frail/ill to survive the surgery. I know this for a fact as I have approached quite a few myself regarding breast enlargement surgery. All of them refused because I have emphysema and am an anaesthetic risk. The only one who agreed in principal said the surgery would have to be done with me awake and under an epidural anaesthetic.
The other thng to consider is the longer term risk to the elderly patient of major surgery...a long hospital stay because of slower recovery time may mean they become either deskilled or lose the confidence to go home..sometimes this can be remedied by intensive ot input but quite often results in the patient sitting in an acute bed for weeks/sometimes months waiting to be placed in a residential care facility...Many patients I have cared for have said they wouldn't have had the ops if they knew in advance this would happen....saying that a 98 year old lady had amajor abdominal op the next day she was asking if she could help take the teas round because she was bored... she was the fastest recovery I saw... ex headmistress....great lady...
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