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Thread: UK Health Service: Patients Who Smoke Or Are Obese Banned From Surgery

  1. #1

    UK Health Service: Patients Who Smoke Or Are Obese Banned From Surgery

    The NHS in one area of the UK has revealed they will refuse to operate on patients who are obese or who smoke.
    Plans are being drawn up in Hertfordshire where the health service hopes it will encourage people to lose weight or quit smoking.
    The controversial move provoked fury when it was announced yesterday.
    It was immediately attacked by the Royal College of Surgeons, who’s senior vice president, Ian Eardley, branded the decision “discriminatory”.

    More at: http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/...s-smoking-quit
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  3. #2
    Its an 8-10 hour flight to the US

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  4. #3
    Ain't socialized medicine grand? No doubt the idea of "criteria" only applies to mundanes. Party members and connected cronies always get to be at the front of the line, before any of these "rules" kick in. Some animals are more equal than others.
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  5. #4
    I am an obese person, a sad news

  6. #5
    *Unless you are some kind of royalty or employed by the State*

    Might be unwritten, but I betcha its there.

    And what happens if an obese, foreign dignitary goes into diabetic shock in Hertfordshire? Is s/he going to be denied amputation or however that works?

    Its like Doug Stanhope said, you guys may not like smokers, but we talk to the street crazies. If it weren't for us, there'd be lots more psychotic rampages.
    Last edited by Raginfridus; 10-24-2017 at 11:25 AM.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    The NHS in one area of the UK has revealed they will refuse to operate on patients who are obese or who smoke.
    Plans are being drawn up in Hertfordshire where the health service hopes it will encourage people to lose weight or quit smoking.
    The controversial move provoked fury when it was announced yesterday.
    It was immediately attacked by the Royal College of Surgeons, who’s senior vice president, Ian Eardley, branded the decision “discriminatory”.

    More at: http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/...s-smoking-quit
    Yep. If you're too fat or too sick to add value to society, the Workers Party has no need for you.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by angelatc View Post
    Yep. If you're too fat or too sick to add value to society, the Workers Party has no need for you.
    They just aren't doing it right. It's not real socialism.
    "The Patriarch"

  9. #8
    Blame everything on cigarettes.

    Thats the current cool thing to do since they dont actually know what causes many problems and illnesses. Others they do. Overall tho, selling the idea of something being good / bad for you has more to do with group think psychology than it does actual medicine, due partly to the unwarranted blind faith that people put in the medical industry.

    This is very similar to the sugar industry placing blame for obesity on fatty foods, not sugar. Its a big distraction that prevents genuine medical advancements from taking place in the name of profits over people. Other half is to blame the victim. Sugar is highly addictive, just like nicotine. Thus, it is the victims fault they got addicted to sugar / nicotine / heroine / gabapentin and they deserve no free health care. And yes, try not to laugh out loud at how dumb that statement sounds because that is exactly what they want. Free health care for free and the best way to do it is to provide no health care at all, so deny care when ever the patient can be blamed. What? You juggle chainsaws? Then it is your own fault you contracted early onset dementia, and you should be the one to pay for it.
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  11. #9
    More details: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-b...herts-41664423

    Patients in Hertfordshire must stop smoking at least eight weeks before surgery or it may be delayed.

    Obese patients have also been told they must lose weight in order to have non-urgent surgery.
    Patients with a body mass index (BMI) of over 40 must lose 15% of their weight and those with a BMI of over 30 must lose 10%, or reduce it to under a 40 BMI or a 30 BMI - whichever is the greater amount.

    The lifestyle changes to reduce weight must take place over nine months.
    The criteria on all the decisions will apply unless waiting for surgery would be more harmful.

    Chair of Hertfordshire Valleys CCG, Dr Nicholas Small, said there had been "wide public backing" for the changes.

    A spokesman for Hertfordshire Valleys CCG said patients who fail to quit smoking or lose weight will be given the option to try again and offered the chance to discuss how to "move forward" with a clinician.

    The East and North Hertfordshire CCG added: "Switching to vaping would count as giving up smoking so we would strongly encourage people to do that if they find that easier than quitting smoking altogether."

  12. #10
    And in this country: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/liv...134223889.html

    Doctors are refusing to operate on smokers in some cases. Here’s why the trend will grow.

    An irate man contacted me recently to complain he’d been turned down for back surgery because he’s a smoker.

    “It’s just not right,” said the Charlotte man, who suffers from chronic hip and leg pain. “I need this surgery. It’s to the point where I can’t walk around the block with my dogs.”

    He acknowledged smoking is a “bad habit,” but after 35 years, he’s not sure he can quit. And he doesn’t think he should have to.

    “It didn’t used to be this way,” he said. “Everybody’s got on their little righteous path.… My grandfathers on both sides smoked their entire lives. They didn’t die until one of them was 92, and one of them was 88.”

    No doubt, genetics play a huge role in how healthy we are and how long we live. But personal behavior is also a big factor.

    Most of us know that smoking is linked to heart disease and cancer. But in recent years, research has shown that smoking also inhibits wound healing because it decreases blood flow. As a result, smokers don’t do as well as non-smokers after having spinal fusion surgery and joint replacements.

    One study found that smokers who got joint replacement surgery had an 80 percent higher chance than nonsmokers of needing repeat surgery because of complications from infection.

    For this reason, surgeons who do those procedures have begun asking patients to quit smoking – or at least stop for four to six months before and after surgery. (Note: The doctors quoted in this story were not the smoker’s doctor.)

    “We want the best results possible,” said Dr. Bryan Edwards, head of orthopedic surgery for Novant Health. “We’re not denying you a surgery. We’re preventing you from having a complication.

    “If you’re doing surgery, you’re trying to get the bones to unite, and if you don’t have good blood flow, the results aren’t as good,” Edwards said. “I tell patients, ‘Complications from surgery are far worse than whatever condition you have now.
    If you’ve got an infected back that doesn’t fuse, you don’t want that.’ ”

    Unlike the man who said he was turned away by a surgeon, most patients are counseled about the risks and referred for help, such as smoking cessation classes. They’re not expected to quit cold turkey.

    “I expect there may have been a miscommunication” in the case of the irate patient, said Dr. Leo Spector, a specialist in spine surgery at OrthoCarolina. “A lot of things obviously boil down to the physician and patient conversation.”

    Smoking isn’t the only behavior patients may be asked to change as part of “surgical optimization” – the doctors’ term for getting patients in the best health possible before an operation to improve the outcome. Obesity and diabetes also decrease the chances of a successful surgery.

    Spector said it’s part of a national trend for doctors to run down a checklist of behaviors in preparation for elective surgery. Before spinal fusion, Spector said he might tell a patient: “Listen, I want you to stop smoking, but if you can’t stop smoking, at least cut it in half. A two-pack-a-day smoker is going to have a higher risk (of complications) than a two-cigarette-a-day smoker.”

    If patients are overweight or have diabetes, he might refer them for nutrition counseling and even bariatric surgery to help them lose weight and get their glucose levels under control. Spector said he’d ask patients with back pain to stop smoking and try physical therapy for three months to see if the pain would go away without surgery.

    “Have I refused to operate because they wouldn’t stop smoking?” he asked. “Yes.”

    Helping patients achieve better surgical outcomes will also help doctors as the health care payment system continues to evolve.

    Today, most doctors continue to be paid in a fee-for-service system, which means they’re reimbursed for each appointment, test or procedure. Perversely, they make more money if a patient has complications and requires extra care.

    In Charlotte, some surgeons who perform spine surgery and knee and hip replacements have begun using a “value-based” system that means accepting a single “bundled payment” for each patient encounter. This gives doctors an incentive to provide the best care for each patient.

    If all goes well and care is delivered for less than the contract price, the doctor or hospital keeps the savings. If there are complications and the patient needs more care, the doctor or hospital absorbs the extra cost.

    So, operating on smokers, with potentially expensive complications, could hurt the bottom line for physicians.

  13. #11
    And does anybody really think the medical fascists will stop at denying treatment just to smokers and fat people?

    I can think of a hundred different lifestyles, hobbies, practices and so on that are horribly impolitic.

    How about refusing treatment for self inflicted or accidental self inflicted gunshot wounds?

    $#@! these people, stay out of their death cult system, it's probably better for you in the long run anyway, and live and die on your own terms.

  14. #12
    Complications from surgery are far worse than whatever condition you have now.
    Yah, no $#@!ing $#@! there, doc.

    What's the annual "death by medical mistake or misadventure" number in the US up to now?

    200,000?

    250,000?

    Stay the $#@! away from these sawbones.



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