When you opt for national health care, it's only a matter of time before they form a committee and put you on an ice flow.
Too old for treatment
adamsmith.org
By Madsen on Health
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has proposed that in some cases NHS patients should be denied treatment because of their age. Its recommendations say that where age is an indicator of benefit or risk, age discrimination is appropriate. At present these are only draft recommendations, and they have been denounced by charities representing older people as "sending out mixed messages."
In fact the message is clear and unambiguous: it is that under a national health service, decisions about treatment will be taken by the organization rather than by the individuals concerned. Fortunately for those concerned, NICE has said there is no case for discrimination in treatment on the basis of gender and sexual orientation; and it also recommended against restricting treatment for people who smoke or are obese.
When demand exceeds supply, some process of rationing has to determine the allocation. If this is not to be by price, it may be by queuing, or it may be decided on the basis of who deserves it. This requires some board or committee to determine worth, and to distribute the supply accordingly. In the case of medical treatment, it may be on the basis of likely success, or on the length of productive life expected afterwards. Because it is impractical to assess each individual case, the practice comes down to classification into groups, some of which are deemed to merit treatment, while others do not. In this case the elderly appears to be an unfortunate group to be in.
Nobody chooses to join the NHS in Britain, and no-one can opt out of paying for it. Not surprisingly, some people are aggrieved when the system they were forced into, and to which they had to make payments over the years, subsequently denies them treatment when they need it because they don't happen to fall into one of the favoured groups. |
