More on the “Envy of the World”
More than 1 million British patients are waiting to see specialists: (comprehensive NHS stats on waiting times).
The British way of dying: 16.5 per cent of deaths in Britain came about after continuous deep sedation, twice as many as in Belgium and the Netherlands.
UK end of life care: patients are wrongly being assessed as close to death, then denied food and fluid and sedated with a "chemical cosh" until they die.
In Britain, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence determines which therapies should be funded. The newest cancer therapies are often deemed too costly. Yet, apparently NICE is willing to fund sedatives, where critically ill patients are allowed to slowly die from lack of food and fluids.
This is what our future is going to look like.
Let us not forget that while NICE denys funding for cancer drugs is encourages funding for the tanks needed for water births. It argues that there is no “systematic” evidence that water births are harmful and politically powerful groups in the UK want water birth facilities.
There’s no “gold standard” randomized trial evidence that water births are bad because it is obvious from case reports and biology that water births increase the risk for infants. Therefore, one can’t ethically do a randomized study.
Linda: this is called the “politics of medicine.” It’s a good reason for keeping health care dollars in the private sector.