El Cid Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 The NHS in Devon says smokers and the morbidly obese will be refused routine surgery in a drive to cut costs. Is this what happens when organisations are given too much independence? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-30318546 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 This is the start of a very slippery slope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harvey19 Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Is it because of respiratory concerns relative to surgery ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daven Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Those who smoke and those who are morbidly obese have a massively increased risk of death during anaesthetic and post operatively. Maybe this Trust just can't afford the certainty of a prolonged stay in intensive care and the legal bills when they die. Cruel comments but true. Smokers will have to stop smoking and those who are morbidly obese make some headway to losing a significant amount of weight before it is deemed safe for them to be anaesthetised. Personally I think it's the way to go since the NHS is sinking under the strain of those with conditions that may be of their making - I admire Devon NHS Trust for their proactive stance. ---------- Post added 03-12-2014 at 18:33 ---------- Is it because of respiratory concerns relative to surgery ? http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=-1818623955 Many more issues with the morbidly obese than respiratory problems. https://ispub.com/IJH/5/1/3416 FYI Edited December 3, 2014 by Daven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliceBB Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I agree with Daven. The obese and smokers should stop embracing victimhood and commit to changing their habits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aifway Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I say a good decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Funny, in my opinion the NHS is tax-payer funded and a lot of taxes are coming in from the morbidly obese and smokers. But then I am technically obese and a smoker, so I would say that. But let's take this a step further: people with high-risk jobs choose to do that work, so they can no longer rely on the NHS for treatment. Say goodbye to treatment miners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliceBB Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Funny, in my opinion the NHS is tax-payer funded and a lot of taxes are coming in from the morbidly obese and smokers. But then I am technically obese and a smoker, so I would say that. But let's take this a step further: people with high-risk jobs choose to do that work, so they can no longer rely on the NHS for treatment. Say goodbye to treatment miners. Miners? What are they? However, it's not a fair analogy. People in high risk occupations generally have to abide by a raft of H & S regulations (so the risk of disease or accidents is low) and there is a positive economic aspect to their work. The same cannot be said of people who smoke or overeat (except perhaps the profits of cigarette and junk food manufacturers, but I'd be more than happy to see them go to the wall). Apart from surgery, overeating and smoking cost the NHS millions each week. Edited December 3, 2014 by aliceBB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Miners? What are they? What about oil rig workers? Van drivers? Any idea what routine operations morbidly obese people (obviously once you start you can slide that scale to obese then just overweight people) won't get done? Fix a broken leg? Ingrowing toenail? Are we happy to have fat people in pain just because they're fat? Nhs, cradle to the grave as long as....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daven Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) What about oil rig workers? Van drivers? Any idea what routine operations morbidly obese people (obviously once you start you can slide that scale to obese then just overweight people) won't get done? Fix a broken leg? Ingrowing toenail? Are we happy to have fat people in pain just because they're fat? Nhs, cradle to the grave as long as....... Fixing a broken leg would not be a routine op - ingrowing toenail would be fixed with a very quick local anaesthetic. Routine ops I can think of off the top of my head are such things as hip and knee replacements, gynae ops, heart and lung ops - anything that is planned and not done as an emergency. Ops that would increase the quality of life of the patient but could very will cause their death because of their lifestyle choice. Cue the folk saying that obesity isn't a lifestlye choice etc etc etc. http://thinforlife.med.nyu.edu/surgical-weight-loss/obesity/what-morbid-obesity See above link for those who don't know what 'morbid obesity' is - this is what we are talking about - not just being a little overweight. Edited December 3, 2014 by Daven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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