Terry Hamblin, MD is a noted medical authority who pioneered research and treatment for CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia), cancer of the white blood cells. He recently retired from Britain's National Health Service (NHS).
In his blog, Mutations of Mortality, he writes much about CLL (and the posts are technical), but he also writes about politics, religion and movies. He also corresponds by e-mail with CLL patients. In his recent post, Travails of the NHS, he cites at least 3 cases of government interference between the doctor and patient, one where a patient died because of the interference, and one where the government bureaucrats of Britains MHRA (Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency) chastised the hospital because the hospital failed to document whether the 73 year old patient was told that she should use birth control during chemotherapy. The third patient eventually got some appropriate treatment, but only after much dialogue between his doctors and the NHS. Hamblin ends the post," I am so glad I no longer work for the NHS."
This is not the kind of medical care we want in the US.
(Thanks to Burke Chester for the link.)
The blog of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM)
