The Heart to Heart Blog

The house rules for this blog are simple - be polite, curteous and respect the views of others at all times.

___________________________________________________

Whats the Difference between God and a Doctor ?

by John - 09:23 on 30 April 2012

Q: Whats the Difference between God and a Doctor ?

The punch line to that old joke is - "God does'nt think he's a doctor"

But sadly, too many doctors today now think that they are God.

Doctors.net.uk, a professional networking site for medics, found in a recent survey that more than half of all doctors supported measures to deny treatment to smokers and the obese.
This has sparked a row over the NHS's growing use of what is called "lifestyle rationing".

The medical magazine Pulse has found that a number of primary care trusts (PCTs) have already introduced treatment bans for those groups since April 2011.

If you are injured whilst driving at excessive speed whilst over the legal drink drive limit you will still recieve treatment; if you develop a long term condition from a lifetime of illegal drug use you will still recieve treatment;  if you are injured or suffer any illness whilst commiting an illegal or criminal act you will still recieve treatment.

But if you are a smoker or are obese it is highly likely that you will be denied treatment or an operation in some parts of the country. 

Clearly, giving up smoking is a good thing. but blackmailing patients by telling them that they have to give up - is not what doctors should be doing.

Professor John Saunders, Chair of The Royal College of Physicians Ethics Committees. said -
"Lifestyles contribute to risk and sometimes they may make treatments risky.   But that's quite different to saying, 'I'm not going to give you surgery because you smoke or are overweight'."

Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, blasted treatment bans as "wholly unacceptable".

Source:-   Doctors Net;    Pulse;   The Guardian

Add your comment

Your Name


Your Email (only if you are happy to have it on the site)


Your Comment - no HTML or weblinks


Enter this number in the box below and click Send - why?Unfortunately we have to do this to prevent the system being swamped by automated spam