LIFE DIGEST: British health system failures reported
- Sep 15, 2009 - 2
The National Health Service, Britain’s government-operated, health-care system, continues to be plagued by reports of failures in its care for patients.
The accounts appear to underscore the concerns expressed by Americans who believe health-care reform in this country that includes a government-run aspect will result in rationing of care.
Also in this edition: U.S. voters less likely to OK abortion in health reform and Adult stem cells preven hip replacements.
Recent developments include:
- Six experts on end-of-life care wrote a letter to The Daily Telegraph reporting guidelines of the National Health Service (NHS) are causing patients to be wrongly judged to be near death. The doctors report patients are having food, water and drugs withdrawn and are being put on constant sedation until they die, according to the Sept. 2 report.
- A British woman said her father was taken off water and drugs under the guidelines, with doctors planning to put him on morphine until he died, The Telegraph reported Sept. 8. Rosemary Munkenbeck said her father, Erik Troake, 95, who had a stroke, wanted to live to 100 years of age but now wants to die after having hydration pulled for five days. “I just want him protected. . . . We just feel they decided from the beginning that he’s 95 so they’ve written him off,” she said, according to the newspaper.
- A young British mother said her prematurely born son was left to die last October by doctors because he was not two days older. Sarah Capewell’s son, Jayden, was born 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy, but physicians said he needed to be at 22 weeks gestation in order to be treated, she told The Daily Mail in a Sept. 9 article. Jayden, who was born at a NHS hospital in Norfolk, was breathing without help, had a strong heart rate and was moving his arms and legs after his birth, said Capewell, 23. He lived for nearly two hours without medical aid. She is seeking a review of the guidelines.
U.S. voters less likely to OK abortion in health reform
American voters are five times as likely to oppose health-care reform that includes funding for abortions, according to a new poll.
The survey showed 43 percent of voters say they would be less likely to support President Obama’s health-care proposal if the federal government pays for abortions, while 8 percent say they would be more likely to support such a plan.
In other results released Sept. 10 by the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List:
- 55 percent of Americans agree with the following, “Whatever my opinion on the issue, I think it would wrong for the government to pay for abortions.”
- 58 percent disagree with the statement, “If the government is going to make a public health plan available for all Americans, it has an obligation to provide abortion services under that plan.”
- 52 percent agree with the following, “I do not want the government to help fund health care plans that fund abortions.”
“If the Congressional leadership and the President fall on the sword of abortion coverage, pleasing their allies and weaving it into the fabric of our daily lives, they do so at the peril of the entire bill and their own political futures,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List.
President Obama has said federal funds will not pay for abortions under his plan. The leading health-care bill in the House of Representatives, however, explicitly authorizes federal funding of abortions.
Public Opinion Strategies, commissioned by the Susan B. Anthony List, conducted the survey of 800 registered voters Aug. 30 and Sept. 1. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.
Adult stem cells prevent hip replacements
British doctors have used adult stem cells to repair bones and prevent hip-replacement surgery.
Six patients have received the innovative treatment, and only one has experienced failure, physicians said, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Doctors at a Southampton hospital have used stem cells from a patient’s own bone marrow to provide the treatments. The cells were mixed with “cleaned, ground-up” bone taken from a patient who had a hip replacement and placed in a cavity created by the removal of dead tissue, the British newspaper reported Sept. 1.
“I feel great,” said Carl Millard, who can walk normally without pain, according to the report. “If this can prevent people having to have a hip replacement, I think it is wonderful.”
Stem cells provide hope for producing cures for a variety of diseases because of their ability to develop into other cells and tissues.
Trials using adult stem cells have produced therapies for at least 73 ailments in human beings, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research. Among the afflictions treated by adult stem cells are cancer, juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart damage, Parkinson’s, sickle cell anemia and spinal cord injuries, according to Do No Harm.
Embryonic stem cells have long been promoted because of their reportedly greater potential. Research with such cells has at least three drawbacks: (1) Extracting stem cells from an embryo destroys the tiny human being; (2) embryonic stem cell research, unlike trials with adult stem cells, has yet to produce any therapies in human beings, and (3) it has been plagued by the development of tumors in lab animals.
Procuring stem cells from adult sources does not harm the donor.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion, End-of-Life Issues, Stem-Cell Research, Citizenship, Healthcare, Legislation, Science, Bioethics
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comments
1 On Sep 16th, 2009, at 2:30pm, Scott wrote:
I find the portion concerning the NHS very interesting as I am currently engaged in a discussion with a citizen of the UK that loves the NHS and says that the US media outlets are making things up to cause fear. Is there a link to the article(s) in the Telegraph or documentation of these abuses that can be obtained?
2 On Sep 17th, 2009, at 10:51pm, Logan wrote:
I have a friend who is a very left-wing liberal US citizen living in the UK. Her opinions on universal government-run health care were seriously challenged last year as she dealt with the NHS during her pregnancy.
I think that sometimes citizens living on the inside of a system don’t always know what they have. My brother-in-law is Canadian and his family raved about their system and bragged about how far superior it was to ours. Then, we found out his aunt is still waiting after 9 months for knee surgery, his mother has permanent damage around her eyes from having to wait so long to see a specialist, and his uncle waited many long, scary months for bladder cancer surgery. When they found out that those long, frightening waiting lists do not exist here, they stopped bragging. My dad waited a whole 3 weeks here in the US to have the same surgery his aunt is still on a waiting list for.