Yesterday I had an op-ed in the Washington Examiner, “Obama, Congress Should Learn from Britain’s Healthcare Failings,” where I make the point that “NICE’s failings indicate that government is liable to misuse drug approval power, and they should arouse suspicion about the merits of additional government intervention in the healthcare market. The British government is finally giving patients and physicians the freedom they need to best combat disease. American lawmakers should follow their lead.”
But what I’d like to share with you is a comment that was posted in response to my discussion of NICE and its implications for US healthcare reform.
Here it is:
“Pitts cannot hope to cover all of the NHS's sins in a short piece. They also instruct doctors to lie to patients, informing them that life-saving treatments do not exist, when the NHS has merely decided the procedures are too pricey. It is better, in the view of the NHS, that people die rather than complain. Also, thousands die in their hospitals each year because staff cannot be bothered to wash their filthy hands. A trip to the NHS is often a death sentence, pure and simple."
And to that all I can add is, “Happy 60th Birthday, Prince Charles.”
But what I’d like to share with you is a comment that was posted in response to my discussion of NICE and its implications for US healthcare reform.
Here it is:
“Pitts cannot hope to cover all of the NHS's sins in a short piece. They also instruct doctors to lie to patients, informing them that life-saving treatments do not exist, when the NHS has merely decided the procedures are too pricey. It is better, in the view of the NHS, that people die rather than complain. Also, thousands die in their hospitals each year because staff cannot be bothered to wash their filthy hands. A trip to the NHS is often a death sentence, pure and simple."
And to that all I can add is, “Happy 60th Birthday, Prince Charles.”
