Do they stop the use of the drug and replace it with a generic copy, or is it just drugs which are not allowed to be copied which are stopped?
Is the British NHS right to restrict (or stop) the use of hyper-expensive drugs if they feel that the money is better spent elsewhere, even if that leads to the deaths of those denied treatment?
When we begin to encounter "lifeboat" questions like this one, it is time for an overhaul of the health care system.
The hospital denied my aunt medications because they said she was uninsured and she would not benefit from more meds and there were others who would benefit. She died angry 😔, broke and in pain they gave her just enough pain med to ease her only and DNR order, about 10 yrs ago 😢.
I don't think there is a good answer to this question. But to play the devil's advocate on this one, say you have five children who are all sick and $100 to your name. You can treat four of the children for $25 each taking up the whole $100. The fifth child has something different and the medicine to treat that will be $100. Do you choose saving one or saving four? You could try giving half doses to all and hope it is enough to help them all get through it, but chances are that won't happen, and potentially saved none.
The old question:
Distribution of limited resources that exceed demand---with the added complication that society generally considers certain (necessary?) outcomes to be unacceptable.
My bottom line opinion---morally OK.
Good Question, and very personal to those in the position you describe. The NHS only has a certain amount of funds. You could argue the ethics of some obesity, and smoking related conditions taking priority over someone who has a condition which was not self inflicted, but unfortunately requires a more expensive treatment. It's the same as this issue with the request to fund HIV preventative drugs, when condoms work just as well. One of the biggest costs to the NHS is the bed-blockers, approximately £170,000 a year. The only thing people can do in these circumstances Ray is to raise funds privately.
