Cancer survivor refused breast reconstruction

WaveCameCrashin

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rgery.html

Cancer survivor refused breast reconstruction operation after NHS officials dismiss it as 'cosmetic surgery'

Patsy Parsons was denied a breast augmentation operation on the NHS after surviving cancer
A cancer sufferer has condemned the NHS ' postcode lottery' after health chiefs refused to fund her breast reconstruction.
Mother-of-four Patsy Parsons had a large section of her left breast removed when she was diagnosed two years ago and was told she was entitled to have it rebuilt free of charge.
But despite being recommended for a £5,000 bilateral breast augmentation operation - complex surgery which involves inserting implants and uplifting both breasts - by her consultant, the local primary care trust refused to fund it.
It said her operation is 'low priority, routine' cosmetic surgery, which is paid for by the NHS only in exceptional circumstances.
Last night Mrs Parsons - who has four children aged between two and 14 with her labourer husband, Robert, 35 - said she was the victim of a 'postcode lottery'.
Guidelines state all women who undergo a mastectomy - a complete breast removal - should be given reconstruction by the state.
However, it is at the discretion of PCTs whether to fund the surgery for women such as Mrs Parsons who have partial breast removals, or lumpectomies.
'I feel completely let down and insulted by the NHS,' said Mrs Parsons, a cafe owner.
'I'm not some celebrity model wanting a boob job to get more pictures in a glossy magazine - I need this to boost my self-esteem.
'Some PCTs are saying they will fund it and some are saying they won't. It's not fair, it should be one rule for everyone across the country. It's a postcode lottery.'

Mrs Parsons had been scheduled to have breast augmentation surgery at the University of North Staffordshire Hospital
Mrs Parsons, 33, was diagnosed with breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast in April 2008. Doctors told her the cancer was aggressive and she needed a partial lumpectomy to remove the tumour and 16 lymph nodes to stop the disease spreading.
They reassured her that after her treatment, which included ten months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she would be entitled to reconstructive surgery.
She also had a hysterectomy in June to improve her chances of beating the cancer for good.
Three months later Mrs Parsons, of Stoke- on-Trent, discussed reconstructive surgery at University of Staffordshire Hospital. A consultant recommended she undergo a bilateral breast augmentation and advised it would be paid for by the NHS.
So she was devastated when, in December, Stoke-on-Trent PCT refused to fund her operation.
Mrs Parsons said her breasts are disfigured and she has been depressed since learning the operation would not happen. Although she appealed, the request was denied twice more.
Dr Zafar Iqbal, of Stoke- on-Trent PCT, said he was unable to comment on individual cases, but stressed they would be reconsidering Mrs Parsons' plight.
'The NHS is not in a position to meet all the demands placed upon it,' he said.

Don't worry this will never happen in the America according to Obama.
Rigggghhhhhhhhhhht... :roll:

Commy

i'll take some health care over none. And 50 million americans have my back.

kcherub

I think this totally sucks, but some insurance carriers in the US (now) do not cover reconstruction for a lumpectomy. It's just sh*tty all around.

blackredyellow

I don't get these anecdotal stories about another countries healthcare. Like said above, our private insurance companies (who we are locked into based on our employment) deny paying for things every day.

flywallyfly

Hahaha. You could type for days about private insurers denying even the simplest coverage. Keep posting these piecemeal "horror" stories about universal healthcare if it makes you feel good but the rest of us arent buying it.

redrock

This unfortunate lady's case is very borderline when it comes to reconstructive surgery and implants for both breasts. Unless I read incorrectly, she did not have a double mastectomy, therefore double implants are not warranted. She did not even have a mastectomy but a partial lumpectomy. Reconstruction is given after full mastectomies and upon approval otherwise (as confirmed to a friend of mine who had a lumpectomy, though not defacing).

It's a very cold and hard way to say something like this and I personally believe if following any surgery to remove a tumour, one is defaced, it should be put right. But this is not one of those 'horror' stories where one has not received treatment etc. In the harsh light, it can be considered cosmetic. If not having this surgery seriously messes her up psychologically, it is no longer just a cosmetic issue.

inmytree

http://www.credoaction.com/comics/2010/ ... rmageddon/

catefrances

years ago i had a growth excised from my left eye and it was considered cosmetic surgery. and were talking about a growth that impeded my sight. so yeah breast reconstruction is cosmetic surgery. its an aesthetic thing but also a psychological thing due to the society we have found ourselves in... a society that values beauty and 'perfection' above all else.

_

:roll:

chime

... and I've known several people who didn't like their ears and have had them pinned back on the NHS ... I don't know if that would be covered by private insurers.

Anecdotal stories don't tell the whole story of a system that supplies health care to over 60 million people. You could also say the NHS saved her life through all the cancer treatment she was given.

_

chime wrote:

... and I've known several people who didn't like their ears and have had them pinned back on the NHS ... I don't know if that would be covered by private insurers.

Anecdotal stories don't tell the whole story of a system that supplies health care to over 60 million people. You could also say the NHS saved her life through all the cancer treatment she was given.

Exactly. And we can't say for sure that she would have been given that life-saving cancer treatment under the U.S. system.

Don't forget, prfctlefts, if you're trying to use this as an argument that the NHS is worse than our current system (which doesn't work anyway because it's anecdotal), then you have to actually compare the NHS to our current system. Would you rather this woman be alive with no breast reconstruction or possibly dead with no breast reconstruction?

chime

Also for those not familiar with the Daily Mail it's known for it's right wing scaremongering.

This song about the Daily Mail sums it up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI

norm

chime wrote:

Also for those not familiar with the Daily Mail it's known for it's right wing scaremongering.

This song about the Daily Mail sums it up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI

gimmesometruth27

if everyone would like, i could start posting the "horror stories" i see everyday with regard to insurance companies denying things. every day i have patients calling me to complain that their insurance company denied further physical therapy, or that it will not cover their knee injections to treat their knee arthritis, yet it will cover a knee replacement...which is about $20,000 more expensive than the injections and therapy...some will not cover replacements unless they have had several bouts of the injections....sometimes we can not even get an mri approved without the doctor having to get on the phone and argue with a doctor working for the insurance company, a process called "peer to peer review". pain in the ass and waste of the doctor's time for sure because we have never not had one covered after peer to peer review. sometimes with complicated fractures a ct scan is warranted to visualize the actual damage to the bone or joint space to make a determination for sure if it is a surgical case or can be treated non-surgically and the insurance companies routinely deny this test as well. wouldn't it make more sense to approve the test so the doctor knows what they are dealing with and so insurance can know if they will be on the hook for a $8000 surgery or a $800 routine casting?? and people want to talk about things getting in between a patient and their doctor, to my eyes every day at my job the insurance companies are getting between the patient and their doctor...

_

I could tell you the story about my best friend who had bad uterine fibroids and needed iron but her insurance wouldn't pay for iron pills because they said it was a "supplement," so she had to go 3 times a week for a few hours each time for iron infusions until she eventually had to have her uterus removed just after getting married.

Cosmo

PerfectLeft's anecdotal example is a typical tactic used by special interests to argue their point. Finding one example and applying it to an entire system in order to spread fear about something that is unknown. I will offset that anecdotal example (in this case, an example from a foriegn country) with my own anecdotal examples taken from my personal experiences with breast cancer survivors here in the U.S.
And I can tell you that I personally know several breast cancer survivors (being a voluenteer crew member for both the Susan G. Komen 3-Day and Avon 2-Day walks since 2002) who were denied breast reconstructive surgery by their health care providers. As well some survivors who were covered by their providers.
Results... a wash.

TriumphantAngel

scb wrote:

chime wrote:

... and I've known several people who didn't like their ears and have had them pinned back on the NHS ... I don't know if that would be covered by private insurers.

Anecdotal stories don't tell the whole story of a system that supplies health care to over 60 million people. You could also say the NHS saved her life through all the cancer treatment she was given.

Exactly. And we can't say for sure that she would have been given that life-saving cancer treatment under the U.S. system.

Don't forget, prfctlefts, if you're trying to use this as an argument that the NHS is better than our current system (which doesn't work anyway because it's anecdotal), then you have to actually compare the NHS to our current system. Would you rather this woman be alive with no breast reconstruction or possibly dead with no breast reconstruction?

agreed.

i hope at the very least, prfctlefts comes back to give you a reply to that question.

Starfall

prfctlefts wrote:

Don't worry this will never happen in the America according to Obama.
Rigggghhhhhhhhhhht... :roll:

Yes, because our socialized medical system that covers everyone denies people treatments all the time.

Oh wait, we don't have one.

Come to think of it, we have Medicare, Medicaid and the VA... they deny treatments to their patients all the time right?

Oh wait... they don't.

But our for profit insurance industry would NEVER do that.

Oh wait... they do.

Although, to the point, the law requires insurance companies to cover breast reconstructive surgery.

chime

From Starfall's link "Why didn't they just listen to the medical professionals at the bedside in the first place?" said Geri Jenkins, a registered nurse and member of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee Council of Presidents. "Insurance companies have a stranglehold on our health," said CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. "Their first priority is to make profits for their shareholders and the way they do that is by denying care."

WaveCameCrashin

Cosmo wrote:

PerfectLeft's anecdotal example is a typical tactic used by special interests to argue their point. Finding one example and applying it to an entire system in order to spread fear about something that is unknown. I will offset that anecdotal example (in this case, an example from a foriegn country) with my own anecdotal examples taken from my personal experiences with breast cancer survivors here in the U.S.
And I can tell you that I personally know several breast cancer survivors (being a voluenteer crew member for both the Susan G. Komen 3-Day and Avon 2-Day walks since 2002) who were denied breast reconstructive surgery by their health care providers. As well some survivors who were covered by their providers.
Results... a wash.

Thanks for not being a dick.
The whole point behind this thread was to point out this is where we are heading if we dont repeal this disasterous bill that does nothing but raise premiums,cost people more jobs,force people into medicare,and it's going to make hudge cuts to medicare.
also Im very well aware that people get turned down for whatever the case may be.But at least you have the ablity to make an appeal against the INS company and if they don't cover it then you can sue their asses. But when the gov makes the final decision like the NHS does and did in this case then what ? Your fucked.

chime

prfctlefts wrote:

Cosmo wrote:

PerfectLeft's anecdotal example is a typical tactic used by special interests to argue their point. Finding one example and applying it to an entire system in order to spread fear about something that is unknown. I will offset that anecdotal example (in this case, an example from a foriegn country) with my own anecdotal examples taken from my personal experiences with breast cancer survivors here in the U.S.
And I can tell you that I personally know several breast cancer survivors (being a voluenteer crew member for both the Susan G. Komen 3-Day and Avon 2-Day walks since 2002) who were denied breast reconstructive surgery by their health care providers. As well some survivors who were covered by their providers.
Results... a wash.

Thanks for not being a dick.
The whole point behind this thread was to point out this is where we are heading if we dont repeal this disasterous bill that does nothing but raise premiums,cost people more jobs,force people into medicare,and it's going to make hudge cuts to medicare.
also Im very well aware that people get turned down for whatever the case may be.But at least you have the ablity to make an appeal against the INS company and if they don't cover it then you can sue their asses. But when the gov makes the final decision like the NHS does and did in this case then what ? Your fucked.

No you can also appeal (as the person in the report has) ... and you can also take the NHS trust to court to try to get them forced to give treatment, or you can sue them. The article also says "Dr Zafar Iqbal, of Stoke- on-Trent PCT, said he was unable to comment on individual cases, but stressed they would be reconsidering Mrs Parsons' plight."