It’s time to add to our collection of horror stories from the U.K.’s government-run healthcare system (previous examples can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
What makes today’s story different, though, is that the bureaucracy not only is denying care to a small child, but also seeking to prevent the family from seeking treatment elsewhere.
Check out these excerpts from a blood-chilling story in USA Today.
The parents of a child suffering from a severe brain tumor signaled Monday they would defy efforts to force them to return to Britain, days after their family fled.
So why did they feel the need to escape a presumably civilized nation?
It seems government-run healthcare isn’t exactly on the cutting edge when it comes to life-saving treatments.
The family had fled to Spain in hopes of selling a property to obtain enough cash for a new treatment in the Czech Republic or the United States they hope will help their child. Police pursued them and issued an arrest warrant on suspicion of neglect after Southampton General Hospital realized their patient — Ashya King, 5 — was gone, without their consent. British authorities have made no apology for the warrant.
I can’t resist interrupting the main focus of the story at this point because the story then includes this line.
The case has riveted Britain, which is proud of a health service that offers universal care.
Maybe Brits are proud of their NHS, which would be a poor reflection on the collective IQ of the nation, but it certainly doesn’t offer universal care.
Unless, of course, you include neglect and torture in your definition of care.
Now back to our main story.
…the saga has…raised volatile questions of how much power authorities should have in interfering in some of the most sensitive of questions — and whether it has the right to insist that treatment dictates be followed. …Television images have shown the Kings being loaded into a Spanish squad car in handcuffs. When asked by the BBC on their views, the couple told the reporter they are just trying to help their child. …The family has criticized Britain’s health care system, saying he has a serious tumor that needs an advanced treatment option called proton beam therapy and that it wasn’t being made available to him. …Unlike other types of cancer treatment, it doesn’t indiscriminately kill surrounding healthy tissue, so there could be fewer long term effects.
But fear not. If little Ashya can somehow hold on until 2018, maybe the bureaucrats will be able to help.
Britain’s health department announced in 2011 it will build two treatment centers to make proton beam therapy available in London and Manchester from 2018. Until those facilities open, Britain will pay for patients eligible for the therapy to go to the USA and Switzerland for treatment. It wasn’t immediately clear why health care officials didn’t make this option available to Aysha.
As a parent, I know I would break the law if faced with the same situation.
It’s outrageous and disgusting, though, that such laws even exist.
P.S. I don’t mean to pick on the United Kingdom. We also have horror stories about government-run healthcare in the United States.
[…] shared numerous horror stories about that approach (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), but this report from David […]
[…] shared numerous horror stories about that approach (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), but this report from David […]
[…] does not operate the hospitals and employ the doctors and nurses (like we see – often with horrifying consequences – in the United […]
[…] you want more examples (and some horrifying examples), you can click stories from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and […]
[…] you want more examples (and some horrifying examples), you can click stories from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and […]
[…] you want more examples (and some horrifying examples), you can click stories from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and […]
[…] government-run health system already has plenty of problems, including long wait times and denial of care. The last thing it needs is for doctors and other professionals to cut back their hours because […]
[…] you want more examples (and some horrifying examples), you can click stories from 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and […]
[…] click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here if you want […]
[…] of horror stories about the U.K.’s version of Obamacare: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here and here. By the way, Paul Krugman […]
[…] P.S. For other U.K. “scare stories,” see here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. […]
[…] For other U.K. “scare stories,” see here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, […]
[…] the other horror stories we’ve previously shared (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here) also must be […]
[…] P.P.P.P.S. Though to end on a grim note, the government-run healthcare system in the United Kingdom remains unchanged and is the source of numerous horror stories. […]
Reblogged this on News You May Have Missed and commented:
Another Brutally Disturbing Example of Government-Run Healthcare from the United Kingdom
Reblogged this on Public Secrets and commented:
Want to see the future of health care under Obamacare? Just look to the motherland…
So if I’m understanding this story correctly, the parents were charged with “child neglect” for trying to get their child life-saving medical treatment when the government decided that the child should die. Bureaucratic double-speak with a vengeance.