Hello, my name is Michael and I am a British doctor.
I qualified in 1997 and currently work as a General Practioner in a city in the north of England.
Let me make something very clear at the start of this post. I really could not care less how the USA goes about health care provision. I have no political axe to grind. I have no family living in the USA and I never plan to work there as a doctor.
How citizens go about accessing health care is none of my business.
Unfortunately, however, some politicians in the US and some pressure groups have decided to spread a number of lies about the British health system. As well as making me a little bit angry I think it is my duty to point out these lies on this website as I know that it is most commonly used by Americans. My goal is not to try and influence anyone in favour of nationalised healthcare, but simply to point out the lies and the liars and give you the true version. If you call my version into doubt then I would strongly advise you to research the information for yourself. A number of doctors who frequent a website called doctors.net.uk (an online community exclusively for doctors in the UK with about 120 000 members) are drafting a letter and gaining signatures from doctors here to send to President Obama and various agencies of the US media.
Lie #1. Chuck Grassley, most senior Republican on the Senate Finance Comittee claimed that Ted Kennedy would not be treated in the British system for his brain tumour because he would be considered too old under this system.
Complete and utter nonsense. My oldest patient is 102 and gets the same excellent level of care that is provided for my 22 year old patients. One of my patients at 89 recently underwent a prosthetic hip replacement surgery and the same pt is currently taking 12 different forms of medication for pain relief, ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, chronic renal failure etc. All of which is funded by the NHS.
Lie #2. A group calling themsleves Conservatives for Patients Rights recently claimed on their website that anyone over the age of 59 in the UK was ineligble for treatment for heart disease.
What rubbish ! CF the patient mentioned above. Also my own mothe had a myocardial infarction at the age of 62. She had an angiogram and a stent was inserted with 5 days of admission. The NHS provided that treatment and also the lifelong prescriptions of Aspirin, beta-blockers and statins.
Lie #3. Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel recently highlighted the case of Mr Gordon Cook, a man from my home city who glued part of his tooth back on with superglue because he could not access dental care. Mr Hannity said, "If the Democrats have their way, get your superglue ready." Referring to the fact that NHS dental care is so inadequate that you will need to DIY.
What Mr Hannity failed to tell his audience, however, is that the reason Mr. Cook glued his own tooth back is because a) Mr Cook is very stupid and b) dental care in the UK was recently PRIVATISED. It's almost impossible to get an NHS dentist. Mr. Cook had no dental insurance and did not want to pay or could not pay.
Finally and most importantly, euthanasia is illegal in the UK. It has always been illegal and there are no plans to make it legal.
Anyone telling you that euthanasia is used in the UK is a liar. Simple as that.
I qualified in 1997 and currently work as a General Practioner in a city in the north of England.
Let me make something very clear at the start of this post. I really could not care less how the USA goes about health care provision. I have no political axe to grind. I have no family living in the USA and I never plan to work there as a doctor.
How citizens go about accessing health care is none of my business.
Unfortunately, however, some politicians in the US and some pressure groups have decided to spread a number of lies about the British health system. As well as making me a little bit angry I think it is my duty to point out these lies on this website as I know that it is most commonly used by Americans. My goal is not to try and influence anyone in favour of nationalised healthcare, but simply to point out the lies and the liars and give you the true version. If you call my version into doubt then I would strongly advise you to research the information for yourself. A number of doctors who frequent a website called doctors.net.uk (an online community exclusively for doctors in the UK with about 120 000 members) are drafting a letter and gaining signatures from doctors here to send to President Obama and various agencies of the US media.
Lie #1. Chuck Grassley, most senior Republican on the Senate Finance Comittee claimed that Ted Kennedy would not be treated in the British system for his brain tumour because he would be considered too old under this system.
Complete and utter nonsense. My oldest patient is 102 and gets the same excellent level of care that is provided for my 22 year old patients. One of my patients at 89 recently underwent a prosthetic hip replacement surgery and the same pt is currently taking 12 different forms of medication for pain relief, ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, chronic renal failure etc. All of which is funded by the NHS.
Lie #2. A group calling themsleves Conservatives for Patients Rights recently claimed on their website that anyone over the age of 59 in the UK was ineligble for treatment for heart disease.
What rubbish ! CF the patient mentioned above. Also my own mothe had a myocardial infarction at the age of 62. She had an angiogram and a stent was inserted with 5 days of admission. The NHS provided that treatment and also the lifelong prescriptions of Aspirin, beta-blockers and statins.
Lie #3. Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel recently highlighted the case of Mr Gordon Cook, a man from my home city who glued part of his tooth back on with superglue because he could not access dental care. Mr Hannity said, "If the Democrats have their way, get your superglue ready." Referring to the fact that NHS dental care is so inadequate that you will need to DIY.
What Mr Hannity failed to tell his audience, however, is that the reason Mr. Cook glued his own tooth back is because a) Mr Cook is very stupid and b) dental care in the UK was recently PRIVATISED. It's almost impossible to get an NHS dentist. Mr. Cook had no dental insurance and did not want to pay or could not pay.
Finally and most importantly, euthanasia is illegal in the UK. It has always been illegal and there are no plans to make it legal.
Anyone telling you that euthanasia is used in the UK is a liar. Simple as that.
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