The old chestnut about NHS refusing treatment for smokers again?

Question

In the Daily Mail, there are reports about the NHS refusing treatment to smokers and obese people, due to their "lifestyle choices" increasing the risk of a particular condition.
Why do the NHS never consider:
(i) Refusal of treatment to drug users that contract hepititis?
(ii) Refusal to treat those that have an illness due to their irresponsible sexual practices. (I am not specifically referring to homosexual people - hence the wording.)

The above two examples are, surely, a lifestyle choice.

In addition, why do the government insist on rewarding school-age girls for breaking the law? There can be no better proof that the age of consent has been breached than a baby. Surely, prosecutions should be threatened or, at least, any benefits withheld under these circumstances.

Before I get dozens of 'thumbs downs' for this - I am not seriously suggesting the three examples should be considered, I'm merely wondering why certain lifestyle choices are shunned.

Can I just reiterate - I am NOT suggesting that any of the three examples are legitimate considerations - just for the benefit of those who aren't quite getting the point.

Answer 1

Alcohol, cigarettes how much do we pay on tax for this?!

Yeh your right it is a choice of lifestyle, but we do pay tax on booze & Fags, which goes back in the pot, alledgely.

Children getting pregnant, sorry i think there parents should be made to pick the bill up for this not the tax payer, they should be educating there kids and not rely on the schooling to do this!

Obesity is another and especially in children is this not a form child abuse, parents aren't parents that allow there kids to get so out of control, like that kid in the express yesterday 7 years old and 15 stone!

Answer 2

If smokers are being refused treatment,then they will not mind those smokers claiming a percentage of their National Insurance Contributions back! Thumbs up!!!!

Answer 3

what annoys me about the nhs going on about not treating smokers with out smokers no NHS if they are going to discriminate smokers. i agree also don t treat druggies prostitutes drunk drivers speeders idiots who end up in hospital from general stupidity also everyone goes on about human rights it is a smokers human right to smoke and should not be shunned for a life style choice they are already banning smoking everywhere the goverment will be in trouble if whole nation decided to give up the country would be crippled for money

Answer 4

I don't think they can start doing this, because where will it end? A doctor saying 'oh you can't have treatment because you've done something I don't agree with. Anyway, smokers pay alot in the tax on cigarettes, how much tax do the government get from smokers? I don't smoke and I think it's down to themselves why they get ill, but I have to agree they do pay alot of tax! Drug addicts should be treated the same, not teenage pregnancies though, mistakes happen. It would be a one off mistake not a whole lifetime of abusing your body. In the end people will say, criminals should not get treated etc, where will it stop?

Answer 5

i agree with you
what about cancer treatments being with held also
and it being a loto nhs
if your in a rich part of UK you get the treatment if not tuff luck
this approach is another point
the fact the government are really planning to get rid of the nhs is another!!

most of us can not afford to pay even with a payment plan

oh did you also know you get sent a bill if you were in an r.t.a? my brother was knocked off his motor bike ambulance was called due to his injury's and they billed him for it
why?
it don't figure

Answer 6

TOO MANY DO GOODERS IN THIS COUNTRY

Answer 7

if the government is happy to tax you for smoking/drinking then they should be willing to pay for any treatment you require . Not all people can help their weight it could be because of thyroids so there no reason to ban treatment .
If you've paid into the system all your working life then your entitled to be looked after, there's are plenty of people here who have not paid into the system and they are never refused treatment, so if they are prepared to give it to those who haven't contributed, then what the problem with those who smoke drink or overweight ?

Answer 8

Sorry if I'm bumping but this idiot needs a grilling:

"because in the UK people like to feel holier than thou. they like to feel that no matter what they do, or dont then there is someone who is worse than them. The idea that the UK was a forgiving consensu is slipping, especailly as people become mor eobsessed with their rights, and forget their responsibilities"

Psychobabble. And fyi our rights are continually being destroyed by out government, (Who tried to abolish our democracy a month or so ago with the LRRB bill). Smokers pay tax on cigarettes, that "Responsibility" is unavoidable. Therefore the right to treatment follows.

Also, your environmental nonsense is worrying. The UK produces 1.96% of the worlds carbons emissions. The moral blackmail of "going green" is disgusting. Another excuse for new, exciting range of taxes to feed money into CCTV and identity cards.

New Labour: "Do as I say or the planet gets it"

Answer 9

You said it all when you wrote 'Daily Mail'. The newspaper for people that never leave their homes.

The NHS treats everybody because everybody pays the insurance. Until specific clauses are written in to that insurance then the NHS will continue to treat AS LONG AS THE RESOURCE IS AVAILABLE.

BTW: Britain is not a good place to get sick in.

Be aware that an individual doctor may well have to chose between an lifelong smoker and an individual that takes good care and has family etc. Which would you chose?

Drinking probably causes more illness and accidents than smoking and I see no program to make it socially unacceptable. I engage in 'risky' sports (skiing) but I also take out extra insurance in case of accident.

BTW: Hepititis is very easy to get. Someone sneezes in the wrong direction and you are it. Ask an ambulanceman.

Rewarding girls for getting pregnant? We do. We also fail miserably in showing them, from an early age, that a rewarding life can be gained by taking advantage of the free education they are given.

I guess lifestyles are shunned when others realise is costing them money. Im sure that any smoker dying of cancer would happily spend the rest of his/her life working to pay for treatment as an alternative to what will happen.

Answer 10

I agree with most of what you say. However let's not forget, when a schoolgirl becomes pregnant, she didn't do it alone, so then what? Do you refuse treatment of any sort to all men who may or may not have fathered these children?