No surgery for smokers or the obese: Policy in UK stirs debate

From Dick Dion: “Two issues are the cause of a plethora of diseases and health conditions affecting people worldwide: smoking and obesity.And one local health committee in the UK has announced a controversial policy “to support patients whose health is at risk from smoking or being very overweight.”

For an indefinite amount of time, it plans to ban access to routine, or non-urgent, surgery under the National Health Service until patients “improve their health,” the policy states, claiming that “exceptional clinical circumstances (will) be taken into account on a case-by-case basis.”

The decision comes from the clinical commissioning group (known as a CCG) for the county of Hertfordshire, which has population of more than 1.1. million.

The time frame for improving health is set at nine months for the obese in particular; those with a body mass index over 40 must reduce the number by 15% over that time period, and those with a BMI over 30 are given a target of 10%.  Click here for the full article.

Ed Note: Is this reasonable? Insurance companies charge more for smokers. But is it right to delay not urgent surgeries while people are urged to improve their life-style? As a society, we are paying for this. But where and how do we draw the line in promoting health?

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