Eying Costs

Britain's National Health Service has a safe, effective treatment to save the vision of a person afflicted with macular degeneration. And, as one World War Two veteran found out, they will be happy to treat the condition.

After the victim loses the sight in one eye completely.

Doctors have launched an internet campaign to shame Gordon Brown over a war hero who has been told he will have to go blind in one eye before he will get NHS treatment.

More than 100 GPs have sent £5 cheques to Downing Street, made out to the Prime Minister, which they want to be put towards the cost of a cure for Second World War pilot Jack Tagg.

Mr Tagg, 88, suffers from "wet" macular degeneration, the main cause of sight loss in Britain, affecting a quarter of a million people. It can lead to blindness in as little as three months - but with prompt treatment it can be reversed.

Now he and his wife Gabrielle, 77, are selling their house to pay for an £11,000 course of injections.

Last week, Mr Tagg was told by a consultant at Torbay District General Hospital in Torquay that a course of injections of the Lucentis drug could save his sight.

But at £760 a shot, for a course of between three and 14 injections, he was told that under Government guidelines it was regarded as "too expensive" unless he was already blind in one eye.

Mr Tagg, who was a member of the RAF Balloon Command during the war and flew Wellington bombers, went for his first privately-funded injections on Friday.

He said: "I am selling up under protest. If I have to go for the full treatment it will end up costing me about &£11,000." 

An eye for a shot, so to speak. Tagg served Britain in her time of need but now must sacrifice an eye to the state as well in order to receive his "free" medical treatment. Still think socialized medicine is a good idea? What will you have to sacrifice for your "free" health care?

• 

  By martian, Sunday, 17 February , 2008 @ 12:59 pm

  Welcome to the world of government run universal health care.

Other Links to this Post

1. justbarkingmad.com » Blog Archive » British National Healthcare Roundup — Sunday, 17 February , 2008 @ 8:04 pm