Doctors barred from using new cancer treatment equipment

guardian.co.uk ^ | 5/2/10 | Denis Campbell, Health Correspondent

[Nachum]

NHS bosses are refusing to let cancer patients be treated with potentially life-saving technology – endorsed by senior doctors – at a hospital which has just spent £3m on it.

The Mount Vernon cancer hospital in London has become the first NHS hospital to buy a CyberKnife machine, which delivers radiotherapy with pinpoint accuracy. It is better at targeting tumours than conventional radiotherapy, less damaging than surgery and can treat some patients whose conditions would otherwise be untreatable, say leading oncologists.

But the east of England strategic health authority's specialised commissioning group (SCG) has banned NHS patients from its region from being treated with CyberKnife at the Mount Vernon because it is not convinced the robotic radiosurgery system works

[oprahstheantichrist]

"Doctors barred from using "new" cancer treatment" equipment

We've had those here for years. Oh, wait....

[b4its2late]

Coming to a US hospital near you.

[tpmintx]

I guess it's not technically a "Death Panel" when they prohibit the usage of a life-saving machine for EVERYONE.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Banned because using such technology isn’t Sharia compliant.

[nutmeg]

Coming to a US hospital near you.

Yup... :-(

[dixiechick2000]

Sad and disgusted bump!

[dila813]

New, this has been around for at least 15 years. NHS is a joke.

[dread78645]

> New, this has been around for at least 15 years. NHS is a joke.

In January, England's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, asked the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which advises the NHS which treatments represent value for money, to assess the potential benefit of the CyberKnife.

Nice pledged to undertake a "fast-track" evaluation of the system and similar technologies. But a Nice spokeswoman admitted that work had not yet begun and would not produce guidance for the NHS until the end of the year at the earliest.

They haven't even got freakin' started yet on the evaluation ...

[wastoute]

Well, because they don’t have enuff for EVERYONE, it ain’t fair, so NO ONE can have it. THere, now it is fair. (see my tag for fuller understanding...)

[SmartInsight]

That’s what happens when bureaucrats make the decisions, instead of doctors with their patients.

[Biggirl]

What do you mean by that? I see no reference to anything Muslim in it!

[mware]

Only one hospital in London has the cyberknife??

Good Lord, I live in rinky dinky South Jersey and the local Atlantic Care hospital advertises the cyberknife on bil boards.

[silverleaf]

ditto with Georgetown Hospital in DC

I guess the US uses 2d rate healthcare offering unproven technology (sarc)

[q_an_a]

who coined the phrase Death Panels? Maybe they did not understand the proper way to explain good managment decisions...save money not lives. Make a copy of this article and send it to 10 people. /active response to socialist agenda is now turned on!! stop them!!

[ExTexasRedhead]

AuschwitzCare brought to you by the Dictator in Chief and his Gestapo, the US Congress.

Start calling the Gestapo in DC and wish them bye bye come November.

[Oceander]

"And it's a shame that NHS patients who may benefit from it won't get it… people whose lives could be prolonged will miss out."

The one take-away from the article. By knowingly preventing individuals from accessing care that will help them, the British government is, at the very least, guilty of manslaughter, if not outright murder.

This is what we have to look forward to under Obamacare.

[justiceseeker93]

Yes, the garbage going on in the socialized British medical system will be here soon enough unless ObamaCare is repealed!!!

[CodeToad]

They are used with great success here in the US. This is another example of government run DeathCare Obama and the Demonrats are using to take your healthcare away.

Happy Dying.

[Gapplega]

Coming here very soon.