In an earlier post, I noted some liberal
mythmaking regarding Giuliani's argument for the superiority of
prostate cancer treatment in the U.S. over the U.K.'s socialized
system. It turns out there's more.
According to the Observer (the Guardian's
sister paper) the type of prostate cancer treatment Giuliani
received in 2000 wasn't even approved by Britain's
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence until 2005.
But approval was the easy part, it seems.
Last June, the Times reported that in Britain, men were
being denied brachytherapy treatment because the National Health
Service refused to pay for it. The article
also noted that only 10 hospitals in all of England offered the
treatment.
I also came across this speech delivered by John
Neate, chief executive of the Prostate Cancer Charity, to the
National Prostate Cancer conference in London last November, in
which he noted that "men with prostate cancer were also having to
take on 'titanic battles' with their Primary Care Trusts to have
tried and tested treatments like brachytherapy..."
Neate continued:
"Whether the battle is for Taxotere or for brachytherapy or for
any other form of tried and tested treatment, it cannot be
acceptable that men and their families who are already having to
deal with the tough news of a prostate cancer diagnosis, have to
wrestle with NHS bureaucracy at the same time."