MP suggests the NHS should not fund life-extending drugs for the elderly

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Northerner

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The Conservative MP questioned if life-extending drugs for the elderly are justifiable.
David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth and Brexiteer, suggested that the NHS should not provide life-extending drugs for elderly patients who are already nearing the end of their lives.

He told radio listeners he isn’t sure if the “enormous expense” to keep older people alive is justifiable after a poll revealed that 82 % of voters should support a 1p ring-fenced rise in National Insurance to ensure the NHS is properly funded.

In August 2017, Davies suggested victims of crimes should not be provided with interpreters so that the police could save money and in response to the 2015 refugee crisis Davies claimed that majority of the people attempting to enter the UK were not refugees fleeing war, but were instead migrants “mostly young men, mostly with mobile phones, chancing their luck”

https://nursingnotes.co.uk/mp-suggests-nhs-not-fund-life-extending-drugs-elderly/
 
But they don’t have to be answered. The UK lifespan is dropping already, without killing off the elderly early. That’s on the current government’s watch.

And David Davies has been telling those porkies about folk trying to get to the UK for so long (unchallenged) that even he believes it now.
 
I wonder if he will say the same when he gets old, Their again he will be able afford to pay for his own medical care, the majority of us won’t be able to.
 
If I got to my 90s, and had lost my independence, I would see no point in being treated with something expensive just to have a couple of extra months of poor quality life. Trouble is, when they start classifying anything over 70 as 'old' and refusing to fund stuff that would give people a new lease of life. As ever, there will be 'difficult' decisions to be made as to where to draw the line when people fall in between these two extremes. Anyone got a crystal ball?
 
Nobody can possibly regard anyone to be 'elderly' at their 70th birthday any more! Good grief, what is the 'normal' retirement age now? Ridiculous …

However one of our friends we were recently with on holiday had been referred to the hospital because of the pain and difficulty walking (and other things) with her hips. The very first Q the consultant asked her was 'How old are you Mrs J' she automatically answered '75' - which he then wrote in big black letters at the top of the file.

And then proceeded to tell her she'd have to live with the pain, Goodbye - Next! Obviously more than that was said - but that was the enduring message she's been left with.

Good, innit.

On the very same holiday we also met two mid-80 year olds who'd driven from north Leicestershire down to the Dordogne towing one of their ruddy great long caravans (they both have identical 'vans but decided to share costs) - no prob whatsoever.

So - define 'elderly'? OTOH what's the point as you say if you're within striking distance of popping your clogs anyway especially if you're non compos mentis - of prescribing eg statins in case you have a heart attack? None whatsoever.
 
If he is talking about people with a terminal illness with only weeks months to live then the choice should be down to the individual, so if someone wants that extra time then the drugs shouldn't be denied, on the otherhand if someone has had enough and wants to bow out of the world then their wish should be honoured.

Problem arise if the person isn't compus mentis, what then? Having lost both parents I wish their time had come earlier, they suffered terribly towards the end and had enough long before it came.

This is where the euthanasia debate comes up yet again, is it time for a change of heart by the government and medical authorities, own personal view is it is, at least a public vote on it.
 
nonethewiser said:
If he is talking about people with a terminal illness with only weeks months to live then the choice should be down to the individual, so if someone wants that extra time then the drugs shouldn't be denied, on the otherhand if someone has had enough and wants to bow out of the world then their wish should be honoured.

Problem arise if the person isn't compus mentis, what then? Having lost both parents I wish their time had come earlier, they suffered terribly towards the end and had enough long before it came.

This is where the euthanasia debate comes up yet again, is it time for a change of heart by the government and medical authorities, own personal view is it is, at least a public vote on it.
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Well said. I have had two friends & a brother die from cancer & none of it was nice for any of them. Its also not nice when my niece felt so guilty about death & chose to resuscitate over not to resuscitate & is all it did was extend his pain. Fortunately, it was only for a few days. I hope if it comes to this for me, i can pre choose as part of my will.
 
I don’t want to die at all, at least not before the end of the football season. Trouble is, then it’s the cricket season. What’s a man to do?
 
He's a git! :(

These people went through wars and stuff and probably paid into the pot more than most and he's saying we should just let them all go! :( On the other hand they should stop letting people suffer like they do, ease people out if they say they want to go. We don't let animals suffer yet some humans are just left to it. Crazy. 🙄

Best he not come round 'ere, I'll set my 86 year old Mum on him. She doesn't want to go yet. :D
 
It’s interesting. When I was a lad, the age I am now was old. Folk who retired at 65 immediately became old. Now folk live into their late eighties, as long as you aren’t poor.

So where you draw the line is getting tricky, to say the least.

And politicians aren’t the best judges of where that line is.
 
I was reading a book yesterday and one of the characters was described as 'old' - she was 60! 😱 I'm 60, and I'm not old! 😱 However, here's a picture of my grandad at my Mum's wedding, he's only 52 in this picture (he died 2 years later :( )

IMG_0002.jpg
 
You are a mere stripling Northie. :D Your g'dad looks so old, they always do in the older photographs, eighteen year olds look like they're in their forties. I think it's all in the mind. My mind thinks I'm fourteen, my body feels around eighty. 🙄

Apparently how well you get up from sitting on the floor tells you how long you will live. I can't get up off the floor! 😱
 
Good grief, Ditto, if that’s the test I’d best get measured up by the Co-op.:confused:
 
I find it difficult to get out of the chair never mind off the floor. I'm doomed I'm 80 😱:(.

John.
 
The article is over a year old and the story doesn’t seem to have caused much of a stir, if it’s a story at all. A quick search revealed no reputable outlets covering it. Is there an agenda here?
 
I think you may be right, the agenda is casting Tories as no friends to older folk, as they are by far the largest group of Tory voters. It’s not actually true, pensions have risen with RPI, unlike benefits which haven’t. They need to keep their voters onside. Of course, it may be a plot to make sure that David Davies is a has been in the current Tory cat fight.
 
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