Contemptuous Dismissal
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I was not the only person to be sent away without adequate testing when I was seriously ill. There are numerous instances of people being denied medical treatment on specious moral grounds, as though illnesses suffered by smokers, alcoholics, drug abusers and people who are overweight or mentally infirm were self-inflicted and therefore not worthy of NHS treatment. Ministers promoting the public health agenda have suggested that they support such moralistic discrimination, and many doctors try to justify the practice in argument. See my letter in response to the Choosing Health? consultation. In some instances contemptuous dismissal is combined with harassment of patients. It only came to my attention in October 2005 how the practice of labelling patients as vexatious or persistent complainants can be used effectively as a punishment to deny those patients normal access to healthcare. A case that has been referred to me involves the Selby and York Primary Care Trust denying Sharon Wilson registration with a General Practitioner or access to out of hours services. Instead she is moved through a rota of GP practices every few weeks. She who is suffering both from an acute infection and from serious chronic conditions, including cancer, diabetes and agoraphobia. Some of the symptoms were probably worsened by negligent and inadequately monitored treatment many years ago, but it has never been possible to prove a complaint of negligence or professional misconduct. Not surprisingly she has lost all confidence in the doctor concerned, but that does not prevent his being the only point of access for GP services when it is his turn on the rota. |
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Sheila
Porter-Williams |