Jump to full article: The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday (uk), 2006-10-23
Author: FIONA MACRAE
Intro: Smokers will be denied life-changing operations unless they agree to kick the habit, it was revealed today.
Cash-strapped hospitals say patients will not be given treatments such as hip and knee replacements until they try to give up. Those who fail could be denied treatment all together.
Managers in Norfolk and Newcastle, where trusts are millions of pounds in debt, say smokers are at a greater risk of complications and the move will help save them money on further care.
But critics accused them of putting its finances before the health of its patients - and warned it could lead to surgeons being "brow-beaten" into breaking the Hippocratic Oath. . . .
Smokers, however, claim they are being discriminated against. Neil Rafferty, of the pro-smoking pressure group Forest, said: "This is blackmail, pure and simple.
"Smokers pay their taxes like everyone else. In fact, because of the very high duty on tobacco, they probably pay a lot more tax than the average person.
"They are entitled to free healthcare and health trusts do not have the right to make up conditions."
Other critics say that while there are valid medical reasons for recommending smokers quit before an operation, finances, should not play a part in the decision to operate.
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