An English Perspective on Health Care

Here in Stockport, England, it was discovered that my now-82-year-old grandmother needed a heart procedure[i]. We were told that if she had it, she would easily live at least another ten years, as apart from that, she was healthy. Since we were warned that her lifespan would be short if she did not, we elected to apply to have the surgery. We then had to see whether or not the National Health Service (NHS) would allow it. Thankfully, they did. However, there are a number of ways to have the surgery, from putting the patient out with general anaesthetic and slicing open the chest to a local anaesthetic and a simple line put through an artery in the patient's leg. To our dismay, they decided to go for the cheapest and highest-risk option. I don't wish to go into details, but post-op was touch-and-go for a while, as well as very stressful, and what should have been an "in-and-out" procedure has taken months to get her home. We are still unsure (but hopeful) that she...(Read Full Article)

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