More than half of doctors think that the National Health Service has the right to deny the obese or smokers non-emergency treatment, a recent study showed.

The survey conducted by Doctors.net.uk, a professional networking site, found that 593 (54 percent) of the 1,096 doctors who responded answered “yes” to the question, “Should the NHS be allowed to refuse non-emergency treatment to patients unless they lose weight or stop smoking?”

Those who answered yes seem to believe that procedures are less likely to be effective for those with unhealthy habits, and that the limited resources of the service should be directed elsewhere.

For example, there have been previous cases where smokers or obese people have been denied in vitro fertilization (IVF) due to their low IVF success rates.

The idea has sparked much controversy, with some rights groups demanding an end to the “blackmailing” of the sick.

Some experts voiced the need to differentiate between smoking and obesity, saying that while such restrictions on smokers were “disturbing,” operations on the obese could be dangerous and therefore legitimately denied.



By Gukby Sim
Intern Reporter
(simugkby@heraldcorp.com)