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Patients set to sue NHS after paying for own cancer drugs
Anna Davis and Sophie Goodchild27.10.08
CANCER sufferers forced to buy their own drugs are planning to sue the NHS for compensation.
Hundreds of patients had to pay for treatment after NHS chiefs ruled that new pills that might improve or extend their lives were not "cost effective".
But many are now demanding refunds from the health service after spending tens of thousands of pounds. At least three London trusts have been targeted by patients making compensation claims, an investigation by the Evening Standard has found. In the first known case of its kind, one trust has been forced to refund a patient for a drug it initially refused to buy.
Experts warn the NHS is facing a series of legal battles as families fight to recover the huge sums they have spent on buying drugs privately. The move comes amid a growing row over access to life-enhancing treatment and anger over the Government's policy of denying "top-up" treatments.
Current rules mean patients cannot mix NHS care with private care even with drugs not available on the NHS.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson this weekend signalled he may reverse the policy within weeks. But the U-turn comes too late for many who have paid for private treatment, and raises the prospect they will seek to recover their money.
Patients in Bromley, Hillingdon and Wandsworth have already requested refunds. A course of Avastin for colon cancer costs up to £70,000 a year per patient, while Erbitux, used to treat bowel cancer, can cost up to £60,000.
Bromley PCT has compensated one patient for drugs which it originally refused to fund. Other claims include a kidney cancer patient who asked for a refund from Hillingdon PCT.
The claimant personally funded a cycle of treatment with the life-extending drug Sorafenib.
The PCT has refused the request, but could face other claims as a number of patients have made "inquiries" about refunds. Wandsworth PCT has also received a written request for a refund. It comes after the PCT admitted court action is inevitable from patients who have been denied cancer drugs.
Ian Reynolds, chairman of Wandsworth PCT, said: "We're being sent bills by people turned down by exceptional treatment panels and who have then gone private. We're not liable to pay but the reality is that these claims will now end up in court."
Katherine Murphy from the Patients' Association said: "It's quite unforgivable to deny someone their right to a treatment which a clinician says could save their life."
£55,000, BUT ADAM DIDN'T SURVIVE
WHEN Adam Griffin was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 29 health bosses would not pay for his life-extending medication, telling him he was not an "exceptional" case. Instead, the graphic designer and his friends and family embarked on a fund-raising drive to raise £55,000 to pay for the drug Erbitux.
They raised £80,000, but Adam, who lived in Twickenham, took the drug for two months before he died in December last year. His sister Amy, 30, of Dulwich Village, said: "We had to give the NHS £55,000 before they gave him the medication. They will not start treatment until you have given them the full amount.
"Adam didn't want his family to have to pay because it would have meant remortgaging the house. The only way he was happy to pay was through fund-raising," she added. "The drugs do not cost that much, but patients then have to pay for everything else privately." Although the Griffins are not seeking a refund, Amy said that the people who are "deserve to get their money back".
