What is the price of a human life? That is the unenviable question which often faces experts on the Scottish Medicines Consortium tasked with deciding which drugs should be made available on the NHS. As the organisation points out, everyone would like to have access to the most effective medicines, but health services have finite budgets. It means the choice can come down to spending thousands of pounds on a drug for just one person with a rare disease to live a few months longer, or using that money on another treatment which could benefit thousands of people.
That seems like a perfectly acceptable argument – until it is you, or your loved one, who is desperately ill and has been denied access to a drug which could offer some hope. It is an issue which is particularly cruel in modern times, when it is no longer a case of ‘doctor knows best’ and patients are easily able to research advances in medicine and arm themselves with knowledge at the click of a mouse.
There is no perfect solution. It is a complex issue, and, of course we have to accept that the NHS does not have unlimited funds. But, as charities have suggested, the system should be one which is doing everything possible to battle for patients, whether that is giving them more of a voice in decision-making or engaging in more proactive negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. The review being carried out by Dr Brian Montgomery, which is expected to be sent to ministers soon, should take on board these views and it is vital any recommendations are implemented as quickly as possible. Time is not on the side of patients who are fighting against rare or incurable diseases. Far too many are also having to battle against a system which in its current form, is inflexible and inconsistent. They need to have a say in their own lives, and deaths.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here