Originally published January 25 2006
Smoker group protests doctor's refusal to see a patient until he stops smoking
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
British surgeon Andrew Lamerton has refused to see a patient suffering from claudication, a condition where the arteries have been narrowed, until the man gives up smoking for six months, an action that has prompted Forest, a smokers' rights group, to join in the fight.
A British vascular surgeon has refused to even meet with a man about a potentially crippling problem until the patient has given up smoking for six months.
Frederick Smith, 60, was diagnosed by his family doctor as having claudication, a condition caused by narrowed arteries.
Then in response to a referral, surgeon Andrew Lamerton wrote in a letter he wouldn't even see him until he kicked his 15-a-day habit for six months.
Smith told the Daily Mail he questions the doctor's capabilities.
"This man has never even seen me, so he doesn't know what is causing the problem," he said.
"But this man just doesn't want to know.
As a taxpayer, I've helped pay his wages and train him.
Now he's paying me back by using bullying tactics against me."
Spokesman Simon Clark of the smokers' rights group Forest also called into question withholding government health care from a lifelong taxpayer.
"If smokers are refused treatment they should get their money back -- and if that happened, it would mean the end of the (National Health Service) as we know it," he said.
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