Every so often some bright spark suggests that the NHS shouldn't treat people with "self-inflicted" ailments. Things like alcoholism, drug addiction, obesity, anorexia.It sounds good on paper, for about five minutes. It would save the NHS millions of pounds, we would all pay less tax, and it would encourage people to take more care of their health.
But in reality the idea just doesn't stack up. For a start, how do you decide that something is self-inflicted? If someone is overweight, they may be over-eating or they might have faulty genes or a hormone imbalance. They might say they've genuinely tried to lose weight but nothing has worked.
If you refuse to treat a "self-inflicted" illness it could get worse, meaning far more expense farther down the line as the illness becomes terminal or the person loses their job or becomes a burden on others.
Also, any ailment can be seen as self-inflicted if you so choose. The hill-walker who breaks a leg on a mountain-top. The gym enthusiast who has a heart attack during a workout. The rock musician with hearing loss. If they hadn't been doing those things in the first place, they would be fine....
And who exactly would make the fateful decision? A doctor? A petty official? Your right to medical treatment would be subject either to someone's personal whim or some baffling set of guidelines. You sometimes use the lift and not the stairs? Sorry, mate, we can't help you.
Not to mention the awful choice for someone who's hard-up whether to scrape the money together for private treatment or somehow live with the illness.
In the end, it's just an attempt to blame the victim for their problem instead of giving them what they need. Of course we all try to avoid getting ill. Nobody wants to be swallowing a load of medicines or languishing in a hospital ward. But despite our best efforts, we can still succumb to ill health and it's up to the NHS to help us.
This half-baked idea belongs in the dustbin.
