BMJ  2006;332:320 (11 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7537.320-a

News

Patient takes her fight for trastuzumab to the High Court

Clare Dyer, legal correspondent

BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A 53 year old woman with early stage breast cancer this week became the first patient to go to court in Britain to try to force the NHS to pay for her treatment with the humanised monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin).


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
 Ann Marie Rogers is claiming violation of her human rights

Credit: SWNS

 

Ann Marie Rogers, of Swindon, Wiltshire, claims that Swindon Primary Care Trust is breaching her human rights in refusing to fund the treatment, which would cost £21 800 ($38 100; {euro}31 800) a year.

The drug is so far licensed by the regulatory authorities and assessed as cost effective by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) only for advanced breast cancer. If Ms Rogers's case succeeds, primary care trusts could be forced to fund treatment for hundreds of women in the early stages of the disease.

The health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has told primary care . . . [Full text of this article]


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