Setting the record straight about the NHS

doi:10.1136/bmj.b3768

Published 14 September 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3768
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3768

Observations

Open Letter

Setting the record straight about the NHS

Jacky Davis, co-chair, NHS Consultants’ Association, Barbara Rafaeli, film and documentary maker

drjcdavis@hotmail.com

More than 100 NHS professionals and patients have added theirnames to an open letter to Senator John Kerry, who has calledfor the "lies" that have recently been circulating in the UnitedStates about the UK healthcare system to be refuted

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

Dear Senator Kerry

Your reported call for "lies" about healthcare reform to berefuted is essential and requires an urgent response. To thatend, may we—British health professionals and patients—respectfullyexpose those lies about our NHS, a service that our experienceshows to work successfully for the benefit of all in this country.

There is no "death panel" in the NHS in the United Kingdom oranywhere else in the UK healthcare sector.

Termination of a pregnancy is a personal decision if approvedby two doctors. No board or organisation of any kind makes anydecision about termination for fetal abnormality. Such decisionsare personally made by those seeking such procedures after counsellingby medical and other health professionals.

Elderly people can get counselling and advice to help them determinetheir requirements for their future care but only if they wishit. It is a service that provides information about . . . [Full text of this article]

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