To think we shouldn't be funding this on the NHS?

[AgileJadeDog]

I recently had my first stay in hospital due to a respiratory issue and I kid you not, every other person in the bay smoked+had a smoking related disease.

I have no idea if this is typical in other specialties/hospitals but it really hit me how much gets spent on completely self inflicted stuff. AIBU to think we shouldn't be funding stuff like this?

Your anecdotes do not refute the evidence. Social inequalities are not a choice.

I am indeed a clinical psychologist. My post history will back this up, as this seems to irk you so much. We are hardly rare, there are plenty of us on MN.

Thankfully your voice is a minority here. People who have smoked or have so-called ‘self inflicted’ health conditions are absolutely entitled to NHS treatment. To think otherwise is inhumane.

To be honest, OP, you display a shocking lack of compassion. I have never taken so much as a puff of a cigarette in my 57 years. But I don't begrudge any smoker or addict a single second or penny of treatment. Most of them pay taxes too (maybe not £80,000🙄) and they are suffering with an addiction and the unfortunate consequences of that addiction, which seem a million miles away when you're a teenager trying stuff out for whatever reason. Policing people's lifestyle choices is like something out of a dystopian novel.

I look forward to the job roles and complex administration that goes along with this.

I do hope it is has some kind of worthy judge that bangs a gavel when you try to get treatment.

I dread to think what you think of me about to have a gastric sleeve on the NHS then!!

Have you ever watched anyone die from emphysema?

They certainly pay for their 'stupidity'

God there's some vile people on this thread

I look forward to the NHS trying to fill them. We all know it'd be Band 3, 9 til 5.30 Mon to Fri, no flexibility and expected to work across multiple sites with minimal parking.

Yes ofcourse, but it will have a cape and a whistle of worth!

There really are, and I’m sorry about your personal experience you mentioned earlier in the thread. I can relate.

Take some comfort from the fact that the vile voices spouting ignorance are in the minority.

It's lucky that cigarettes and alcohol are taxed highly really.

I don't agree with refusing treatment.

I have no idea where this would end.

Live in a house with stairs? Not treating you if you fall down them. Live in a house without stairs, not treating you for bungalow knees.

I work in vascular and it's very depressing to see the results of people smoking. They just keep getting necrotic bits of them chopped off bit by bit their teeth fall out and then they usually die of a heart attack or lung disease yet still they smoke. You can't just refuse to treat them though although I did once work for a vascular surgeon in the south eat who absolutely refused to do any vascular surgery on people currently smoking. They had to have an amputation instead.

Do you see yourself as morally superior to others from socially deprived backgrounds who, unlike you, have fallen into addiction? Actually, tell you what, don’t bother answering …

You can add arrow Park and Liverpool women’s Hospital to that list.
and Coventry A&E

Anyone who gets in a car knowing the risk who then gets in an accident is stupid and should have no expectation to NHS care?

What makes their risk taking car drive any more worthy of care than a smokers should either of them need that care?

It was a sarcastic reply to self inflicted illness.

Considering how much tax the government makes from cigarettes then yes it should be funded... and not all conditions from smoke related issues means the person was a smoker .

Why did you completely change your post @hwi?

Smoking was promoted as a good thing for such a long time, advertising and limited education around smoking, eating, drinking etc. has resulted in generational health issues. All these issues are the responsibility of society as a whole. So yes we should treat people.

Nice to see bullying here - give yourself a pat on the back for being hateful.

That would be a bad idea as it would start the NHS acting like a profit making insurance company wriggling out of funding treatment. What would be next? Not treating the man who fell off the roof because he didn't set up a safety rail? Not treating heart disease because the person consumed a diet high in fat and sugar? Not treating the cyclist who crashed not wearing a helmet and hi-vis? Cigarettes are legal and in the past advertised legally. I say this as a non-smoker who has never smoked.

I was hospitalised in the Summer in an area of the country which has a ludicrously high level of obesity. I'm newish to the area and had read the stats but hadn't actually seen that many obese people. I was shocked at the size of the patients and the staff in the hospital and when the lady came round to take food orders for lunch, dinner etc it became clear. 5 courses of utter crap, carb laden food, crisps, coke, chocolate every lunch time, every dinner. I was moved around a bit and at one point was on the coronary ward and everyone I spoke to had high blood pressure and was chronically obese. A lot of them smoked (one charmer vaped all fucking night in the coronary ward in spite of the fact the lady next to her just came out of surgery)
No I don't think people should be refused medical care but i DO think people need to take some personal responsibility for their health. People need educating in how to cook and to stop eating so much processed shit it's literally killing them. I don't think the NHS should be feeding them chocolate and crisps either.

Addiction is very complicated. Most smokers would absolutely love to wake up one day and not want to smoke, sadly it isn't that simple.

It's a slippery slope - do we say that injured people who don't do their physio exercises properly, or diabetics who don't take their medication correctly, or anorexics who refuse to eat don't deserve NHS support?

OP. You sound a bit simple minded. Could you draw up a list of self inflicted and non self inflicted illnesses so the NHS can set up user payment. Haemorrhoids are often brought on by childbirth, v much user self inflicted category...

Op this is a stupid narrow minded comment

If you believe my comment is bullying, just report it. I think I know who was being hateful though, for looking down on people whom they consider to have made the wrong choices.

The sick get treated. Once you add in moralising you are on thin ice. Who decides who is worthy? Nope.