(Original article: London Times, 3/17/99)
...The widow of a man denied a heart bypass operation because he
smoked five cigarettes a day has been given
40,000 (British pounds) in compensation.
[...]
John Gibson, 59, died of a heart attack ten months after the last-minute cancellation of a
triple-bypass operation at Southampton General Hospital, Hampshire. As he was being
prepared for surgery, his surgeon had asked him whether he had given up smoking. When Mr.
Gibson replied "No" the doctor sent him home and told him that he could rejoin
the NHS waiting list once he gave up.
Mr. Gibson went on the waiting list at a different NHS hospital, but was unable to undergo
the surgery before he died in November l993.
His wife, Andrea, issued a writ against the Southampton and South West District Health
Authority. The authority has agreed to an out-of-court settlement, but maintains that
while Mr. Gibson continued to smoke doctors considered that the risks of operating on him
were too high.
Original link (no longer active)
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/Times/timnwsnws0130.ntml?1887425