IF HE WERE AMERICAN HE'D BE ALIVE (via Robert Schwartz):

Boy dies after cash-strapped Great Ormond St cancels op (Karyn Miller and Jamie Renwick, 22/05/2005, Daily Telegraph)

A nine-year-old boy has died after an operation to treat his severe epilepsy was cancelled because Britain's top children's hospital had run out of money.

Peter Buckle, from Evenwood, in County Durham, had a massive seizure and died last Monday. He had been waiting to undergo surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.

The brain operation which might have saved his life had been cancelled twice. The first time, on March 15, Great Ormond Street cut back its operation lists after finding that it had treated more children than its budget allowed for. The operation was rescheduled for April 22, but cancelled three days beforehand when a ward was closed after staff contracted a viral infection. It had since been rescheduled for June 10.

Peter's mother, Judith, 42, said: "We will never know if the operation would have saved him - that is the most awful thing about this. I was very bitter, just like any mother would be, but it has been a long road. We are devastated. But that's life, isn't it?

"We will remember him for all the wonderful memories he has given to us. He was our special little boy."

Ah well, someone's always losing in those zero-sum games...

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 23, 2005 8:38 AM