The EAASM has researched and uncovered a number of disturbing incidences of what can happen when healthcare decisions are made as a result of considerations other than the patient’s best interests. They make shocking reading.
The report is a critical examination of a small number of cases. The common thread running throughout, is money. The suggestion is that therapeutic decisions have been and are being made on the basis of cost, that patients and often healthcare professionals are routinely unaware of these decisions, and that this is morally unacceptable. The report asks whether, in a society that promotes patient choice and patient-centred healthcare, this should also be illegal.