A Christchurch woman suffering from obesity has shared that her local health board issued her an effective ‘death sentence’ by denying her request for weight loss surgery for the fourth time, TVNZ reports.
Marie Early-O’Malley said her weight blew up due to several medical conditions – including polycystic ovaries and arthritis in both hips and knees.
She said the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) rejected her request for surgery again as all funding had already been allocated, so she can’t even get on the waiting list anymore.
“I just felt like, ‘yeah, there’s my death sentence, nobody’s gonna give a s***’, that’s what it felt like,” Early-O’Malley told TVNZ.
“Something has to break, I, and people like me, we deserve to have a decent life, nobody should have to suffer like this, and it’s really hard.”
Early-O’Malley is one of many Kiwis struggling to get the service they need due to lack of funding.
“While we would like to provide this treatment to everyone who requires it, as quickly as possible, as a DHB we have to work with the resources we have to provide treatment to those most in need. Prioritisation of patients is therefore required,” the CDHB explained.
The issue emphasises the importance of insurance as some policyholders have expressed gratitude for the product despite being considered a hard decision to make financially. Taranaki man Rob Kirkwood, who lost his wife to bowel cancer, said he was grateful for his wife’s insurance during her cancer battle as it helped them with her treatments.
“Paula and I were very fortunate in that a few years earlier we’d taken out life insurance. It was a hard decision to make financially but it meant that when Paula was diagnosed, we were able to pay for unfunded cancer drugs that most people would now start a Givealittle page for,” Kirkwood said.
