(MacularDegenerations.com) Dawn Thomas may have to sell her family home to raise funds needed to continue getting treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), reported The Telegraph on August 6.
According to the article, Thomas, the wife of a soldier, was recently informed by the South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) that it would not cover the cost for injections that can cost as much as £800 per treatment – even though such medication is available in other regions via the National Health Service (NHS). The PCT has, after receiving more details on Thomas’ case from the Macular Disease Society, announced that it will review its earlier ruling. An NHS spokesperson explained in the article that it could take a month to complete a review.
The article cited Thomas saying that she will be essentially be sentenced to “blindness” if the PCT chooses not to reverse its funding decision. The 44-year-old woman said that a lack of funding will force her to resign from her position at work and quit driving – moves that would be not only “life-changing,” but also “devastating.” Thomas, the mother of one who has lost the majority of vision in her left eye, said in the article that she and her husband have contemplated selling their home so that she can obtain “treatment privately.”
Thomas said in the article that, having worked all her life and having paid her national insurance, she never would have thought that she’d have difficulty receiving coverage for treatment.
According to the article, Thomas requires Lucentis, Macugen or Avastin to treat her condition. The treatments, which are administered via injections directly into the eye, can cost as much as £700 or £800 for every treatment. If done privately, a consultant’s fee would have to be added to the cost the treatment cost.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) slammed the PCT after it sent Thomas its letter declining to cover treatment, according to the article. The RNIB said that the PCT’s decision qualifies as “cruel,” particularly since the treatment Thomas needs is covered in other parts of the country.
Leave a Reply