Rationing: British NHS Cancels Surgeries to Help Kids With Cerebral Palsy Walk

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 12, 2014   |   2:26PM   |   London, England

Another health care rationing story coming out of England is prompting fears of the kind of rationing Americans could see under Obamacare.
A family in England is devastated after the government-run health care system told it that funding for surgeries for kids with celebral palsy that would help them walk has been cut.

cerebralpalsyShannon Bowley (right) has cerebral palsy and her mobility is limited — she can only scoot around. But, over the weekend, National Health Services told her family the surgery she needs to improve has see its funding cut. Never mind that she had been spending the better part of a year preparing for it.

The Blaze has more on what happening:

According to the Nottingham Post, funding for such a surgery was discontinued last year. NHS England told the newspaper it is looking at options to fund the surgery, which could include the family paying for it themselves. The family estimated that it could cost more than $11,500.

“I felt like I had been punched in the stomach when I opened the letter — I was crying and I was heartbroken,” Shannon’s grandmother and legal guardian Samantha Jones told the Post. “I couldn’t think straight, and I was just trying to phone the hospital. I didn’t know if it really meant she wasn’t getting the surgery.

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“After signing the consent form I thought it was a done deal. I felt like the whole world had fallen through. Everything we had done was pointless,” Jones continued, referencing procedures that had been done to prepare for this surgery.

Watch Jones and Shannon talk about their hopes for the surgery before they knew it was canceled: