Woman faces £27k Herceptin bill

A cancer patient described by her oncologist as the "ideal candidate" for Herceptin has been told she must pay £27,000 to fund her own treatment.

Jane Hewitt, 58, a mother of two from Bristol, was told by Bristol South and West PCT they would not fund the drug.

"If I lived a few miles away I might get the drug for free," she said. "The system is unfair and has to change."

The PCT said an appeal was heard in January but it found "insufficient grounds" to agree funding in this case.

Mrs Hewitt claims she had no other option but to pay for the drug because she could not afford to mount a legal challenge.

I was sent 15 pages of A4 paper explaining why I'm not worthy of being alive Jane Hewitt

Deborah Evans, chief executive of the PCT, said: "After very carefully considering her appeal, the panel found insufficient grounds to agree that exceptional funding should be provided for Herceptin for this case above others.

'Exceptional case'

"Our policy must be therefore that it would be unfair to make it available in this case."

Mrs Hewitt said: "I was sent 15 pages of A4 paper explaining why I'm not worthy of being alive.

"What is an exceptional case anyway? No-one has told me that. My husband and children think I'm exceptional, but apparently that's not enough.

"I'm just a middle-aged woman with two grown up children. I've paid into the system for years and the one time I need the NHS they're not there for me."

In April 2006 Ann Marie Rogers, of Swindon, Wiltshire, won an appeal against an earlier High Court decision upholding Swindon Primary Care Trust's refusal to fund Herceptin.

Ms Rogers, 53, had said she faced a "death sentence" without Herceptin.

The Appeal Court ruling does not force local NHS bodies to fund the drug, but it said it was irrational to treat one patient but not another.