| Breast reduction surgery - "rules too strict" say Canadian surgeons |
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| Thursday, 18 January 2007 | |
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Dr. Richard Bendor-Samuel, a Halifax based plastic surgeon has criticised the rules and says that too many women are excluded because of the criteria. "We need to use the rules as guidelines rather than something that has to be held strictly to," he said. He cited the example of one patient with breast assymetry who needed 600 grams removed from one breast and 400 grams removed from the other, but the public health insurance would only cover the reduction of the larger breast. "That, quite frankly, is crazy," he said. "We've had numerous cases where a patient is just a few pounds over the BMI of 27, where we're told she needs to lose another two pounds, then she'll be approved, and that's ludicrous." For women who choose to bypass the public health insurance scheme and pay for the procedure themselves, the cost is between $5,000 and $7,000. While these prices would be justifiable to a patient seeking the breast reduction for merely aesthetic purposes, for many patients, this procedure is medically necessary to alleviate back pain and similar conditions. |
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