Alzheimer's At what cost???????...
Question:
For each and every week that this drug manages to stop this ilness going beyond the mild stage it will save a staggering amount of money per patient.
When it goes beyond the mild stage the costs rise dramatically. nursing homes, home care. Also by then the patient is in serious decline and the quality of life has in essence already passed them by.
Could somebody out there just explain the financial logic of the decision of NICE to withold these drugs which can help enhance these peoples lives
Answers:
Maybe they are hoping that without the drugs to slow down the progress of the disease, they will die quicker and in the long run cost less money.
The drugs really are a faith thing. My dad is on 2 drugs and he is going downhill rapidly. They say the drugs slow it down and without them he'd be worse. But once he stops taking them, if he gets way worse, he can't regain what he's lost.
In the U.S., the family pays. Don't you have that option? Buy the drugs yourself for your loved one if the government program won't pay.
Drugs, at this stage, do not cure Alzheimer's.
Excessive drugs in an Alzheimer's patient can easily cause tremendous problems in terms of coordination and stability.
Falls and the trauma that goes with it.
In our case my Mother in Law was filled with too many meds.
causing coordination problems=fall=broken hip=surgery. We learned the hard way that Alzheimers Patients have a bad reaction to Anesthesia. A calm sweet woman that was never a problem, became violent, had to be strapped down and had a cerebral bleed and died in about 10 days.
So I have a real skepticism in reguard to the drugs.
I don't know much about NICE except that it focuses on the UK, but I was under the impression that this decision had been reversed or at least re-thought. The people to query about this are the advisors or board membersof NICE itself. Wish I could be of more help.
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