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I'm not in the UK, but I certainly have heard of this kind of thing. It's called "Triage" and it amounts to saving the limited health care resources for those who will be better able to benefit from them. Don't get me wrong, I am not defending the practice, but if you HAD to choose between attending a 25 YO and a >60 YO, other things being equal, who should get the higher priority? Even so, I find it difficult to believe that the neurologist can (or is forced to) wash his hands of his elderly patients so callously. Isn't there someone else your friends can see? Here in Australia there is certainly, no overt age discrimination per-se when it comes to PD treatment. An older person may be less likely to be adjudged suitable for a pallidotomy, say, but this is based on an individual assessment not on age itself. On the other hand our Medicare is not quite the same as Britain's NHS. Public patients here are at the end of a longer queue than private patients, and the public waiting list for a non-urgent but complex operation such as pallidotomy or thallotomy is unacceptably long. Hence, those who can afford private health care get better treatment in Australia than those who can't, but I suppose this is also true in the UK and elsewhere. Once upon a time, with my tongue firmly in my cheek, I might have urged you and your friends to consider emigrating to Australia but I am afraid this is no longer an option. Our immigration doors now open only to those who are judged most likely to become productive members of society, and not to become a drain on the public purse. Regards, Mark. cg for Margaret, 65/27 yrs At 11:00 29/04/97 -0400, you wrote: >Two members of Fife Branch saw the same neurologist last week. Both were >told that they would not be seen again..Both of them were diagnosed over 12 >years ago. Mel and I were speechless when we heard this.We could understand >the neurologist's decision if both were responding well to drugs, but this >is certainly not the case. Our two friends have recently had their 60th >birthdays. Is this a coincidence? Has anyone else in the UK had, or heard >of, a similar experience? > >Best wishes >Jean & Mel Ballantyne > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Atyeo 51 Alexander Mackie Circuit Isaacs, 2607 Australia +61 6 286 2606 Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like an apple.