A Perth woman is pleading with NHS Tayside to reconsider its refusal to fund expensive treatment she says she needs for her potentially life-threatening condition.
Ulcerative colitis sufferer Emma Ewen has launched an online petition in the hope public pressure will help her fight for what she believes to be vital treatment.
In a desperate plea for support, the 27-year-old says: “NHS Tayside are denying me the treatment which will save me from surgery.
“They have flatly denied to continue to prescribe me with a medication which I respond well to and that will prevent me from having to go under the knife.
“I have very important exams approaching and I am gradually getting more and more ill without the medication I need. Should my condition continue to worsen, I am faced with failing my exams and having my entire bowel removed.
“I have taken a year out of work and sacrificed so much to go back to school and apply to university. Right now, the whole dream could come crashing down.
“In the past I have been treated with Infliximab in Australia and New Zealand after having failed to respond to any other treatment. My illness has hospitalised me twice and threatened my life.
“I understand that this is an expensive medication but I have no choice left but to beg the NHS Tayside to grant me it.
“The pattern of my illness is such that I may be bedridden and in hospital within a month should NHS Tayside continue to deny me Infliximab treatment.
“At the last appointment, my doctor told me that I would not be getting any more Infliximab.
“I am being treated as a number on a list where I believe each personal case should be treated on an individual basis. “
More than 240 people have already signed the petition, with one providing a potential breakthrough in her fight.
On Tuesday Emma had an appointment at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where she was able to refer to new prescribing guidelines.
“I went into my appointment armed with vital new information to support my case information that came to me as a result of the attention my petition has received,” she said.
“My consultant has no choice now but to offer me the chance to have my case discussed at a multi-disciplinary meeting, with the potential outcome being the big ‘thumbs up’ for treatment.
“This is fantastic news, though the fight isn’t over yet. I still have to answer a barrage of questions and be found worthy of funding by NHS Tayside. Consultants seem to offer little advice about treatment options especially if those happen to be expensive options for NHS Tayside.”
A spokesman for NHS Tayside said, “Patients treated at NHS Tayside are individually assessed by clinicians who decide on the best course of treatment.
“Infliximab is a medication available for suitable patients in accordance with the recommendations and advice set out by the Scottish Medicines Consortium. Decisions to prescribe this are made based on clinical assessment.”