Posted in Uncategorized on February 14, 2 Comments Β». Dr Feelgood was the first band I knew before they were famous, before I bought the album that got them to number one.
For the maestro of blues machine-gun guitar, the Canvey Island rocker, the blues legend of the Thames Delta was describing his reaction to being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The cancer was inoperable. The specialist told him he had 9 or 10 months to live. Bureaucrats, scientists and politicians pretend it is dispassionate. For health systems, the QALY makes decisions explicit and enables society to compare different treatments for different conditions.
The QALY can appear cold β a statistic with the tears washed off β but it embodies the pain or survival decisions individuals and their doctors need to reach. There are other considerations β risk and benefit, for instance.
All powerful treatments carry risks; all drugs are poisons. The difference between the drug and the poison is the dose β the drug may work, but the side effect may kill.
