Cancer patient kills himself day after he is told NHS Trust would not fund £25,000 drug

A cancer patient killed himself after being told he had been refused a wonder drug by his local primary care trust.

Albert Baxter, 77, was terminally ill. But he was turned down for a drug which could have prolonged his life and shrunk his tumour.

In desperation, he offered to pay for the treatment. But he was told if he did so, he would also have to foot the bill for the rest of his treatment, which he could not afford.

Albert Baxter (left), with partner Barrie Curryer. Mr Curryer found Albert dead in the kitchen of their home

The former bus driver had been diagnosed with renal cancer in January 2007.

His oncologist, Dr Fiona McKinna told him that the drug Sutent was his only hope. But although she requested the treatment, costing £25,000 a year, in March, East Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust turned it down on the grounds of cost and clinical effectiveness.

As his condition deteriorated, his clinician launched an appeal - and Mr Baxter hoped that the decision would be overturned.

But when he went to see his consultant on June 5, 2007, she was unable to give him the drug.

Mr Baxter, known by his middle name John, returned to his home in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

The next day, his partner found him dead, with a bin liner over his head. Mr Baxter had not yet found out whether the Trust would consider his appeal.

Yesterday Barrie Curryer, his partner of 30 years, said: 'What really upset him was that he worked all his life and paid into the health system and was refused treatment.

He thought it was because of his age, which I think played a part too.

'The trust people just sit in a room and read about John but don't see the patient. I blame the PCT because John's oncologist and GP wanted the drug. I think he built up his hopes of getting it.

The 70-year-old retired nurse added: 'It was the only drug that could do any good for him, there was nothing else. He was told it would not cure him but would give him a better quality of life.

'I can't say he was depressed, just very angry about it. He was so weak and just could not get up the stairs so I had to get people to help me.

'He said, "Nobody is doing anything for me, they're just letting me die".' I had prepared myself for his death but not under these circumstances.

Sutent facts and figures



'We offered to pay for the drug but if we had done we would have had to pay for all his treatment.

'We just could not afford that and John would not have accepted that anyway. I just wish he hadn't done it, we didn't even say goodbye.'

Friends of the couple, who ran a guesthouse together, organised a petition to get the drug but it failed to move health bosses.

An inquest into his death in April, heard that Mr Baxter's GP, Dr Rob Wicks, also campaigned for the patient to be prescribed the drug.

He told Eastbourne Coroner's Court: 'It would have held the progression of the disease and alleviated symptoms - improving his quality of life.'

But Lisa Compton, of the Trust, told the inquest that clinical effectiveness and cost were the two main reasons for refusing the drug. It was one of just two rejections for the treatment out of 19 requests to the Trust since January 2007.

Recording a verdict of suicide, East Sussex Coroner Alan Craze said: 'I don't think his life would have come to an end precisely when it did had he been prescribed the requested drug.'

The Trust had an 'almost impossible' job deciding on medication and there had to be a limit on resources, he added.

Sutent, is the first new treatment for advanced forms of kidney disease in 30 years. Trials have shown that it can prolong the lives of those with advanced stages of kidney cancer by up to two years and can shrink the tumour.

It is prescribed throughout Europe and licensed for use here. But it has yet to be approved by the Government's drugs rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

In the meantime, it is up to primary care trusts to decide whether to offer patients the drug, but they are not obliged to do so.

Under Health Service rules patients are not allowed to make so-called co-payments to top up their existing NHS treatment. If they want to pay for drugs not funded on the NHS, they must to pay privately for their entire treatment.