Abstract

In Rogers, the Court of Appeal held that the decision of Swindon N.H.S. Primary Care Trust to refuse to fund Herceptin for the treatment of Ann Rogers against breast cancer was irrational. The P.C.T. maintained that their decision was not resource driven but based on the fact that Herceptin was, at that time, not licensed by the European Medicines Agency (E.M.E.A.) for use in early stage breast cancer. Yet it was prepared to fund its use in ‹exceptional circumstances’ which could only be based upon the personal situation of the patient. In this note, I focus upon the ‹exceptionality’ argument in the context of the patient as consumer of healthcare and women as carers. I argue for a focus upon caring rather than consumerism in healthcare