Putting a price on life

In 2005, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said no patient diagnosed with early stage breast cancer should be denied access to Herceptin on the grounds of cost. This caused lobbyists throughout the UK to breath a sigh of relief, thinking the battle had been won. But this was not the case - as cancer sufferer Ann Marie Rogers found out in February this year when she lost her legal case to receive Herceptin on the NHS. Her situation reignited the debate over whether all patients diagnosed with early stage breast cancer should have the right to receive the drug for free. However, with tho...