PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
RADIOTHERAPY INJURY AFTER BREAST CANCER (8 December 2000)

That this House believes there is a moral obligation for the Government to provide an ex gratia payment for women who have been injured by their radiotherapy treatment; recognises that in the past women were not warned of the dangerous risks before their radiotherapy treatments, were not given counselling after them and that the treatment was administered without informed consent being sought or given; understands radiotherapy injuries can include painful, untreatable and permanent injuries such as the paralysis of an arm or spontaneous bone fractures; notes that no compensation has been paid since EDM 512 (COURAGE campaign for patients with radiotherapy damage) was tabled in December 1997; asks the Secretary of State for Health to empower the Health Service Commissioner to recommend the award of ex gratia payments in appropriate circumstances, as proposed by the Health Select Committee in 1999; and urges the Department of Health to look again at the provision of an arbitration system to provide no-fault compensation for exceptional cases where the NHS is responsible for non-negligent harm.

Sponsored by:
Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)