Surgeon bans smokers

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 11

Surgeon bans smokers

NZPA-PA London A leading British surgeon has ordered a ban on coronary by-pass surgery for patients who refuse to stop smoking-. Professor Roger Greenhalgh said yesterday that it was pointless because the arterial by-passes soon failed if patients continued smoking. The only exception was emergency cases when everything possible would be done to save a patient’s life.

Professor Greenhalgh, professor of surgery at Charing Cross Hospital, London, where hundreds of by-pass operations are done each year, said that smoking damaged the lining of the arteries. “Ninety-seven per cent of patients with arterial disease have smoked for more than 20 years. “We have shown that our by-passes soon fail if smoking continues, and will not perform a by-pass if the patients will not agree to

stop smoking.” So far more than half the patients had agreed, but others had refused even after the risks were explained to them. Some patients knew they might die of disease, but still had decided that they would rather carry on smoking. “If that is their wish we must respect that,” said Professor Greenhalgh. “But we must inform them of the risks.”