A TV presenter said she was “haunted” by the story of a mother of four who died after her cancer treatment was stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Julia Hartley-Brewer told the story of the woman on Talk TV explaining that her care had been taking place at home when it was stopped to prioritise those suffering from Covid due to overstretched NHS services.
Speaking on the channel this morning while discussing the Covid inquiry, the presenter described the person who made the call as a “psychopath”.
She said: “I’m still haunted by a conversation I had during the Covid pandemic of a man whose wife had cancer and was having cancer treatment, they had four young children.
“And they ended her cancer treatment, even though her treatment was taking place at home.
“They just stopped it as if she wasn’t more at risk from dying of cancer as a young slim woman than she was from Covid and she died.”
She added: “Four children don’t have a mum and he doesn’t have a wife because some psychopath in the NHS thought that was the right thing to do.
“It still gives me goosebumps to think about that today that we did that in this country.
“It’s something you’d expect to happen under Xi Jinping in China.”
The woman was one of many people who saw their cancer care stopped during the pandemic due to a shortage of staff, an increase in patient numbers and infection control measures impacting how many patients could be seen by NHS staff.
Her comments came as Boris Johnson is interviewed as part of the Covid inquiry today.
