Woman is told she's too old for heart op - at 61

8:00am Thursday 28th February 2008

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A 61-YEAR-old woman with an irregular heartbeat has been told she cannot have an operation to correct the condition - because she is too old.

Dorothy Simpson, of Leake, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation three years ago.

The condition can cause strokes, palpitations, heart failure, shortness of breath, blackouts, chest pains and sudden death.

It can often be corrected by an operation known as a catheter ablation, where the area of cells in the heart responsible for triggering the abnormal rhythm is destroyed.

At first, Mrs Simpson was treated with medication, but the drugs had limited success and her consultant cardiologist at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, wrote to North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) strongly recommending that she required a catheter ablation.

The trust refused to fund the operation, citing her age as one of the reasons behind the decision.

At a later date the trust said the operation had been turned down because Mrs Simpson also suffers from a thyroid problem.

"I can't believe that, at 61, I'm too old for this operation," she said. "A friend of mine has had exactly the same thing done and it has changed her life.

"I feel as though I've been put out to graze."

Mrs Simpson, who works at Allertonshire School, in Northallerton, added: "It is just so disappointing to think I could have had this done in January and it would have been all over by now.

"This sort of conditions affects you more and more as time goes on, and attacks happen more often. What concerns me most is the increased risk of a stroke.

"With everything you do, you have to think if you will be able to manage."

For suitable patients, catheter ablation has more than a 75 per cent success rate, and, according to the charity Arrhythmia Alliance is more cost effective than drug treatments over a two to five-year period.

Mrs Simpson's consultant has written to the PCT asking them to reconsider their decision.

A spokeswoman for the PCT said last night: "The PCT has today received some additional information from the consultant and we will be reviewing the case in light of this new clinical evidence."