Helen Kelly has been denied consent to use a cannabis oil product to help control her pain and nausea.
The ministry responded this morning, saying it was deferring the application because it did not contain enough information, she said.
“Basically they’ve said my doctor hasn’t described enough how the current drugs I’m taking are not working,” she said.
“He’s described all the drugs I’m taking and he’s a senior oncologist and he said, ‘I’m seeking permission to give her cannabis’, but … they’re second-guessing him.”
An earlier report quotes associate Health Minsiter Peter Dunne saying health officials hadn’t been able to get the information they needed:
“My understanding is they have made a number of attempts to do so … but to date, no such information has been provided,” he said.
“For that reason, they can’t formulate a recommendation to me on the application and I can’t reach a decision on their recommendation.”
How can a politician and health officials make a better informed decision than the doctor who is treating the patient?
Unlike some decisions on medicine this isn’t about funding.
I don’t understand why it is a political decision and not a medical one.
Homepaddock 
I agree, Ele, it does seem that the word cannabis creates a political brick wall when many other painkilling drugs in common use have actually got worse connections and can be highly addictive. Codeine is an opiate and in common use for managing pain but many people end up addicted. http://www.healthline.com/health/codeine-withdrawal#Overview1
A major change to the way health and education were delivered was through the replacement of the Health and the Education Departments with Ministries. Departments used to led by ‘Secretaries’ with a professional background from the sector they were leading. They generally operated autonomously and provided advice to Ministers under a ‘public service’ model.
The most effective and important changes in health and education have been under visionary secretaries like Clarence Beeby
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5b17/beeby-clarence-edward
and Truby King who was employed as the Director of Child Heath.
They were both motivated by their professional knowledge and ethics.
Health and Education are now led by Ministries that are political institutions that are directed by their Ministers. In Education especially I have noticed that the Ministry of Education has a larger percentage of bureaucrats and fewer who have come into the role with an education background. The current CEO is Peter Hughes, a career bureaucrat and although he is a very competent man he started his working life as clerk in the Department of Social Welfare. He is very competent at implementing what Ministers direct.
The current CEO of the Health Ministry has a commerce degree.
The Labour Party set up the Ministry of Education and National the Ministry of Health so this isn’t an attack on National just the politicising of health and Education.
The sooner politicians take a step back from important education and health decisions, the better. Coleman does have a medical background and he publicly acknowledged that over-ruling professional advice using Herceptin for political gain was wrong
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2015/12/hague_is_right.html
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