Medical Interventions Not Available on Demand unless Clinically Indicated

In a recent letter to the BMJ, Mandie Scamell and colleagues rightly observe that non-indicated medical interventions are NOT available on demand in the UK.  



"NICE suggests that when requests for caesareans are based on anxiety, mothers should be offered referral to a perinatal mental health professional. The recommendation is that a caesarean section should be offered only if this fails."



Scamell and colleagues criticize an article for suggesting that caesarean section is available on demand.  They argue that such a reading not only fails to pass the Bolam test but contravenes existing medicolegal precedent set in 2004 through the R (Leslie Burke) v General Medical Council, where it was held that there is no right to treatment on demand (paragraphs 30-31).  



Scamell and colleagues conclude that "current legal precedent and clinical guidelines hold that surgical interventions, such as caesarean section, are not available on demand unless clinically indicated."