Coventry Telegraph front page, February 7, 2012

COVENTRY MP Geoffrey Robinson has called on the health secretary to help a grandmother who was denied a lifesaving operation by the NHS.

Yesterday, the Telegraph revealed health chiefs were refusing to pay £15,000 for Barbara Judge’s surgery.

Her family have branded the decision “a death sentence” as Barbara has an aortic aneurysm – a blood balloon that could rupture and kill her at any moment. Mr Robinson said he was so shocked by our story that he immediately wrote to health secretary Andrew Lansley.

He said: “My constituent has worked and paid taxes all her life, but is now being denied an operation without which she could die.”

Mr Robinson also raised the matter in the Commons during a debate yesterday.

Barbara, from Holbrooks, was diagnosed with an aneurysm in September after complaining of back pain.

See also Coventry Telegraph front page: Monday, February 6, 2012