Cancer patient forced into dangerous driving
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A disabled pensioner living within the metropolitan area of Perth has been forced to drive a car while dangerously affected by medical therapy in order to undergo life saving treatment for cancer at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
The pensioner has also had to run up an unaffordable credit card debt in order to meet the expense of the 35 journeys to and from the hospital. A total cost of $2,800 for the 122km return journeys is based on the latest ATO car expenses calculations.
The pensioner protested to the State Department of Health that public transport was not an option due to a disability and the twice daily public transport service. In dismissing the plea for assistance the department made it clear that because the pensioner lived within the metropolitan area they were not eligible for subsidised transport costs. Neither would accommodation be available to the pensioner in the day patients units at AH Crawford House at SCGH.
The pensioner believed that on several occasions that they should not have been driving a vehicle due to the effects of the medical treatment. Despite an unblemished driving record the pensioner became involved in a minor collision and barely escaped in several "near misses" for which the pensioner admits responsibility. The pensioner considers that they should not have been driving for about a quarter of the total 4,270km, equal to a trip from Perth to Darwin, but was forced to take the risk.
Jarrah Bark is calling for an urgent review by the Health Department of a situation that sooner or later will lead to tragedy. The cancer patient was probably breaking the law when they drove a car knowing that they were probably not in a fit condition to be driving. But without any assistance the only other choice was to interrupt or abandon life saving treatment.
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