nhs has refused my sons operation which insurance company will cover him

pedro123456

Caroline take no notice of the Moron /judgemental replies, these berks have nothing better to do
As said by the more constructive replies you must go to your GP and ask to have your son referred to CAMHS, for the self harm thoughts.
My personal thoughts are that surgery may go some way towards a solution, I don’t see it as the permanent answer .
Is the insurance forum the correct place to get guidance?, you could have chosen a more “supportive” bunch to ask maybe.
In any case I wish you all the best, the sooner that CAMHS get involved the better for you lad.
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/healthandwellbeing/mentalhealthissues/camhs/camhs/

puddy

but if it was a tissue removal problem linked to breathing difficulties, then why has the pct termed it plastic surgery.

in addition, you state that he is very depressed, suicidal etc, because he has no confidence. im not convinced that this illness or growth would cause him to feel like that on its own. i feel that its because he is concerned that he looks odd, unattractive etc.

you were given some very good advice above, which although you said thanks for, im not sure you really took on board. you stated (to show that no one is pressurising him into feeling bad or wanting to have surgery) that no one discusses the matter. i feel that this is part of the problem, a lot will be unsaid, instead of talking about it in a matter of fact way, that lots of men and women have things about them that they wish they didnt have,, do you know how many women have excess facial hair, its an lifelong battle, women who have baldness, men who have breasts, small genitalia (or think they do). the emotional tools he needs to deal with this are not present. your fanaticism for the op, are not helping him develop the tools. he may or may not get an op in future years, but he needs to develop self esteem about his whole self, warts (or boobs) and all. that isnt happening.

so he has been rejected from applying for the army? did they suspect that his mental health makes him too fragile, because i can tell you this, its not because they thought he had breasts, that is unrelated. lots of us dont pass interviews, my partner for example has 'failed' about 5 in a row recently, he has had to pick himself up and look to the next one.

i understand all this is easier said than done, and that its harder for someone of 16 to take knocks because they are more fragile but he needs the skills to cope with life, he is suffering with life at the moment because clearly the whole focus of the family is 'get this kid an op to get rid of his boobs'. that has become his whole identity and that is not healthy

geri1965_2

kai666 wrote: »

I'm no insurance expert, but i think you'll be hard pushed to find an insurance company that will cover existing problems unfortunately.

I have cover wtih BUPA through my work and there is no pre-existing conditions exclusion.

GEEGEE8

Is he overweight?

WhiteHorse

No insurance company will touch a pre-existing health condition. The condition is not life threatening or seriously life inhibiting, so it will assume a low priority as far as the NHS is concerned.

If you are that concerned, then you will have to raise the funds yourself or pursue the self-harm angle. Beware however. If you follow the latter course, then he could be labelled as having mental health issues, and that's not really desirable.

Talk of suicide is a little over the top, albeit increasingly common amongst young people. Would counselling by a more mature person help?

I have myself had the problem to which I think you refer and would have had surgery if it was available at the time. It wasn't, so I've had to live with it, although at times it hasn't been easy.

bigjl

I honestly can't see the NHS paying for this procedure, the condition that your son appears to be suffering from is know as gynecomastia.

Especially because of the budget cuts that are coming in to pay for New Labour and the Banks financial mistakes.

I am not saying this is right, and can't see how it could cause any kind of breathing problem, unless the breathing problem could be related to anxiety.

Unfortunately I have seen very similiar situations resulting in the NHS arranging for counselling rather than a surgical intervention.

Does your son have other medical issues, is he overweight? Or is there any hormonal imbalances? I knew several lads at school that had this problem and in every case it became less noticable when they grew older.

The main thing is to keep your GP up to date with how this problem is affecting your son.

But in all honesty I can't see the NHS treating this as any kind of priority if this is his only medical problem, it isn't the end of the world, the NHS hasn't got the money to deal with peoples body image problems, the NHS budget is the budget, and sadly some patients have to do without the best cancer drugs due to budget problems, it really comes down to if you have the money to pay for the surgery, if you do then get it sorted, this might not be the answer you where hoping for, but when you have worked in the NHS for as long as I have. And for as long as other members of my family have you tend to view things from a slightly different direction.

On rereading one of the OPs later posts she mentions stretch marks on her sone body, this may go some way to explaining the extra fat deposits, did your son lose weight when he got into his teenage years, if he was a little overweight in his younger years then that may be why his body has retained fat in his chest. The OP also made mention that the consultant was waiting for the fat in his chest to reduce. So I think that like many children he was a little overweight when younger and some fat has remained into his teens.

olly300

caroline1970 you are reading but not understanding.

A 16 year old boy will not stop growing at least until he is 18 at the earliest. And as one other poster has pointed out your body doesn't actually stop maturing until you are in your 20s which is why he has probably been turned down for treatment on the NHS.

I know women who had breast reductions on the NHS and they had to wait until they were over 25 for the same reason and women tend to stop growing earlier than men.

If your son has stretch marks it indicates he has a weight issue and your best approach is to find him some physical exercise he wants to do which will probably be a completely male team sport, encourage him to go training, support him if he needs to change his diet and leave him to do it. And not focus on his body size or shape.

I've met enough women through doing sport who are hung up on their body size due to the influence of their parents particularly their mothers, when in fact there is nothing sporting or health wise wrong with their bodies.

bouncydog1

Caroline, your son is a normal 16 year old who appears to be carrying a bit of excess weight. Getting him active is going to go a long way towards resolving this issue, which was recently addressed on the "embarrassing bodies" programme on t.v. The lad with the issue was sent away and told to reduce his weight and get moving with the result that several weeks later there was a marked improvement.

No insurer is going to pay for this as it is a pre-existing condition.

All 16 year olds have hang-ups with one or other part of their body - many girls think their tummies are fat or they have no breasts (because they are still developing) but they don't all rush out asking for tummy tucks and breast implants (and quite frankly any surgeon who would undertake this is, in my view irresponsible). If your son is overweight, then he needs to think about what he is eating and make sure he eats healthily in both content and portion size and gets involved in an activity that he enjoys. It takes time to see results so he will have to stick at it. If he sticks at it until he stops growing in a few years and still has the issue, then is the time to seriously consider surgery, after fully understanding all of the risks involved.

I am sure that you will not like the content of my post as it does not provide an instant solution, but your son needs to understand that everyone is different and real friends accept you for who you are, not what you look like. Think for a few minutes about the people whose life changes because they suffer serious injury or illness for which there is no solution - they have to get on with it and I'm afraid that this is what your son needs to do. He must enjoy his teenage years and stop being encouraged to focus all his (normal 16 year old) insecurities on the fact that he has one area of his body that is a little different to his friends.

lolly_896

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

Caroline, your son is a normal 16 year old who appears to be carrying a bit of excess weight. Getting him active is going to go a long way towards resolving this issue, which was recently addressed on the "embarrassing bodies" programme on t.v. The lad with the issue was sent away and told to reduce his weight and get moving with the result that several weeks later there was a marked improvement.

No insurer is going to pay for this as it is a pre-existing condition.

All 16 year olds have hang-ups with one or other part of their body - many girls think their tummies are fat or they have no breasts (because they are still developing) but they don't all rush out asking for tummy tucks and breast implants (and quite frankly any surgeon who would undertake this is, in my view irresponsible). If your son is overweight, then he needs to think about what he is eating and make sure he eats healthily in both content and portion size and gets involved in an activity that he enjoys. It takes time to see results so he will have to stick at it. If he sticks at it until he stops growing in a few years and still has the issue, then is the time to seriously consider surgery, after fully understanding all of the risks involved.

I am sure that you will not like the content of my post as it does not provide an instant solution, but your son needs to understand that everyone is different and real friends accept you for who you are, not what you look like. Think for a few minutes about the people whose life changes because they suffer serious injury or illness for which there is no solution - they have to get on with it and I'm afraid that this is what your son needs to do. He must enjoy his teenage years and stop being encouraged to focus all his (normal 16 year old) insecurities on the fact that he has one area of his body that is a little different to his friends.

Caroline's son may not be overweight, some men develop breast tissue and could be as thin as a rake x

blue_monkey_2

I'd agree, I'd say the chest pains and breathing problems are more down to him being anxious all the time, not to do with this problem.

Surely his consultant in this matter would be the one doing the op or am I completely missing something?