Some 40% of medical specialists would like to be able to refuse treatment to people who live an unhealthy lifestyle, according to a poll of 1,400 doctors for television programme Brandpunt.

And one in three say they would actually make use of the option to refuse treatment if the patient’s lifestyle is contributing to their poor health, the research shows.

‘This is an important signal that doctors will not act just like that,’ medical specialist federation chairman Marcel Daniels said. ‘They want to make people better and that involves more than an operation or other treatment.’

The research also shows almost seven in 10 specialists think healthcare costs will go down if more is made of unhealthy lifestyles and 37% think refusing some patients treatment because of their lifestyle will cut spending on healthcare.

‘At times of spending cuts, some doctors would indeed like to have this option,’ medical ethics specialist Medard Hilhorst told newspaper Trouw. ‘But that does not mean they will stop treating people en masse.’

Hilhorst said a doctor would never refuse emergency treatment on the basis of lifestyle and a smoker, say, who needs a heart bypass will always get one.

The Brandpunt programme will be broadcast on the KRO on Tuesday night.