SYDNEY (AFP) ??” A leading Australian doctor called for smoker to be denied elective surgery forward the grounds their treatment wastes scarce healthcare resources.

SYDNEY (AFP) ??” A leading Australian doctor called for smoker to be denied elective surgery forward the grounds their treatment wastes scarce healthcare resources, a stance ethics apts decried as a violation of human rights.

In an editorial observation published Monday in the Medical Journal of Australia, Matthew Peter said chronic smoker meet withed higher rates of post-operative infection than non-smokers and for a like reason needed more extensive care.

"Public health regularitys are faced with overwhelming demand and must generate the greatest benefit from limited resources," wrote Peter head of thoracic medicine at Sydney's Concord Hospital.

"Continued smoking in the face of elective surgery increases the risk to the individual and stretches already stretched healthcare resources and expenditure unnecessarily," he wrote

"The community has to decide whether this is justified," he continued.

Nicotine and other chemicals in cigarette mist slow down circulation and the healing of hurts leaving smokers more susceptible