... thank you: I was having a very unsettling gut reaction to gominokouhai's comment and was second-guessing myself about differences between UK & US medical systems; I think you are super-articulate, and I am very grateful to you for the reassurance (even though it wasn't aimed at me!).

[Happy to expand on this into the realms of ~personal experience~ if anyone is interested, but don't wanna hijack the thread.]