Video: Lord Saatchi's personal appeal The advertising guru, Maurice Saatchi, is appealing to Telegraph readers to join him in his fight to change medical practice in the treatment of cancer in the hope of promoting an eventual cure for the disease that killed his wife, the novelist Josephine Hart, in 2011. Writing of the "calamity" that afflicted his family, Lord Saatchi highlights the current "innovation averse" culture in the NHS, with cancer patients routinely prescribed a "standard procedure" that is "degrading, medieval and ineffective" and "leads only to death." He believes that fear of medical negligence cases - which cost the taxpayer £1.2 billion last year alone - is preventing doctors from trying new treatments that may not save the individuals concerned, but which will advance the pursuit of a cure for cancer. In 2013, Lord Saatchi introduced a Private Member's Bill to promote "responsible" innovation, without the fear of negligence claims. It has now been adopted by the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. Next month, a Department of Health consultation is launched on the proposals, with legislation promised if enough people back them. "We need to say loudly and clearly," Lord Saatchi urges readers, "that we want to try new treatments for cancer where the old ones are known to lead only to death.