Saturday, May 2, 2009

The Bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act Needs Our Support!

I just received the following email (written by a surgeon) which I want to share with my readers:

I'll never forget the look in my patients' eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

This Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now. It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it really quick! The Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill is important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE! Sign the petition by clicking on the website below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.


My Lifetime's Breast Cancer Petition

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to 20 friends. Thank you.

7 comments:

inkWELL Press said...

I'm off to sign it... I have a friend's mother who just had a mastectomy and they did try to tell her she couldn't spend the night... they had to fight the insurance to get her in overnight. Terrible.

Allison Claire said...

Your blog looks great and I am very interested in all the fun things on here! Thanks for finding me! :)

Christina said...

thank you for posting this...it hits very close to home for me. i've already signed it and wouldn't have known anything about this had it not been for you!

Anonymous said...

This actually managed to be passed by the House in 2008 but has not gone before the Senate...

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-758

drollgirl said...

dude. i'm on board with this. my mom had breast cancer and a mastectomy and it was a total fucking brutal nightmare. she is ok, but it is a horrid thing to go through, and anything we can do to make it a little better is a must.

Anonymous said...

I had heard about this! And I will definitely sign it. It's barbaric making them go home shortly after surgery!

Ginger said...

I found this through down and out chic. Thank you for posting this! I have reposted it on my blog, with links to you and Christina, and I hope to get as many of my friends to sign this as possible!