The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act

From the "If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention files" comes the material I'm posting about today.

As the niece of two lovely women who died prematurely from breast cancer, and the cousin of another lady who - thank God - is a survivor of breast cancer, I have to weigh in on this issue and share a couple of links with you.

From a nurse:

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

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. For the love of women everywhere, please take the 30 seconds 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 CancerPatient 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 doctors, 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 Web site below.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/breastcancer/petition/signpetition.php

PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women, THANKS.

Further Reading: Letter from the AMA