Please read this post!
This was one email I received today worth posting.
Please read on . . .
From a nurse:
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 (s).
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!
Mastectomy Bill in Congress
It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important…
Please take the time and do it really quick!
Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill – 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 link below.
You need not give more than your name and zip code number.
Mastectomy Bill
or
Contact your State Rep {supposedly more helpful than signing the petition. thanks, AMR}
or both
~m
Thanks for posting, this.
It’s time for our health care system to take the power back from the insurance companies, IMO.
This is certainly a good cause in and of itself, but I hope it’s only the beginning.
LyricalFool said this on July 29, 2007 at 8:49 am |
JUST DO IT.
i underwent a 5 1/2 hour surgery in 2000 {not cancer, thanQ, sweet jesus}. my doc, who crossed over on 9-10-2001 {this news was lil known since the next day the world fell apart}, charted that i developed a fever and needed to stay an additional 24 hours for observation. he made this a practice with ALL of his patients, because he was painfully aware of how short their stay was. speakng as a nurse, 24 hours is hardly enough time to process all the changes, the pain, the patient education, the alteration in body image, etc., etc.
please sign the petition!
whyvonne said this on July 29, 2007 at 11:07 am |
wow.. i never realised it was this bad :s
moondai said this on July 29, 2007 at 11:08 am |
My mom had a double mastectomy. It absolutely should not be an outpatient procedure.
Poor_Statue said this on July 29, 2007 at 3:18 pm |
Just saw ‘Sicko’ this weekend. Whether you like Micheal Moore or not, he’s making some very valid points regarding healthcare and insurance providers and above post just confirms underlines some of the points he’s made.
Having lived and been sick in Switzerland (Swiss health care insurance combines public, subsidised private and fully private healthcare) and Canada (public healthcare) both systems have their disadvantages. Still based on my knowledge, I’d prefer either of them to the US system, which I get to experience through work every day.
After some of the stories I’ve heard (one of them you posted yourself about the ‘dumped patient’, this bill does not surprise. It’s probably the brilliant idea of a male (no offense).
spasmicallyperfect said this on July 30, 2007 at 2:46 pm |
I used to work for a health insurance company and I would imaging the length of stay after a surgery like this would vary depending on your insurance company. For as much as we all pay for our insurance, they should be keeping us happy and comfortable for quite some time after a surgery. I’ve had outpatient surgery which is no where close to losing body parts, but I was sent home puking some unnamed color of green and was a really ugly shade of yellow. “Off ya go!” I don’t get it!!
carnealian said this on July 30, 2007 at 5:48 pm |
Signed.
I’ve never had to undergo any type of major surgery and cringe at the thought of being at the mercy of the doctors and the insurance companies. Petition signed.
Deborah said this on July 30, 2007 at 7:34 pm |
This would never happen in Canada! I’m going to sign the petition anyway for all my sisters in the U.S.
Matty said this on July 30, 2007 at 7:40 pm |
I’ve known about this and am sickened by it. I am one who has chosen not to have a mastectomy and I’ve been working on a post about it. More women need to be informed about what they are facing so they can make their own decisions about their own bodies.
Thanks ~m!
RubyShooZ said this on August 01, 2007 at 1:34 pm |