posted May 20, 2009 01:49 PM         

received this on email today. please read and then SIGN the petition!!
I checked this on snopes.com. It is true.

· Proposed Mastectomy Law Change

(written by a surgeon);

I'll never forget the look in my pat ients eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the doc tors 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 pat ient 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 out pat ient 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 pat ients 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 doc tor, 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. You need not give more than your name and zip code number. http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petition/breast-cancer-petition.

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends.

posted May 21, 2009 12:13 PM         

while i too have reservations about the wisdom of making a bill for every single issue i don't know how else you get the insurance companies to sit up and take notice but to sign this and make your voice heard, through congress if necessary....

and to anyone who objects to more hospitalization i can only say that this is about having the OPTION should you prefer. i don't think it is about forcing anyone to spend a minute in hospital they don't want to.

it is also about the fact that our healthcare system as it stands includes cutting corners at every possible turn; turning people away for the sake of profit; and cutting people off when they are considered not "worth" the cost of tending to them.

and this is despite the fact that i believe we run to the doctor too often, take too many "medicines" that are potentially harmful to the healthy body, and that the pharmaceuticals are on course to eliminate most alternative healing methods and substances from general, easy accessibility.

posted May 29, 2009 02:01 PM         

funny, when in a hosptial, a physician can refuse to a certain extent, to deliver care to a patient, but the individual with insurance, he/she can flat out refuse, "I don't take your insurance."