My well-meaning mother, a life-long healthcare professional, sent me a link from LifetimeTV; Lifetime has a petition drive underway, collecting signatures to support legislation increasing hospitalization to a minimum of 48 hours after a mastectomy instead of immediate release.
Unfortunately, the petition drive appears to be more than a year old. This bill needs serious help. My response to my mom follows; pass this on to any other women you know who would be willing to sign the petition AND take the next step.
Here's the reply I sent my mom:
I'll sign the petition, but this particular bill is going nowhere and will require a LOT more than signing the petition at LifetimeTV.
The first bill, H.R. 536 Breast Cancer Protection Act of 2001, was buried in committee.
The second bill, H.R. 1886, was buried in committee by the 108th Congress.
This needs more than signing a petition. This needs every single female voter and any sympathetic male voter to write a letter to their Congressman and ask for H.R. 1886 to be resuscitated and brought forward to vote instead of smothered in committee. My guess is that insurance industry lobbyists have gotten to key members of Congress who then buried this bill. Until women become more vocal by taking the step to write to their Congress members and ask them to get this bill to a vote, this isn't going to go anywhere.
Government of, by and for the people requires us to do something, be engaged.
Forward this email at will to interested parties.<<
I could understand sending home some lumpectomy patients depending on the size of the mass. But a mastectomy, particularly a radical mastectomy? Sending home a patient on the day of surgery or immediately following surgery, a patient who'll have nominal use of an arm after surgery, especially where chest muscle tissue has been removed and sedation has been used during the procedure?
Patently absurd. This should be at the discretion of the patient and doctor and not at the discretion of insurance companies.
10:36:15 AM 
