Proposed Mastectomy Law Change

[Guest guest]

The DMSO group had a posting about a petition about a proposed change to

the law in the US connected to the length of time women are kept in

hospital after mastectomy (the insurance companies want it to be a

same-day procedure) (Below). I thought two days was far to soon to be

turfed out of hospital. What I hadn't realised was that the " drive

through " mastectomy was the current norm, not the two-day stay.

I emailed a friend asking how long she had been kept in hospital after

her mastectomy (here in Australia).

She replied:

I STAYED ONE WEEK IN HOSPITAL BUT I STILL HAD TO GO HOME ATTACHED TO THE

DRAINAGE AND IT WAS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE AND PAINFUL; SO I CANT SEE HOW

THEY ARE SENT HOME SO QUICK . EVERYTHING BOILS DOWN TO MONEY AND GREED IN ALL

WALKS OF LIFE.

Subject: FW: Proposed Mastectomy Law Change

http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petitio\

n/breast-cancer-petition

> This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON

> 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.

> > (written by a surgeon);

>

> > 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 afterward. 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. The Breast Cancer

> Hospitalization Bill is important legislation for all

> women.

>

>

http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petitio\

n/breast-cancer-petition

>