There's a new law before Congress that will allow health insurance companies
to designate mastectomies as outpatient surgery.  If you're female or know
someone (male and  female) who's suffered from breast cancer, then you know how
misplaced  this idea is... all in the interest of profit-taking. Regardless of
your politics, this is not a good public health mandate. I urge everyone to
participate in the petition drive (sponsored by
 the Lifetime television network)that can be accessed at the bottom of this
message. Thanks for your patience with this message.
    
     Proposed Mastectomy Law Change(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 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. 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 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 web site below. You need
not give more than your name and zip code number