unforum

[MageSteff]

United States: MASTECTOMY LEGISLATION

[addlepated]

That petition won't do much good, since it's going to the person who already backs the bill. You're better off calling your own legislators and expressing your support for the bill to them.

[dmax]

Personally, I totally disagree that the legislature should be involved in defining care issues for medical professionals.

I think it's patently obvious that laws are passed based on money and lobbying and selfish motivations, not to mention non-medical personnel spouting their supposed expertise.

This is completely different from evidence-based medical care. Good medical care isn't typically based on anecdotal horror stories, or blind reliance on past practices, or special interest input, but on well-reasoned and reproducible research.

Micromanaging specific aspects of health care through congresspeople is ludicrous, being fraught with the greed of business interests, the lack of the medical practical expertise of those crafting the laws, the sluggishness of inertia, and ultimately - if you think about it long enough - the ultimate danger to the public.

But, over the decades, I've seen enough of these scare tactic maneuvers to recognize that the primary drive behind a lot of them is union issues. Really. The reason that an issue like this goes through the government is not because of some sense of altruism - but it's a manifestation of a specific union trying to force standards on medical corporations so that they have job security.

In order to accomplish this, they find a threatening scenario ("patients sent home groggy with tubes hanging out of them" - sheesh) and use this sophomoric tactic to rush through their legislation, claiming that their opponents must be misers or inhumane or both. It's the standard approach of unions, and it doesn't impress me at all. Instead, I think it's obvious that medical personnel define care standards based on research, and use existing monitoring bodies to make sure that those standards are adhered to. And leave the frickin legislators out of it.

But I haven't made up my mind on the subject completely yet.

[SpaceBass]

First rule of Email: NEVER forward anything that says "please forward this to everyone in your address book."

[Varin]

First of all, I agree that legislature should not be involved in defining care issues for medical professionals. Non-medically trained individuals should not be able to tell doctors or medical workers what has to be done in a specific case. But, if you read the full article that Magesteff linked to, that really isn't what this is about.

It's more about insurance companies refusing to pay for stays after surgery even if the doctor and patient think it is a good idea because they don't think it is necessary. It's not about taking any decision-making on the part of the doctor or patient. It's about women who have to leave the hospital when they probably shouldn't because their insurance won't pay and they can't afford it themselves.

Personal rant...

I've ran into this sort of thing several times with several different insurance companies. I know that insurance companies are in the business to make money, but their "rules" about what they will and won't pay for just don't make sense sometimes. THe insurance companies I have had to deal with fight every tiny thing that they can. And I think that's a shame. I pay for insurance so why should they treat me like crap when I actually need to use the insurance I've paid for? If it takes legislation to get them to cover things that are needed, then I say let's give them the legislation.

[dmax]

I reserve the right to rant on any topic that's even peripherally related to the subject at hand.

It's for your own good.

[Varin]

[MageSteff]

[Ozy_y2k]

Hey, careful when you're throwing around that term "insurance lackey".

[dmax]