BreakTheChain.org
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"Patient's" Has VirtueDate Added: Aug. 13, 2001
Finally, a piece of Internet activism with a worthy cause, a well-thought premise and a chance of succeeding. Too bad the chain letter asking for your support couldn't have been better. This is too important not to pass it along, so eveyone in my address list got it! It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman, because I can guarantee that everyone of you loves someone who this could happen to! Please sign it and pass it along! ---------------------- Subject: FW: Passage of Legislation re: Breast Surgery This will only take a second! "If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times...if you are receiving this...it's because I think you are a loving, caring, person who will take the 30 seconds to go and vote on this issue...and then copy and paste the message below, 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 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 and help women living with breast cancer get the care they need and deserve!! http://www.lifetimetv.com/health/breast_mastectomy_pledge.html P.S. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE WITH INTERNET ACCESS." Lifetime Television has advocated for the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act since 1996, when 17,000 viewers signed an online petition for the cause. Unfortunately, the bill was never brought to a vote at that time. Connecticut Representative Rosa L. DeLauro reintroduced the legislation in 2001 with new hope that it might be time. It was during this session of congress that the above chain letter gained a lot of public support via e-mail. Unfortunately, the resolution was referred to conference committee on March 29, 2001, where it died again. On April 30, 2003, DeLauro re-introduced the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act as H.R. 1886. In the wake of that news, this chain and the Lifetime petition gained renewed life. Unfortunately, this bill also languished in committee and died. De Lauro tried again in 2005 and, yet again, there was no action. But De Lauro is persistent and on Jan. 31, 2007, she re-introduced the act as H.R. 758. It was referred to the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions on May 18, 2007 and, as of this writing, has had no further action. Lifetime still supports it and, as of Sept. 2007, boasted more than 20 million signatures. The petition has been folded into their much larger "Be My Bra" campaign. As a general rule, BreakTheChain.org recommends against 'signing' any online petition or otherwise giving your personal information to a third party to act on your behalf. For guidelines to consider when asked to sign a petition online, read my primer on Armchair Activism. Break the chain. References: Snopes.com, Lifetime TV, Library of Congress |