Urge the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate and President Obama to pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, which would mandated hospital recovery times which must be adhered to and paid for by all insurance companies.  It identified the amount of time that the normal patient needs in order to be recovered sufficiently to go home (48 hours) and have this built it into the parameters of the law. 

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women, excluding cancers of the skin.  In 2008;

-an estimated 40,480 women and 450 men died from breast cancer;

-an estimated 182,460 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in women;

-an estimated 1,990 invasive breast cancer cases were diagnosed in men;

-an estimated 67,770 new cases of in situ breast cancer occurred in women and of these, approximately 85 percent were ductal carcinoma in situ.

When a woman, goes to the hospital for a mastectomy (surgical removal of the breast), it involves pre-surgery testing, the surgery and an immediate release.   However, because most mastectomies require drainage from the incision a majority of women must leave the hospitals with the drain still attached. 

Breast cancer patients have reported adverse outcomes, resulting from premature hospital discharge following breast cancer surgery, including infection and inadequately controlled pain.

Many doctors believe that when the patient is outside the watchful eye of the medical staff after a mastectomy, the possibility of infections will greatly increase and breast cancer surgery complications often arise as a result. 

Research has indicated that treatment for breast cancer varies according to type of insurance coverage and State of residence. Currently, 20 States mandate minimum inpatient coverage after a patient undergoes a mastectomy.

However, by passing the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, it require that insurance companies would have to let breast cancer patients stay in the hospital for a minimum forty-eight hours.  Not only will breast cancer surgery complications go down, but the overall mental health of breast cancer patients will be vastly improved as well.  Also, the patient will have less to worry about, and the longer they can have to adapt before they leave the hospital, the better off everyone is from the patient to the doctor.  Even the insurance companies should benefit being that in the long run, having fewer infections and complications will undoubtedly cut costs for them.

Please call or write your representatives and senators and President Obama to pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act.

Also please sign the petition to pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act.