Please support proposed NY State MITO legislation S3250/ A5174

Simon was a living, breathing human being, who brought incredible joy to his family…he did NOT deserve to die. On September 7, 2010, Simon was born with a bilateral cleft lip. 3 days later, he was officially diagnosed with “Full Trisomy 18,” also known as Edward’s syndrome. His parents wanted Simon to have every opportunity to thrive and survive. Someone else decided Simon’s life didn’t have value. Care was withheld. Simon was given only "comfort feedings" which basically means he was slowly starving to death. A Do-Not-Resusitate (DNR) order was placed in his chart, without his parents' knowledge or consent. Ultimately, his parents wishes and cries for help were ignored. We want to make sure this doesn’t happen to another child. In our opinion, no one loves their child more than their parent and only the parents should have the right to make those life or death decisions. Simon’s Law will protect the rights of parents concerning any life-sustaining medical choices for their minor children. So if your child suffers life threatening injuries only you, as their parents, would have the right to make those decisions regarding life or death instead of a medical professional, a stranger, you just met for the first time. We are asking you to please support Federal Bill similar to Missouri's HB 1915 - Simon’s Law. After all, shouldn’t every child have the opportunity to thrive and survive?

When I gave birth to my first child, the staff at The Birthing Center at Memorial Hospital offered me more than rote medical care. They held my hand, rubbed my back, and looked me in the eyes. Every staff member I encountered knew my name and respected my choices. Through the exceptional care I received during my labor, I came to believe in myself. You can't put a price tag on that kind of family-centered, evidence-based care. My family has learned that Care New England (CNE) is considering closing the Birthing Center at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island (MHRI). We are horrified and angered that CNE would prioritize financial interests over the care of the families it serves. The Birthing Center provides patients from diverse communities and backgrounds respectful, high quality, and evidence-based care. It serves local families from Pawtucket and Central Falls (including women and babies at highest risk for poor health outcomes due to economic and racial healthcare disparities), alongside educated urban elites, including some who cross state borders because of the Birthing Center’s reputation. The Birthing Center staff cares for tenured Ivy League professors, medical professionals, women recently immigrated, incarcerated women and local high school students with the same deep respect and compassionate care regardless of income or education. We urge you to prioritize the high quality care being provided to some of the state’s most marginalized families at MHRI over the potential cost savings of service consolidation. We urge you to recognize that the Birthing Center at MHRI is the choice of many of the most privileged and educated families in our state. Closing the Birthing Center would do a monumental disservice to RI women and families. MHRI is the only hospital in the state that implements the principles of Mother-Friendly care, as outlined in the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services' Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative. MHRI has an unwavering commitment to normal physiologic birth, skilled support for vaginal births after cesarean (VBAC), groundbreaking and now well-established Gentle Cesarean, and consistently respectful and individualized care. This model of care cannot be found in any other hospital in our state; it is the result of countless years of focused effort and the commitment of an interdisciplinary team of birth professionals. The impact of the Birthing Center at MHRI reaches far beyond the borders of RI. As the training site for Brown University’s Maternal Child Health Fellowship, the Birthing Center at MHRI provides family medicine physicians with nationally recognized and respected supplementary training in high-risk obstetrics within a community-centered model of care. Its graduates both serve our nation’s most vulnerable women and children in physician shortage areas, and work to overcome health care disparities affecting families of color and those living in poverty. In light of this, to close the Birthing Center is to abolish CNE’s most historically enduring, unwavering example of life-saving maternity care to underserved populations. Please understand that those of us afforded the privilege to do so will travel considerable distances to obtain high-quality, compassionate, evidence-based and family-centered care – the kind of care that ALL families deserve. Should the Birthing center be closed, we will work to be sure that all families understand their rights and options in choosing maternity care. If CNE does not value the Birthing Center, it does not value me. It does not value its patients - as women and men, as mothers and fathers, as engaged citizens, and as consumers of health care services. If CNE does not value its patients, then it will lose them. If the Board decides to put profits over patients, I will obtain all possible medical care for my family outside of the CNE system. I urge you to reconsider any plans for closure.

I currently work in local news and this process has been on my radar ever since Gov. Branstad started it months ago. I currently work in local news and this process has been on my radar ever since Governor Branstad started it months ago. Our county supervisors say it's a bad idea, our county healthcare providers say it's a bad idea (50% have not signed with any of the private companies), people that receive the care say its a bad idea, and our citizens say it's a bad idea. Please help us to stop the victimization of our most vulnerable citizens and either toss this whole concept out or at least give us more time! I talked to senator Chuck Grassley and he backs the governor on the basis that since New York is "doing well" with their privatization we can do well too. The critical difference is that New York had years to prepare for this and assure the best care. As for Iowa? About 4 months. Please Help us in this critical time! The Iowa Senate is on board; now let's get the House and Gov. Branstad on board, too!

Over half a million people in Iowa are presently covered under Medicaid. Their care is a paramount concern of all Iowans.

The state will lose good paying jobs to out-of-state companies and tax dollars will be lost and wasted on for-profit companies while our citizens in Iowa suffer.

Last month, the AAP published research showing that common medical procedures carried out on newborn babies are very painful, and that the effects of the pain can last many years. The procedures mentioned included heel sticks, insertion of IV needles, and circumcision. The AAP report also found that commonly used pain relievers are neither effective nor safe. Infant circumcision differs from the other procedures discussed in the report in that it is an invasive surgery that neither tests, treats any, nor prevents illness, and permanently removes a natural and valuable part of a boy’s sexual anatomy — the foreskin. The pain from circumcision is intense and continues for days or weeks after the surgery. Because circumcision is NOT medically necessary, and because the pain it causes is unmanageable and harmful over the long term, Intact America demands that the American Academy of Pediatrics tell its doctors to end the pain and stop circumcising baby boys. Sign our petition NOW.

SHB 1441, the tribal sovereignty and oral health access bill failed to be brought up for a vote on the house floor before cutoff on February 17. Our original petition garnered statewide support from over 1200 individuals in a few short days. Your messages were powerful and have built a sturdy foundation for the work that lies ahead. Why another petition? Throughout this legislative session there were legislators who listened to facts, respected tribal sovereignty, and recognized the enormity of the oral health care barriers in Indian Country. They were the decision-makers who put the needs of kids in pain over the need for a check from the dental industry. Lets keep them with us for the next round by sending a big thank you for their courage and action. We at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board will be moving forward with legislative, congressional and Tribal strategies, standing with those who know what solutions work best for their own communities—the Tribes themselves. We hope we can count on every single one of you in those efforts. Thank you, and onward!

This is an important issue that needs to be addressed by the people. I see many people suffer from lack of coverage and I believe that everyone should have access to healthcare.

I am asking for all of my friends to sign this petition and bombard our Louisiana State Legislature with phone calls and emails. Ask them to not take away PDHC's like Mini Miracles. This is a place where medically fragile children can learn and be with other children like them, while being taken care of by medical professionals.

American Indian/Alaska Native children suffer the highest rates of dental decay of any population in our state due to the lack of access to care. Washington Tribes are unable to use their federal resources to employ dental therapists for their own people, on their own lands, because of the Dental Industry's manipulations of federal legislation. This bill would lift that restriction and allow Tribes to turn the tide on oral health disparities in their communities by employing dental therapists--highly trained, culturally competent mid-level providers that have a proven record of increasing access to routine and preventive care.

There is a lot of very important research conducted on fetal tissue that people donate for any number of reasons and in many different circumstances. I think it's dangerous for medical science for people to be cutting off such a big avenue for research and discovery.