Hold healthcare executives responsible for the damage they have done to people. In my case these people need to be charged with attempted murder, nothing more nothing less.

Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board wants to close the children's ward, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. This would force families to travel with sick children to hospitals in Glasgow, often with poor public transport access. The closure may also have a catastrophic domino effect on other services at the RAH.

The Red Cross has banned gay men from donating blood since the emergence of AIDS in the 1980's. When little was known about the disease that policy might have made some sense, but now banning gay men from donating blood achieves no purpose other than to cut off a group of potential donors as well as to send a message of bigotry. All donated blood is tested for HIV regardless of who donates it. The Red Cross should encourage gay men to donate blood.

TBI raided Appalachian Medical Center, Johnson City, TN in 2007 due to what TBI investigators reported as a "pill mill" that contributed to the death of 47 patients. No charges were filed. The licenses of 3 nurses, employees with Appalachian Medical were suspended. In May, 2011 their licenses were reinstated with the assistance of representatives, Shipley and Ford even though the TBI investigation was still continuing. In April, 2011 Shipley advocated a house amendment to reduce the number of nursing board members that could further risk the health of Tennesseans. Gov. Haslem of Tennesse stated, " I don't like it when people use their leverage to accomplish a personal agenda". Ford's sister was a employee of Appalachian Medical. Shipley identified himself as "the rascal behind the scenes that made it all happen".

Stand up to advertisers who you may upset or lose if you printed regular, in-depth, complete coverage of the benefits of comprehensive, universal heathcare, Improved Medicare for All, Single Payer Healthcare, socialized medicine, whatever you call it.

Providence Health Services, one of the largest hospital groups in the Portland Metro area of Oregon, is under equipped and undereducated about the diagnosis, treatment, and full range of symptoms involved in POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). POTS is a disorder of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), primarily characterized by the symptom that it takes its name from: when you stand up, you can pass out.  When people stand up, gravity starts to take over with your body's blood flow, pulling it down to your legs and abdomen.  In most people, the ANS triggers a slight increase in blood pressure and heart rate, tightening the veins in your legs, and compensates to keep blood flowing normally to your brain.  In people with POTS, things don't quite go as planned.  The ANS overcompensates, increasing the heart rate dramatically.  The veins in the legs don't tighten, and blood pressure doesn't raise, and can often drop.  Blood flow to the brain is slowed, they get less oxygen to the brain, and they can gray out or even pass out completely.  Other common symptoms in people with POTS include nausea, gastrointestinal disorders, heat intolerance, fatigue and more.  POTS is currently affecting an estimated 1.7% of the population, though with the high number of misdiagnoses that most POTS patients receive before their POTS diagnosis, that percentage could be much higher.  POTS is debilitating, ruining peoples' careers, family lives, social activities.  It is also misunderstood, frequently misdiagnosed or mistaken for stress, anxiety, depression, sometimes even bipolar disorder or other more serious psychological disorders.
As an in-home caregiver for a patient with POTS, I've seen many issues with Providence Health Services regarding the education of their providers.  Most have never heard of POTS, and find it "too complex to treat."  Some don't believe in POTS, since there is nothing structurally wrong with the body.  Others know a little about it, but are either going by out-of-date research information, or don't know how to diagnose/treat it.  There are a handful of doctors in the Portland area who are being overwhelmed with patients from all over Oregon and Washington.  Providence Health Systems needs to start educating their providers about how to diagnose POTS, and how to treat it.  I am petitioning them to start an education and awareness campaign within their hospitals and clinics, and invite local POTS patients to speak first-hand about their experiences.

Every day, thousands die because they cannot get replacement organs. Every day, thousands of useful, life-saving organs are destroyed. Changing the wording of the law from a default of "no" to a default of "yes," can double or triple the number of organ donors. With today's medicine, nearly any healthy part of a body can be used to save other people.

This bill was introduced by assembly member Felipe Fuentes to increase access to and participate in CalFresh by removing barriers and simplifying the application process, while simultaneously implementing cost savings efforts. AB6 would help feed hungry California families by eliminating the requirement that aid applicants must be fingerprinted and photographed as a condition of eligibility.

Starting with the McGovern Commission in 1977, we have been told that a healthy diet is low in fat and high in carbohydrates. Despite a lack of scientific evidence to support these claims, the message that fat is "bad" has been repeated so many times that it is now accepted as an unquestionable truth. As a result of these misguided recommendations obesity, diabetes, and heart disease have reached epidemic proportions.

To raise awareness about Multiple Sclerosis I would like the State of Maine to issue specialty license plates. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another.

Adverse medical events and medical errors rob patients & families of quality of life and often of life itself. The facilities/doctors then in settlement attempt to "compensate" victims for damages suffered. No amount of monetary compensation can ever truly recover the extreme and needless damages suffered thru these adverse medical events. The facilities/doctors routinely impose gag orders demanding silence from victims. Malpractice lawyers and defendants reason this by saying that "compensation is in exchange for silence." The facility robbed patients & families, so the offending facilities have no right to any such "exchange." This doubly punishes victims, and further robs victims of needed healing in the form of speaking out, and reporting events as required by LAW. This draconian practice of imposing gag orders is illegal, unethical, unconstitutional, and must STOP!!! The only "exchange" that should take place is the victims' right of fair and equitable compensation for losses suffered! Victims do not owe the offenders anything! Gag clauses protect no one but the wrong-doers. The interests of business, especially harmful and dangerous business, must never be placed above the interests of the people, namely the PATIENTS it serves. Gag clauses are nothing but cowardly acts by those who are clearly afraid of the truth, and we must find alternatives within the civil justice system, or these cowards will continue to literally get away with murder, so long as the legal system plays along in the name of $. No payment for recovery of damages exempts any facility from accountability under the law. Victims should not be forced to choose between lawfully reporting events and recovering losses. Many states have implemented laws such as the NJ HEAL Law and the NJ Patient Safety Act, which require hospitals to publish adverse medical events, to create needed transparency for patient safety, and to protect the interests of the public at large. These laws mandate full disclosure and publication of medical errors and HAI's. Both CMS and Joint Commission Standards mandate full disclosure and communication of such errors. The AMA Code of Ethics also mandates honest disclosure. Despite these laws, wrong-doers continue to manipulate and bully victims by attempting to "buy" their way out of needed justice, and pretend that these horrific events never happened. No business, no matter how big, is above the law. We must ban these unfair gag clauses nationally, and find alternatives within the legal system to place heightened burden of proof of actual damages caused by a breach of confidentiality. Malpractice payments for practitioners are reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank regardless of gag clauses. I call for opening this Data Bank to the public. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Gandhi

Vermont has passed legislation to establish what is basically a single-payer healthcare program. It now needs waivers from the federal government. This is about states rights and is about the states serving as 50 laboratories of democracy, trying out new ideas. We should petition the federal government to make Vermont free.