A few days ago, a physician by the name of Dr. Perry Klaassen made headlines for writing an essay in the March 14th edition of JAMA that compared his own experience with colon cancer with that of one of his patients. His story was simple but poignant. Klaassen had health insurance and survived his bout with cancer. His patient, Shirley Searcy, had no health insurance and died a year and a half after her diagnosis.
Klaassen's story is not new. But before you start wondering why the AP News Wire chose to feature it, just remember that his perspective--that of a physician comparing his illness experience with a patient's--is still relatively rare.
The take home message to med students, physicians, and other health professionals? Simple. Speak out and write about your personal experience and struggles with health care. We're all patients at one time or another, so let's use that to our advantage...
To read about Perry Klaassen:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/04/04/uninsured.dead.ap/index.html
***Note: Are you inspired by Dr. Klaassen? If so, go out and help lobby the state legislature to restore cuts to the RIte Care program for kids without health insurance! The lobby date is on Wednesday, April 11. ***
Please see the Advocacy Events Calendar for more information about the RIte Care lobby:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=brownhelpinghand%40gmail.com
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