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Congresswoman Jackie Speier, on healthcare reform and MRSA

July 29th, 2009 No comments

The web page I am directing you to here is how CW Speier addressed Congress regarding health care reform.

I liked the way she describes the fact that hospitals spew out these MRSa infections that kill people or drastically alter their lives and there is no one making them change. See the following quote from Jackie Speiers address on Health care reform and MRSA.

I want to tell you a dirty little secret. It’s a dirty little secret about health care that no one wants to talk about, and it’s about medical errors, and we have known about it for decades. The Institute of Medicine put out a report that said there are 100,000 deaths in America every year because of medical errors; 100,000 deaths.

Now, I’m going to talk about a specific bacteria infection that people get typically in the hospital. It’s called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Now we say MRSA for short. Now, the MRSA infection rate is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, there’s 100,000 cases of MRSA a year. Two-thirds of those people that get that infection get it in the hospital setting.

Now, of the 100,000 people that will get a MRSA infection, 19,000 of them will die because of that infection. Now, that’s a stunning figure.

If there was a 747 that crashed in the United States every week, that’s the equivalent of 19,000 deaths. And if there was a 747 that crashed every week in America, we wouldn’t tolerate it. We’d call on the FAA. We’d call on the airlines. We would stop it. But we’ve done very little to stop the spread of MRSA in hospital settings.

Now, this health care reform bill takes an important step, not a full step. It doesn’t go all the way, but it does now require that hospitals will have to report their hospital-acquired infections.

What we need to do, furthermore, is put the protocols in place so that we can stop these infections from occurring and we can stop the deaths as well.

She says it well doesn’t she?  I often make the same comparison with hospitals and restaurants…if restaurants served up food that killed people they would be shut down.  Hospitals literally get away with murder…..at least the ones who will not change their approach to MRSA and other Hospital Acquired infections.  Please watch CW Jackie Speier and get your representatives to support or co sponsor this bill, HR 2739, regarding MRSA prevention.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=9013445

Congresswoman Jackie Speier introduces MRSA bill in Washington DC

June 30th, 2009 2 comments

Congresswoman Jackie Speier, California, introducing HR 2937

Congresswoman Jackie Speier, California, introducing HR 2937

Jeanine Thomas, MRSA Survivors Network

Jeanine Thomas, MRSA Survivors Network

0101http://video.aol.com/video-detail/mrsa-prevention-bill-introduced-in-house/486523370

The above link is coverage of the event in Washington DC with Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who introduced a MRSA prevention bill on June 24, 2009.

I participated in this event by telling my fathers unfortunate story.  Others present had suffered with MRSA and survived or they had lost someone to MRSA.

This event was very important to me and to MRSA prevention.  I networked with others who have done advocacy for MRSA victims and with those who had lost loved ones because of MRSA.  This bill will stop the scourge of MRSA in our hospitals with screening, isolation and precautions. 

Please contact your State representatives to support this bill.