John Denver v. Cynicism

We live longer now but I don’t know that we live demonstrably better. Perhaps as a testament to my devotion, I bought tickets and brought my girlfriend to see John Denver w/band at the Best Buy theater in Manhattan. She’s a fan; I could not be described as such. The band was live, John Denver decidedly not– he having died in a plane crash back in 1997. But a video screen brought Mr. Denver back for the evening, and the band played wonderfully along in the foreground as video John Denver talked and sang– never once coming close to a dissonant note while  looking and sounding like something that could only be described as the long lost innocence of a culture past.

Maybe his act was nothing but hokhum even back then, the unabashed optimism of his Country Roads, Sunny Shoulders and Rocky Mountain Highs just something we wanted to believe about ourselves: unbridled, essentially good and not particularly complicated. But in the 70s and into the 80s until his death, John Denver sold millions of records, hosted the Grammys five times, and an annual Christmas show on television which is said to have been viewed by over 60 million people; today he would be laughed away in a maelstrom of derision.

Maybe this is just the plaint of someone whose beard has gone gray and has answered one too many emails during dinner; maybe there is nothing essentially different in this lament than what I heard as a kid when old people pined for Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman: lost youth. But it seems like something more was lost in these last few decades. Face to face with John Denver’s stark exuberance, profoundly, I was driven to tears.

And yes, I sang along.

I’m not quite ready to give up a life in the law and what I learned from Voltaire, but will note that there appears to be a correlation between cynicism, pessimism and adverse health– and a good case is made for an inverse correlation between cynicism and success. Maybe take a minute or two and click and have a listen– think about it as a moment’s analog vacation from the drivers of modernity, from data mining dossiers, writ of attainder drones and thousand page statutes. Or, for the more adventurous, an evening with the posthumous Mr. Denver is still available– but be careful, if you’re of a certain age you may find yourself , inexplicably, crying over something you hadn’t even realized you lost.

Hurricane Sandy: Effects on Healthcare Seekers and Providers Alike

Health Care Professional Ratings Tied to Efficiency

The degree of effort put into selecting health care professionals varies among consumers.  For instance, many relatively young users of health care may only go through the motions of selecting a primary care physician, whom they may seldom visit, and never investigate specialists that provide more particularized care.  A recurring question, however, amongst more frequent health care consumers is “who provides the best care?”  As consumers become older, mature, develop ailments more frequently, and raise families, this question becomes asked more and more frequently.  Where is such a consumer to look for reliable information?  Yes, rating systems of health care professionals are available.  But the objectivity of such systems is often questioned because of the agenda of those developing the rating systems.  For instance, Andrew Cuomo, the former New York Attorney General, injected New York State into the practices through which an insurance company rated the health care providers in its network.  The concern identified by the Attorney General’s office was that insurance companies would rate health care providers based upon their ability to provide care cheaply, rather than on their ability to provide quality care.  This concern stemmed from the undeniable profit self-interest of the insurance company. However, was such a stance by the now Governor necessary or appropriate?  I think not.

Determining the quality of care delivered by a health care provider is an inherently subjective task.  The outcomes of individual patients will depend upon a multitude of factors, many of which are out of the control of the provider.  Different patients will react differently to different treatments because of their unique physiology.  The same ailment will have indiscernibly progressed to varying degrees in different patients.  A doctor could follow all the proper protocols, provide the care called for (i.e., satisfy the standard of care), yet a poor outcome could nonetheless result. The outcome in these instances is largely the result of the “luck of the draw” with respect to a patient pool.  Thus, trying to determine which doctors provide the best care is inevitably a limited, if not fruitless, endeavor.

Additionally, a mechanism is already in place to ensure that substandard doctors are not practicing.  The training to become a doctor and the required certifications to practice serves as the screening mechanism to ensure that health care providers have the requisite skill to perform their trade.  So long as doctors are meeting this minimum established by their field, patients should be led to believe in the ability of those doctors to provide adequate care.  Ranking doctors based on outcomes naturally leads consumers to believe that entry level standards are watered down such that doctors “at the bottom” are not competent to perform; which is simply not the case.

Finally, ranking doctors based upon efficiency or cost factors serves a valid societal purpose.  Firstly, putting utility aside, such metrics are readily quantifiable, accurate, and objective.  And with respect to utility, many patients want efficiency.  An efficient doctor is, it would seem, much less likely to engage in “defensive medicine.”  For a time pressed patient, as many of us are, reassurance that our time will not be wasted with unnecessary tests and precautions holds real value.  And on a societal level, it is obvious that health care costs are out of control.  I have recently been put in a position where I must acquire a policy for my family on the open market (I am leaving a secure government position with subsidized health benefits for a position as a law clerk with a small law firm, which does not extend health benefits to its clerks). My monthly contribution is currently $330 for a health plan with no deductible and $20 co-pays.  It appears as though my best option on the open market is a $1200/month plan, with a $1,000 deductible.  My family is young and healthy. Our annual doctor visits consist of well visits, totaling approximately $1,000 in total costs. With this in mind, if insurance companies can encourage the use of efficient providers (who have been vetted by their profession as proficient at what they do), then this practice should be encouraged.  A “high efficiency” network at a reasonable cost would certainly perform well on the open market, particularly among us consumers that don’t actually anticipate using their policies.  Health care is or will be a significant factor in everyone’s life at some point.   However, if we can prevent it from becoming the driving financial concern among the middle class, that would appear to be a worthy cause.

Adam Peterson is a third-year evening student at Seton Hall University School of Law. He received his B.S. in Conservation Biology from the State University of New York College at Cortland in 2007. Since that time he has worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as an Environmental Analyst, reviewing development projects for compliance with New York State environmental regulations.

Image by Ludraman.

Project Shows Substantial Decrease in Colorectal Surgery Infections

There was a time in medical science when doctors did not wash their hands prior to operating on their patients (some might say, that to a greater extent than seems possible, this is still the case among medical professionals and point to a number of recent studies as uncomfortable proof). This failure of doctors to wash hands in the medical forum led to the otherwise avoidable death of many of their patients. Up until the mid 1800s, medical science had simply not made the connection between bacteria, transference, infection and death.

Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician who was Director of the maternity clinic at the Vienna General Hospital in Austria, made the connection after what is said to have been an extensive statistical analysis in the 1840s, and demonstrated that hand-washing could drastically reduce the number of women dying during childbirth. He introduced a rigorous hand scrubbing protocol and enough women stopped dying to earn him the honorific, “savior of our mothers.”

But as an article from the UK’s Science Museum, Exploring the History of Medicine, points out

Until the late 1800s surgeons did not scrub up before surgery or even wash their hands between patients, causing infections to be transferred from one patient to another. Doctors and medical students routinely moved from dissecting corpses to examining new mothers without first washing their hands, causing death by puerperal or ‘childbed’ fever as a consequence. As dissection became more important to medical practice in the 1800s, this only increased.

Semmelweis showing again that the common sense of one era is the uncommon brilliance of one bygone.

Which brings us to this latest study/project showing new solutions which decrease the risk of colorectal surgical site infection. According to the Associated Press in an article about the project,

“Almost 2 million health care-related infections occur each year nationwide; more than 90,000 of these are fatal.”

And:

“Infections linked with colorectal surgery are particularly common because intestinal tract bacteria are so abundant.”

 

According to the press release regarding the Project,

A project to reduce colorectal surgical site infections (SSIs) saved more than $3.7 million in costs for 135 avoided SSIs. The two-and-a-half year project included seven hospitals and was directed by the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare in collaboration with the American College of Surgeons.

The participating hospitals were able to reduce superficial incisional SSIs, which affect skin and underlying tissue, by 45 percent and all types of colorectal SSIs by 32 percent. The average length of stay for hospital patients with any type of colorectal SSI decreased from an average of 15 days to 13 days. In comparison, patients with no SSIs had an average length of stay of eight days.

The press release further notes that

Colorectal surgery was identified as the focus of the project because SSIs are disproportionately higher among patients following colorectal surgeries. Colorectal surgery is a common procedure across different types of hospitals, can have significant complications, presents significant opportunities for improvement, and has high variability in performance across hospitals. The project addressed preadmission, preoperative, intraoperative, postoperative and post discharge follow-up processes for all surgical patients undergoing emergency and elective colorectal surgery, with the exception of trauma and transplant patients and patients under the age of 18. Project participants studied the potential factors that contribute to all three types of colorectal SSIs – superficial incisional, deep incisional and organ space SSIs, which affect organs and the space surrounding them.

 

The AP article:

Solutions included having patients shower with special germ-fighting soap before surgery, and having surgery teams change gowns, gloves and instruments during operations to prevent spreading germs picked up during the procedures.

Some hospitals used special wound-protecting devices on surgery openings to keep intestine germs from reaching the skin.

The average rate of infections linked with colorectal operations at the seven hospitals dropped from about 16% of patients during a 10-month phase when hospitals started adopting changes to almost 11% once all the changes had been made.

The AP article further notes the timely nature of the Project’s benefits:

Besides wanting to keep patients healthy, hospitals have a monetary incentive to prevent these infections. Medicare cuts payments to hospitals that have lots of certain health care-related infections, and those cuts are expected to increase under the new health care law.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction, Costs and Lack of Care

Interesting article in the Washington Post/ Kaiser Health News I stumbled across in our sidebar; it discusses both the cost of addiction, with emphasis given to drugs and alcohol, and the absolute dearth of doctors trained in addiction medicine.

The article states that

“Of the 985,375 practicing physicians in the United States, only about 1,200 are trained in addiction medicine….”

And notes that

A recent comprehensive report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University found that most doctors fail to identify or diagnose substance abuse ‘or know what to do with patients who present with treatable symptoms.’

Which is problematic, given that the report is said to have found that “Only about 10 percent of the 22 million Americans with a drug or alcohol problem receive treatment,” “addiction [including nicotine] is linked to more than 70 diseases or conditions and accounts for a third of inpatient hospital costs. The press release from the report, “Closing the Gap between Science and Practice,” also notes that “Costs to federal, state and local governments amount to 11 percent of total spending; 95 cents of every dollar pay for the consequences and only 2 cents go to prevention and treatment.”

And rather ominously, the WaPo/Kaiser Health News article reports that “The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimates that up to a third of the 30 million Americans who may gain health insurance under the Affordable Care Act have a substance abuse or mental health problem.”

There’s some math to be done here regarding costs, and I won’t suggest that I know what percentage the total spending should be for prevention- but I’ll guess that 2% for prevention and treatment is not ideal. And the thought that “most doctors fail to identify or diagnose substance abuse ‘or know what to do with patients who present with treatable symptoms,’” is less than comforting.

But, as someone with a rather large personal stake in all this- in recovery for nearly two decades- what is somewhat comforting is that if, as the report suggests, there is a gap between the science and practice (actually, the more you look, “chasm” seems more fitting a description), a closer look at the science shows some remarkable advances in medical science’s understanding of addiction-especially as it regards the  neurobiological processes, focus on the brain’s “reward circuitry,”  neuroadaptations maintained by former drug users long after drug use has stopped, with particular attention on the mesolimbic dopamine system, and, more generally, addiction as a disease of bio-psycho-social etiology.

Armed with this knowledge and the prospect of the newly insured and afflicted making their way to emergency rooms and court houses all across America, perhaps this next decade can be about implementation- always difficult, but surely the fruit of hard won knowledge. And if you have any doubts about the actual costs of drug and alcohol addiction- tallied in lives and families ruined- or to get a sense of just how important implementation is-I would highly recommend you find your way to an Al-Anon or Nar-Anon meeting, and just listen.

Childhood Cancer: Pushing and Pulling Against a Powerful Foe

Since September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month –a calendar of events can be found here– a review of relevant recent and pending federal legislation seemed appropriate.  The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), which the President signed into law on July 9, 2012, included a number of provisions that it is hoped will speed development of drugs to treat childhood cancers and other rare diseases.  As Peter L. Saltonstall, who heads up the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), explains here, the central purpose of the FDASIA was to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, but several separately-introduced bills “of particular importance to rare disease patients and supported by NORD” were incorporated into it.  These included the Creating Hope Act, which was powerfully advocated for by Kids v Cancer and the bi-partisan Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus.

The Creating Hope Act expands the FDA’s priority review voucher (PRV) program– which was passed to incentivize the development of treatments for neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis– to cover rare pediatric diseases, including childhood cancers.  Under the program, “[t]he [FDA] shall award a priority review voucher to the sponsor of a rare pediatric disease product application upon approval by the [FDA] of such rare pediatric disease application.”  The fully-transferable voucher can be redeemed for review of–and action on–another new drug application within just six months.  In an influential 2006 article in Health Affairs, David Ridley and colleagues estimated that if a “voucher speeds FDA approval by a year, it could increase the present value of sales of a blockbuster drug by more than $300 million.”

While a voucher worth as much as $300 million would seem to add up to an attractive “pull” mechanism, the PRV program for neglected tropical diseases has, unfortunately, not lived up to expectations.  Only one company, Novartis, has received a PRV, for an anti-malaria drug which was already approved and marketed outside the United States.  Writing at The Incidental Economist earlier this year, Kevin Outterson characterized the PRV program as “unsuccessful” and its extension to rare pediatric diseases as “disappointing.”  More promising, Professor Outterson suggests, are “push” mechanisms like the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) in Europe, described here, which will, among other things, funnel $738 million to antibiotics researchers between now and 2020, with the initial goals of “building and training networks of researchers, facilitating and increasing the exchange of research data, and improving the efficiency of clinical trials on new antibiotics through better laboratory tests and better trial design” and the long-term goal of “speed[ing] up the development of much-needed antimicrobial drugs.”  Notably, the IMI was established with $1.23 billion of European Union funds and an impressive $1.23 billion of “mainly in kind contributions (consisting mostly of research activities)” from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries.

The National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2012, which is currently pending in the House and Senate, bears some similarities to the IMI’s antimicrobial drug development effort.  The Act would appropriate government funds to support the establishment and operation of a network of pediatric research consortia that would conduct “basic, clinical, behavioral, or translational research to meet unmet needs for pediatric research” and “train[] researchers in pediatric research techniques.”  The Act provides that “an appropriate number of such awards” must be awarded to consortia that, among other things, agree to “conduct or coordinate one or more multisite clinical trials of therapies for, or approaches to, the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of one or more pediatric rare diseases or conditions[.]”

Childhood cancers are not specifically mentioned in the text of the National Pediatric Research Network Act, however, and, should it pass, the Network it establishes is likely to focus on other rare pediatric diseases.  An existing network, the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), which is principally supported by the National Cancer Institute, “unites more than 8,000 experts in childhood cancer at more than 200 leading children’s hospitals, universities, and cancer centers across North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe in the fight against childhood cancer.”  COG “has nearly 100 active clinical trials open at any given time … include[ing] front-line treatment for many types of childhood cancers, studies aimed at determining the underlying biology of these diseases, and trials involving new and emerging treatments, supportive care, and survivorship.”  The existence and success of COG — it’s “research has turned children’s cancer from a virtually incurable disease 50 years ago to one with a combined 5-year survival rate of 80% today,” although it has suffered from budget cuts in recent years–likely explains why advocates have turned their attention to pull mechanisms like the Creating Hope Act that build on existing incentives aimed at increasing industry investment in drug research.

Another model for increasing industry involvement is to require it.  This could perhaps be described as a strong pull mechanism.  The Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) takes this approach, requiring, with some exceptions, that a sponsor of a new drug application study that drug in children.  FDASIA, as the FDA summarizes here, makes PREA “permanent — no longer subject to reauthorization every five years[,] … requires earlier pediatric study plan submission by drug manufacturers subject to PREA and gives FDA new authority to help ensure PREA requirements are addressed in a more timely fashion.”  PREA, though, has not worked to generate research into pediatric cancer treatments, and the FDASIA reforms will not change that.  In remarks delivered at the 2^nd Annual Childhood Cancer Summit in September 2011, Dr. Peter Adamson, the Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group, explained that an exception to PREA’s requirements “can be granted for most new cancer drugs, as the common cancers observed in adults essentially do not occur in children.”

Of course, industry involvement could increase though profit-driven activity without additional pushes or pulls from government.  Childhood cancers have not, thus far, been an industry focus.  In the past twenty years, the FDA has approved just two drugs, clofarabine and erwinaze, to treat pediatric-specific cancers.  It was not until this past August that the agency approved the first “pediatric-specific dosage form” of a cancer-fighting drug, everolimus.  A story reported in Fortune’s September 3, 2012 issue entitled Rare Diseases Mean Big Profits (an online version is available here), suggests that there may be hope that the pace of development will accelerate.  According to Fortune:

Wall Street skews bullish on Alexion[, a specialty pharmaceutical company that developed and sells the drug Soliris which is used to treat two rare disorders,] and its peers in the ultra-rare-disease market.  With Pfizer and other big pharma companies facing devastating revenue drops as blockbuster drugs like Lipitor go off patent, niche players like Alexion look good because of their monopoly pricing power.

Soliris, Fortune reports, costs “around $400,000 per patient per year.”  There may be, then, cause for hope that in the coming years the private sector will increase its investment in the surpassingly important search for treatments for childhood cancers and other rare pediatric diseases.  I welcome your thoughts.

Originally Denied by the EPA, the Federal Government Now Acknowledges the Link between Ground Zero Air and Cancer

Two weeks ago, New York City held the 11^th annual name-reading ceremony for the victims who died in the collapse of the towers on September 11, 2001. Missing from the ceremony, however, were the names of victims who died years after the attacks.  Since 9/11, a multitude of ground zero workers, first responders, and inhabitants of Lower Manhattan have been diagnosed with a variety of diseases, including cancer and mesothelioma, believed due, and now presumed to be due, to exposure to toxic dust. Some have died from their illness, some survived, and some are yet to be diagnosed.

On 9/11, people from all over the nation rushed to New York City to help with search and rescue.  After the search and rescue mission ended, workers were hired to clean up and dispose of the rubble. Since the twin towers were constructed during the 1970s, there was an obvious concern that asbestos used to insulate the buildings, not banned at the time of construction, would pose major health and air quality concerns.

Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and then administrative head of the EPA assured the public that there was no need for alarm.  After reviewing scientific data, Whitman issued a statement on September 18, 2001 declaring the area safe for workers and nearby inhabitants. In a press release, EPA Administrator Whitman stated,

“‘We are very encouraged that the results from our monitoring of air-quality and drinking-water conditions in both New York and near the Pentagon show that the public in these areas is not being exposed to excessive levels of asbestos or other harmful substances,’ [...] ‘Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York . . . that their air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink.’”

The credibility of this data was later called into question. In 2006, senior EPA scientist Dr. Cate Jenkins addressed a letter to members of the New York Congressional delegation stating,

“[T]est reports in 2002 and 2003 distorted the alkalinity, or pH level, of the dust released when the twin towers collapsed, downplaying its danger. [...] The test results helped the E.P.A. avoid legal liability. [... and] had a costly health effect, contributing ‘to emergency personnel and citizens not taking adequate precautions to prevent exposures.’”

During a June 2007 Congressional hearing, former Governor Whitman received harsh criticism for her statements assuring ground zero workers and Lower Manhattan inhabitants of safe air quality.  When pressed to acknowledge that the toxic dust from the collapsed buildings contributed to illness, she declined. Whitman stated that a lack of conclusive evidence existed “linking the dust to disease.” She denied any presence of pressure placed on her to report the air safe in order to quickly reopen the financial district.  She also expressed no regret for her statements in 2001.

Victims of ground zero exposure brought multiple lawsuits against Christine Todd Whitman, however; the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that Whitman could not be held liable.

In January 2011, President Barack Obama signed into law the Zadroga Act, which expanded the September 11th Victim’s Compensation Fund to include ground zero workers who died from cancer or respiratory diseases, “under the presumption that the cause was due to exposure during recovery efforts.” The act “sets aside money for medical care and $2.775 billion dollars to compensate claimants for lost wages and other damages related to the illnesses.”

Although initially excluded from the Act, the Act was amended to include cancer to the list of ground zero diseases, acknowledging a link between ground zero air and cancer. To date, 50 types of cancers will be covered.  Noah Kushlefsky, an attorney representing 3,800 ground zero victims, foresees that with the addition of cancer, the $2.775 billion will be exhausted before all the victims receive adequate compensation. The addition of numerous cancers to be covered by the Act comes on the heels of Congressional attempts to reduce the deficit. The Zadroga Act faces $300 million in cuts.

The FealGood Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting the health and welfare of 9/11 first responders, compiled a list of known first responders with cancer and those who died from cancer on their website. Ground zero victims and their families are now seeking legal representation in order to access the victim’s fund.

Teaching Communication: A Chaplain’s Efforts to Strengthen the Doctor-Patient Relationship

[Ed. note, we are pleased to welcome Suzan Sanal to HRW. A second year law student at Seton Hall University School of Law pursuing a Health Law concentration, she is a representative of Seton Hall's Health Law Forum and is presently interning at the Community Health Law Project, a New Jersey based nonprofit advocacy and legal services organization, working on issues relating to the Affordable Care Act and grant writing.]

As Health Reform Watch author Jae W. Joo wrote back in 2010 , studies have shown a “woeful lack of communication (and a wide gap in perception) between hospital staff physicians and ‘their’ patients.” Chaplain Sharon Hindle, oncology chaplain and educator at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, knows this woe all too well.  Hindle began in 1998 working as a hospital chaplain to comfort patients during the most traumatic period of their lives.  She soon found out, however, that patients not only need comfort, but they also need advocacy.

“I end up being a liaison between the doctors and the patients,” Hindle stated in an interview with Health Reform Watch. “I really felt that people were the most vulnerable and the least capable at this point in their life, because they don’t know the language and they’re making a life altering decision. I became a chaplain because I first wanted to become an advocate.”

Hindle places blame on medical education, “There are very few opportunities where [medical students] are being told how to communicate the medical information that they have to the patient.”  In response to this, Hindle began running workshops for medical students, interns, and fellows in order to address patient concerns. Through these workshops, she said, “We’re teaching physicians to be engaging, loving, caring, and intuitive.”

These workshops teach skills such as how to have a family meeting, how to deliver bad news, and how to train the patient to provide self-care. In these workshops, Hindle stresses two questions physicians should be asking their patients, the first being “Can you tell me about your medical situation?” From this, physicians can gather what the patient, or the family member if the patient is not conscious, understands and assess their intellectual, language, and emotional skills.  Hindle said, “That question gives you their starting line- that way you don’t offend, patronize, or start way ahead of the patient or family’s capability to comprehend.”  She described that doctors sometimes think that a patient is experiencing denial if they do not seem to understand the gravity of the situation, when in fact, the patient simply does not comprehend his or her diagnosis.

The second question is “Do you have any questions before we begin this conversation?” Hindle said that asking this question before communicating medical information allows the patient and the family to “Open-up their listening skills because they’re no longer ruminating about what questions they need to ask.”

At the cardiac and neurology intensive care units workshop held in Robert Wood, she meets with students during their one-month rotation.  Hindle teaches the importance of asking these two questions and holds a discussion on a current case where students are having difficulty communicating to the patient and/or the patient’s family. At the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), she participates on a panel that includes a social worker, a physician, and a psychiatrist.  The panel reviews a case and each professional discusses their role in interacting with the patient. Students may then ask questions.

There are also opportunities for students to participate in small groups reviewing a mock case study with an attending physician and professor at UMDNJ and a professional considered trained in verbal skills, like Hindle. In review of these mock scenarios, Hindle says, “When you are telling someone that they have a life-threatening or life-ending illness, it’s terrifying because you don’t know how the patient and the family is going to react, so it sets-up a situation where maybe these young medical students try to dance around it and make it seem less catastrophic than it is.  It’s important for them to practice the words coming out of their mouth.”

Hindle finds that family practice and oncology are probably the most engaged specialties in running these workshops.  She labels these types of fields as “relational,” because the physician may have a relationship with this patient over a lifetime, which is why she stresses the value of communication.  Hindle contrasts these types of fields with specialties such as surgery and orthopedics, where a patient may have only a short-term relationship with a doctor.  She therefore believes there is less of a need for refined communication skills with this second group. Hindle said, “If I need brain surgery, I don’t care if the guy’s a jerk, I just need him to do this brain surgery once.  I just need him to be the best brain surgeon in the world.  But If I need a physician that I’m going to have a relationship with, there needs to be a symbiotic relationship where there’s trust.  Trust that I’m heard.”

If patients do not feel that a symbiotic relationship is present, Hindle strongly encourages patients to speak up. “As a patient, you need to be your own advocate,” Hindle said.  She continues, “If, in fact, you do not believe you are being heard, you need to speak up until you believe you’ve been heard.  Nobody is going to know your body as well as you.  It’s terrible, but you’re a consumer.”

Other particular areas which Hindle believes need to be addressed are: teaching physicians how to cope with loss, failure, and rejection. She believes there is a need to have an appropriate connection with a patient while not becoming emotionally involved.

In the broad view, Hindle understands that good communication with a doctor can have a profound impact on the patient’s physical well-being and recovery. Hindle said, “My feeling is that our body only has so much energy. [...] If you feel you’ve been heard by your medical team, it really alleviates stress.  Your body can now use all of that towards healing.” In close, Hindle continues to feel encouraged about the strengthening of patient-doctor communication, “In the ten years I’ve been at Robert Wood, I’ve seen a tremendous difference in the patient perception on communication.  They see that on the whole, doctors are communicating better and they really do care.”

Chaplain Sharon Hindle is an oncology chaplain and educator at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  She also volunteers her expertise at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.  Hindle has a blog entitled “Taken Oasis” (
http://www.takenoasis.com/).  She was also recently interviewed by Inside Jersey and a video interview is soon to appear on Robert Wood Johnson’s You Tube channel. Hindle considers Robert Buckman’s techniques in his book, “How to Break Bad News: A Guide for Health Care Professionals,” the gold standard for doctor-patient communication. She also notes Christina M. Puchalski, MD and Harold Koenig, MD as important voices in the field.

Mahler, Life, Genetic Mapping and a Certain Humming Sound no Longer Heard

My son and I caught a matinee performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony at the NJPAC earlier this afternoon and the performance, profoundly moving at times, got me to thinking, as great music superbly played will, about life, literature and to borrow from Gerard Manley Hopkins, the “Generations [who] have trod, have trod, have trod” upon the earth. My own included.

Diagnosed with a serious heart condition a few years prior, the program notes tell us that as Mahler wrote his Ninth, his final completed work, “the prospect of death loomed as a constant threat.”

Finished in 1910, he did not live to see the work performed when first produced in Vienna in 1912.

And as I listened, I heard life and I heard death. But I also heard music (with the exception of the deeply personal final movement), much of which could not have been written after the onset of the First World War, no less the Second. Mahler’s is a bygone world moving to rhythms which no longer exist; I found myself thrilled to be listening to what I thought the epitome of what Virginia Woolf describes as the undercurrent to pre-war life and speech in A Room of One’s Own: “a sort of humming noise, not articulate, but musical, exciting….” There it was, a jaunty tune only passingly familiar with modernity; delightfully oblivious that even as it contemplated personal life and death, the manner and mode in which life itself transpired was about to come to a cataclysmic close.

At the time Mahler finished the Ninth, Europe had survived Napoleon and the mechanizations and innovations of humanity had begun to take hold and give their benefit to a largely horse drawn and steam driven world. And although the seeds were sown, that world and Mahler had not yet seen the other side of the coin in its entirety: the mechanized and dehumanizing wholesale slaughter optimistically referred to as the “War to end all wars.”

And it got me to thinking: fifty years from now, how naïve and charming shall we seem to the next generations to trod? Will the upcoming Supreme Court decision on healthcare reform come to be seen as a turning point of some sort? Either way? Or between the ubiquitous video cameras, the biometric and satellite surveillance, the health care information technology, the data mining, and God knows what else, will privacy be seen as a quaint notion, like boater straw hats? Healthcare itself? Growing up in the 70s, a heart condition of almost any sort meant imminent death — just as it did for Mahler. But now, people have their heart valves unblocked and bypassed almost as though they’re taking their car to the shop for an oil change and a tune-up.

And the other day, a breakthrough noted throughout the world:

“Scientists have developed a revolutionary technique that maps the entire genetic code of a baby in the womb, using only blood and saliva samples taken from its parents.

But the method — which makes it possible to scan for some 3,500 disorders without physically disturbing either foetus or mother — will raise serious ethical questions.”

What humming?

War on Disclosure: Recent Fronts in Health Care

Corporations are at war with disclosure in many important fields.  Two notable fronts have recently opened in health care:

1) Fracking processes have become highly controversial because secret chemicals may end up compromising water supplies.  Pennsylvania has now limited doctors’ ability to speak about their concerns:

Under a new law, doctors in Pennsylvania can access information about chemicals used in natural gas extraction—but they won’t be able to share it with their patients. . . .Pennsylvania law states that companies must disclose the identity and amount of any chemicals used in fracking fluids to any health professional that requests that information in order to diagnosis or treat a patient that may have been exposed to a hazardous chemical. But the provision in the new bill requires those health professionals to sign a confidentiality agreement stating that they will not disclose that information to anyone else—not even the person they’re trying to treat.

Protection of property rights uber alles appears to be the guiding principle here.  If only the doctors wanted to market drugs, maybe their free speech rights would trump the frackers’ trade secrecy privileges.

2) FDA User-Fee Bills recently approved by the House and Senate could seriously limit access to data about drugs.  The House bill is particularly worrisome:

The Food and Drug Administration Reform Act of 2012, H.R.5651 . . . would keep potentially important health and safety information away from the public. Section 812 would, according to a letter to leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee penned by several [advocacy] groups, deny the public access to information relating to drugs obtained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from any government agency — local, state, federal, or foreign — if that agency has requested that the information be kept confidential.

If that House provision survives the conference committee, there will be troubling implications for US patients and research subjects abroad.

Benefit Concert for Africa Surgery in Morristown, NJ

Dicey Riley Band

To present a BENEFIT concert for Surgical Efforts in Sierra Leone, West Africa

Featuring Traditional Irish and Celtic Music and Song, Plus the

Bethel AME and Assumption Children’s Choirs

Singing selected choral works

Refreshments donated by parishioners

Saturday, May 12, 2012, 7:30-9:30 pm

Assumption Church

91 Maple Ave., Morristown, NJ 07960

Suggested donation: $15 per adult, Children Free

All proceeds go directly to procuring badly needed medical care and surgical

Treatment for poor farmers and villagers in Sierra Leone.

For more information call, 973-539-2141

[Ed. Note: I've said it before and I'll say it again: Africa Surgery does God's work. They accomplish a great deal with very little.]

The New York Times Hasn’t Scratched the Surface: For-Profit Catholic Healthcare

President Obama has begun the process for healthcare reform by improving access through insurance reform, but achievement of his aspirations will require reform of our healthcare delivery system as well.  Changing where and how healthcare is delivered and paid for is of particular importance given the emerging and generally non-acute needs of the aging baby-boomers, and the lack of sufficient primary care to serve the many who will become insured as health insurance reforms are implemented.  Healthcare providers realize this, and the market is indeed adjusting as we speak.

Three examples of these changes to the delivery system include, first, moving much of the delivery of services out of hospitals and into the community.  Healthcare systems are rapidly affiliating with or employing physicians to facilitate this change, in the hopes of enabling the various parts of the health care system to work more collaboratively, efficiently and cost-effectively.  In many parts of the country, hospitals have been too cash-strapped to invest in necessary updating to their hospital facilities. Now that we are thinking differently about how to use the physical plant that hospitals occupy, and investing in new technology, these investments need to happen.  As a third example, President Obama is infusing money into hospitals and physician offices to enable the United States to catch up to other developed nations in the digitizing of its medical records.  The benefits of this change are numerous, but it is a very expensive transformation.

In order to provide quality service and compete in the fast-changing healthcare market, hospitals and the systems of which they are a part, need money to pay for these changes.  A February 21, 2012 New York Times article on the expansion of Catholic hospitals provides a glimpse of this phenomenon of market reform.  Cash-poor hospitals unable to access capital to invest in the new initiatives necessary to keep them competitive are looking for financially stronger partners with this investment ability.  There are currently 56 Catholic healthcare systems in the country, ranging from the financially successful to the distressed.  Thus it is unsurprising that a potential partner for some hospitals might be found among Catholic systems.

But there are some Catholic providers who are struggling and require an affiliation to survive; other Catholic providers are simply considering alternative business models which might provide more market flexibility as well as increased options for access to capital.  The former Catholic Healthcare West is an example of the latter situation.  CHW was sponsored by six religious orders and operated 25 Catholic and 15 non-Catholic hospitals; just weeks ago, it announced changes to its name — it is now Dignity Health — and its corporate and governance structures.  The parent holding company for Dignity Health is no longer Catholic, and is no longer sponsored by the religious orders — those orders now sponsor directly the Catholic hospitals that are part of Dignity Health.  These Catholic hospitals adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Services, of which each hospital’s local bishop is the ultimate arbiter.  The non-Catholic hospitals adhere to a Statement of Common Values, which preclude assisted suicide and euthanasia, as well as pregnancy terminations and assisted reproductive procedures that deviate from Catholic teaching; the Statement of Common Values does allow the performance of direct sterilizations, which is something precluded at Catholic hospitals.  I would venture to say that many, whether Catholic or not, likely embrace the content of this Statement of Common Values.  I would also suggest that many secular hospitals operate according to similar policies, but it just doesn’t get talked about.

The religious orders hope to perpetuate their evangelical influence on the culture of Dignity Health and its constituent non-Catholic hospitals — if successful, I would suggest that this will be an important and significant contribution to those providers who are the beneficiaries of the Catholic ethos of healthcare delivery, because it can be transformational.  The change from CHW to Dignity also sought to clarify the confusion among patients about which hospitals are Catholic, and provide market flexibility with respect to future affiliations with service providers.    A statement by San Francisco Archbishop Niederauer provides a helpful description of the reasons for Catholic Health West’s transformation to Dignity Health, and the process by which deliberations occurred.

Other Catholic hospitals are engaging in even more “radical” transformations in order to put themselves in a position to survive and/or thrive in the emerging healthcare market.  After years of unsuccessful attempts to prop up the six Boston-area hospitals that comprised Caritas Christi Health Care, Cardinal Sean O’Malley surprised many when he agreed to sell the system to Cerberus Capital Management, which is a private equity firm.  The system was burdened with debt, its pension was underfunded, and its physical plant was in desperate need of significant upgrades. The sale to Cerberus transformed this Catholic health care system, now named Steward Health Care System, to a for-profit Catholic health care system. Cerberus agreed to ensure that the Steward hospitals adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives, subject to the authority of the Cardinal who has the power to strip a hospital of its Catholic status, as happened to a Phoenix Catholic Healthcare West hospital, St. Joseph’s, in 2010, over a disagreement regarding an interpretation of the Ethical and Religious Directives regarding abortion.

Cardinal O’Malley was not the first person to find salvation for financially distressed hospitals in the private equity world.  St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts is owned by for-profit Vanguard Health Systems of Nashville, which owns both Catholic and Baptist hospitals, primarily in the south and west.  And Ascension Health, the nation’s third largest health system with a 2010 net income of $1.2 billion has teamed up with Oak Hill Capital Partners to build a new for-profit enterprise with an eye towards “offer[ing] a lifeline to capital-starved Catholic hospitals.”

Myriad questions arise from this new mechanism for infusing capital into Catholic healthcare.  No precedent exists for a Catholic for-profit healthcare ministry.  In terms of the issue about access to services raised by the February 21 New York Times article, “Catholic Hospitals Expand, Religious Strings Attached,”  it is likely that the public will become even more confused about what rules govern hospitals as for-profit systems include both Catholic and non-Catholic entities.  While the interpretation and application of Catholic teaching will vary by diocese and the deal reached by the parties, it is certainly possible that, as was the case with Catholic Healthcare West (now Dignity Health), some or all of the Ethical and Religious Directives will be extended to the secular hospitals which are part of any system that includes Catholic facilities.  This makes sense, as Catholic teaching encourages Catholics to distance themselves from acts which are deemed immoral.  Sometimes, the act in question, such as abortion or euthanasia, is held to be so fundamentally immoral that Catholics can have no association with the situation, which would be the case if a Catholic hospital belonged to a healthcare system in which affiliates offered these services.  As such, even though a hospital may itself be non-Catholic, if it participates in a system which includes Catholic hospitals, its services may necessarily be circumscribed.  Again, most of these proscriptions are ones with which many Americans likely agree.  Transparency should prevail nonetheless. As I discussed in my February 22, 2012 blog post, there are significant benefits from affiliating with a Catholic entity, including commitment to the care of all segments of society and an ethos of care that attends not only to the physical, but to the mental and spiritual as well.  Catholic healthcare is also an important voice in public debates about reforming our healthcare system and the dignity of every person.  These attributes of Catholic healthcare should be given significant weight in assessing collaborative arrangements.

While I believe that there is much that is wonderful about the culture, ethics and ethos of Catholic health care, there may be some other consequences of affiliation that some would fine unappealing. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes the health care reform mandate that would require employers to offer health insurance to employees that includes contraception as a covered benefit. In addition, some bishops have refused to comply with laws requiring equal treatment of spouses and gay partners with regard to eligibility for employer-sponsored health insurance. While it is unclear to what extent Catholic hospitals have followed these policy positions (the Catholic Health Association has announced that it is pleased with President Obama’s contraception compromise), the obvious question is whether they will be extended to secular affiliates as well.

Most of the questions that arise from the transition to for-profit status must obviously be resolved by the religious congregations and others that sponsor Catholic healthcare.  What makes a service or entity essentially Catholic, and whether that can be preserved in a for-profit context is likely unanswerable without experimentation.  For-profit providers ultimately exist to make money for investors.  Non-profit providers must operate in fidelity to their mission.  If a hospital is truly unable to survive, which was apparently the case with the six Boston hospitals that comprised Caritas, then for-profit conversion was the only means to continue its mission.   Even less dire situations may call for serious consideration of this alternative: a provider unable to access the resources to provide quality care irrespective of patients’ ability to pay is not in a position to actualize its mission.

The biggest question for stakeholders, presumably, is how long the private equity firms that are acquiring Catholic hospitals will hold on to them, especially if they are losing money.  The co-head of Cerberus was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying that Cerberus would own the Steward hospitals for at least three years; the article also suggested that it would not close any hospital for the first three years of its ownership, and would extend that time for an additional two years unless a hospital operated at a loss for two consecutive years.  So, one risk of these arrangements might be that they are simply stop-gap measures.  What happens if the private equity firms and their shareholders aren’t making enough money?

Another question is whether the for-profit model will result in the discontinuation of unprofitable yet essential services, which some empirical evidence suggests occurs more frequently with for-profit as opposed to not-for-profit providers, although it is important not to generalize.

This conversation will continue for some years, as we assess the on-going experiment that is for-profit Catholic healthcare.  This month, Seton Hall Law School is looking at some of the issues raised from the Catholic sponsors’ perspective, at a Symposium entitled Is a For-Profit Structure a Viable Alternative for Catholic Health Care Ministry? Return to Health Reform Watch for future discussion of this fascinating issue.

A Broader Perspective on Catholic Healthcare

A February 21, 2012 New York Times article entitled “Catholic Hospitals Expand, Religious Strings Attached” addresses the challenges that arise when Catholic healthcare systems acquire healthcare providers and extend religious proscriptions to the newly acquired facilities and practitioners.  Specifically, the article raises concerns about women’s access to reproductive health services, particularly in communities where Catholic ownership of hospitals and other providers dominates.  Much of this same kind of market activity occurred in the early 90′s in anticipation of market reforms associated with Clinton healthcare reform.  So, while these are not new issues, they are no less difficult to resolve, perhaps in part because we have all become more politicized in our approach to problem solving, which almost seems impossible to imagine, but there it is.  In a 1995 Houston Law Review article entitled DECIDING THE FATE OF RELIGIOUS HOSPITALS IN THE EMERGING HEALTH CARE MARKET I attempted to propose a middle ground of accommodation that would facilitate access to care while providing Catholic healthcare providers with the space required to continue to be true to their religious beliefs.  I believe that the prescription remains as valid today as it was when written over a decade ago.

Catholic healthcare comprises a ministry, whereby the sisters or diocese that provide the health services are committed to ensure that they act in way that is true to the teachings of the Catholic Church.  Catholic healthcare providers are living the gospel, which is replete with instances of Jesus ministering to the sick — he attended to healing the mind, body and spirit. This holistic healing mission began when various religious orders first established their hospitals, and continues today, albeit with fewer religious and more laypersons continuing the legacy of the Catholic healthcare mission.  Catholic healthcare has served an essential role in the United States since the nation’s inception, frequently being the only provider of care to the poor in numerous communities.  That dedication to the vulnerable segments of society continues today. Catholic healthcare providers were the first in many communities to treat compassionately, without judgment and without discriminating, those with HIV/AIDS.  Mission statements for Catholic providers focus on ensuring care to the homeless, to immigrants, whether documented or not, and to the underserved and uninsured. According to statistics available on the Catholic Health Association web page, Catholic healthcare is a national leader in its provision of birthing rooms and breast cancer treatment, geriatric services, nutrition programs, social work services and pain management programs. The disappearance of Catholic hospitals would decimate access to care in rural communities. Catholic hospitals have long been on the forefront of the call for healthcare reform that provides access to all, and support President Obama’s health reform efforts.

Catholic hospitals’ delivery of healthcare is informed by Catholic Social Teaching broadly and specifically by what are called The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, which are promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  Catholic Social Teaching rests on centuries of philosophical and theological learning to guide not only the Church but society in general on such questions as the relationship between labor and capital, the respectful treatment of employees and the importance of unions to workers, distribution of goods and services, and human rights to social goods such as health care.  The Ethical and Religious Directives, which are informed by Catholic teaching, are moral guidelines specific to healthcare, to aid in resolving such ethical issues as pregnancy termination, contraception, and euthanasia.  Obviously, the clinical situations in which these guidelines are implicated can be extremely complex, and sometimes require nuanced analysis by those with a deep understanding of Catholic moral theology and medicine.  Like any intellectual discipline, theologians, bishops, and healthcare providers sometimes disagree among themselves as to the appropriate application of these guidelines to a specific situation.  So, yes, it is true that Catholic healthcare providers are committed by their religious beliefs to operate in ways that may be different than secular providers, but these differences extend far beyond the moral limitations on the kinds of reproductive and end-of-life care they provide. This moral framework serves to unleash the kind of compassionate care that has been a hallmark of Catholic healthcare since its inception. Even in the face of severe budget cuts, Catholic hospitals continue to provide pastoral care to their patients, caregivers, and families; engage in constant assessment of fidelity to mission; and have been leaders of all hospitals with regard to measuring tax-exempt facilities’ provision of community benefits.

My ultimate point is two-fold.  First, Catholic healthcare is too important to the country’s healthcare system to be reduced in our assessment of its value to religious proscriptions that may interfere with access to a limited universe of services, albeit what are sometimes characterized as essential healthcare services. While some may dissent from application of Catholic teaching in particular instances, the continued and pervasive presence of health providers committed to the dignity of every person whom they treat is an ultimate societal good.  Where disagreement persists, it is important that the Church engage in sincere dialogue with all segments of society, with a willingness to be informed from medical, ethical, and sociological perspectives.

As Catholic providers partner, merge or otherwise collaborate with secular healthcare providers, community stakeholders, including licensing agencies, should demand and receive a clear understanding of the implications for healthcare access of the proposed alliance.  Each bishop acts as the ultimate arbiter of the Ethical and Religious Directives, which means that interpretations can vary by diocese.  For example, a minority of bishops have raised questions about the kind of emergency care administered by hospital emergency departments to rape survivors, out of an over-abundance of medical and moral caution, in my view, that the treatment might interfere with a pregnancy.  Thus, it is essential that regulators understand the implications of Catholic teachings for healthcare access, so that patients clearly understand the limitations of Catholic providers and, where appropriate, have alternatives to access services.  Our healthcare system has and will likely always be extremely pluralistic.  We have, and should continue to make every effort, to accommodate the religious beliefs of providers, while ensuring access to care to which patients are legally entitled.

Further, the public debate about what kind of care should be legally available should take seriously the perspective of those whose viewpoints are informed by moral concerns, whether those concerns arise from religious or philosophical principles.  Finally, both The United States Catholic Conference and individual bishops should ensure that they receive a robust analysis of ethical issues related to healthcare from the Church’s best theologians with relevant expertise before promulgating guidance to those engaged in healthcare ministry.  Importantly, bishops should also hear from those who are involved daily in caring for and ministering to patients.

The ultimate goal of reform is one upon which both Catholic healthcare providers and proponents of women’s health agree — increased access to healthcare for all.  Collaboration on the pursuit of this unified goal should enable us to identify means by which the plural interests of the stakeholders can be accomplished.  Transparency and conversation are key to achieving these ends.  In my conversations with those concerned about changes in the healthcare delivery system, I have always found them to be very respectful of religious freedom, appreciative of the role religious providers play in society, and desirous of finding a common way forward.  While the number of religious sisters is shrinking in the United States, women remain a significant presence in the leadership of Catholic healthcare.  A cursory review of the areas where Catholic healthcare predominates reveals a strong commitment to women’s health and wellness.  For these reasons, I feel confident that common ground exists to ensure access to health care for all, while carving out space for Catholic fidelity to the demands of their religion.

To Err is, Apparently, More Common Than Reported

A recent article in the WSJ Health Blog, considering a survey of 1,891 doctors  published in Health Affairs, is worth considering for a moment or two.

The survey/study is said to have had a response rate of roughly 64% (3,500 physicians from seven specialties were queried) and was published by doctors Lisa I. Iezzoni, Sowmya R. Rao, Catherine M. DesRoches, Christine Vogeli and Eric G. Campbell.

The Journal reports that the study found

…a significant chunk of doctors — 34.1% and 35.4% respectively — said they only somewhat agreed or disagreed with the notions that they should disclose all significant medical errors to affected patients and that they must tell patients about relationships with drug and device companies.

What about actual practice? Well, 55.2% of respondents said they’d described a patient’s prognosis in a more positive way than was warranted at least once in the past year. More than 28% said they’d revealed confidential medical info to an unauthorized person (intentionally or not), and nearly 20% reported not fully disclosing an error to a patient out of fear of being sued. Finally, 11% admitted to outright telling an adult patient or child’s guardian “something that was not true.”

Soft peddling a diagnosis can be a form of mercy, with this I have no qualm. And I imagine there can be a number of reasons, under the same tent as mercy, for telling an untruth to a patient or a  parent. And maybe even a 28% HIPAA violation rate can be explained through some further form of altruistic behavior. But the fact that over the last year, of these 1,891 physicians, “20% reported not fully disclosing an error to a patient out of fear of being sued,” is reason for pause.

To admit to such is, in a sense, an admission against interest; which is to say that one would not be surprised if the actual number was higher than admitted. In fact, according to the study’s abstract, “Overall, approximately one-third of physicians did not completely agree with disclosing serious medical errors to patients.”

But take the 20% number on its face for a moment and consider the math:  of 1,891 physicians that’s 378 errors during the course of one year which, in their professional opinion, could have led to a malpractice suit– and so were not disclosed.  With less than 2,000 doctors, 378 errors that people are walking around with– or at least the lucky ones are walking around with– unknown and uncompensated.

Granted, with a J.D. after my name and given my own experiences with malpractice and the sound and fury I regularly hear regarding “malpractice reform,” I may look at this number differently than some. But it seems large to me– and I’m guessing it would seem a little large to its victims too, if only they knew.

Still Alive and Well

For those of you keeping track at home, an update of sorts is in order. My surgery went well on Monday. I awoke from the anesthesia, and I now write this without the roughly 15% of my kidney which had shown itself to be stubbornly  non-compliant. I am told “they got it all” and that it doesn’t look as though any further remedial therapy (i.e., chemo, radiation) will be necessary.

I’m told I awoke from the operation talking law, which had at least one surgeon laughing and saying that I was “hopeless” while muttering something else (she was right)  about lawyers. Having had my stomach muscles cut through in what appears to be about a ten inch gash, it hurts to cough or laugh but not anymore to walk–slowly. To leave the hospital I needed to walk a total of 14 laps around, equivalent to one mile.  I did either 20 or 21 and was discharged after 2 and a half days.

My stomach is strangely distended and, because of the cut to the core muscles, no longer symmetrical: it looks like an oddly flattened but fully inflated beachball. I’m told this will dissipate in time. But really– I woke up– surrounded by friends and family, still alive, the rest is just details.

But I am struck by how lucky I was– if I hadn’t had health insurance I probably wouldn’t have went to the hospital when struck by a pair of kidney stones in the first place, despite the excruciating pain. And even if I did go, I would have balked at the expense of the CT Scan which initially found the tumor. In addition (thank you Cigna), after a second opinion I was able to articulate my needs and have a world class surgeon in a world class hospital perform my surgery. The tumor, though small, was in a tricky spot– and a less skilled surgeon could have opted to have taken the whole kidney, a result which bears far greater risk for hospitalizing events over time, everything from heart problems to fractured hips.

Not everyone is so lucky.

The twelve-year survival rate for partial nephrectomy patients similarly situated to me is 96%. As the tumor grows and the stage progresses, that number drops significantly. And unfortunately, kidney cancer is largely asymptomatic. Men age 40 to 60 are most susceptible, and the most common symptoms are lower back pain and exhaustion. I know very few middle aged people for whom those aren’t just the symptoms of life. The other major symptom is, sometimes, blood in the urine–which is often pushed aside as just the result of kidney stones. And so undetected, the tumor grows. But, thank God, not this time.

And for all of you who offered your kind thoughts, advice, experience and prayers throughout this– thank you so very very much– it made it all so much easier.

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