This was fundamentally the culmination of research done showing that minority patients in lower socioeconomic groups were much less likely to be offered reconstruction than those from wealthier backgrounds. The law passed easily, because it did not require an increase in funding, but rather will be funded by monies already in place after passage of The Women's Health and Cancer Act of 1998- requiring that insurers cover the costs of reconstruction for women who undergo surgery for breast cancer.
Let's understand this...
In 1998 it was necessary to pass a LAW requiring that insurance companies pay for breast reconstruction for women diagnosed with cancer...
A LAW was required for them to do what I believe most reasonable people would have considered the common sense right-thing-to-do in the first place.
And I can tell you first hand, that even with the law in place, every insurer I deal with STILL makes it ridiculously difficult to get this kind of surgery covered. But this behavior on the part of insurers isn't really a surprise to any of you, I'm sure.
But now, at least in The State of New York, it has become necessary to pass a LAW requiring DOCTORS to do what I believe most reasonable people would have thought was the right-thing-to-do.
Hmmm...
Doctors are people just like you- and will have varying financial and professional thresholds for the compromise of their (among other things) practice patterns.
I have written about this many times - the unfortunate reality is that in The State of Florida, patients are being taken advantage of, injured, and killed by the irresponsible behavior of doctors who practice outside the area in which they were trained in their ACGME accredited residency programs.
The difference between the breast cancer patients above and the aesthetic surgery patients affected by the behavior I often describe is that the average person is more likely to empathize with a breast cancer patient denied care than with a liposuction patient killed by a gynecologist, family practice doctor, or other doctor not trained in plastic surgery. It's harder to feel sorry for them.
But these are people's daughters, sisters, mothers, wives, just like those breast cancer patients are...
And forgetting for a moment the procedures they are undergoing, the facts are that they are also being victimized by professionals they believe they can trust- who have taken oaths to "First Do No Harm".
Yet, in the interest of making more money, these doctors advertise and offer unsuspecting women surgical procedures they know they were not trained to do (at least not in the nationally recognized and historically proven ACGME accredited residency training programs that have been the foundation of healthcare education in the US since the turn of the 20th century).
Another key difference is that, because of the shame most of these women feel after learning their lesson about finding a surgeon certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery the hard way, they NEVER complain to the appropriate authorities about the fraud or injury they experienced.
And this is why I write what I write here.... These women need a voice. I see them in my office- physically deformed and psychologically traumatized. And they need a responsible society to offer them the protection they used to be able to assume they had- requiring doctors to be able to prove ACGME accredited training in a specialty before practicing in that specialty.
Whether we are talking about breast cancer reconstruction, liposuction, or pediatric surgery, patients deserve doctors who tell the truth about their training and credentials, and who always hold the importance of the patient's safety above their own income.
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