This is the face of my mother. Please look closely at her face. She is a perfect example of what the present medical and insurance systems can do to you when given the chance. I have many pictures of her, much nicer pictures. These are the pictures you need to look at right now.
Carmella De'Angelo was born in the year 1919 in White Plains, New York, and was not expected to live. She was a sickly baby and had more medical issues than any child deserved. She was petite, frail, and had a calcium deficiency.
She also contracted scarlet fever when she was seven years old. This illness caused a heart murmur. Her mother would force her to drink castor oil by the gallon and even that could not strengthen her brittle bones. Everything about her life cried out for help. Still she forged on and ahead because Carmella was not a quitter.
How my mother survived the medical community's efforts to save her is beyond my understanding. She had to have a total hysterectomy in her early teens in order to save her life; consequently my brother and I are her adopted children and we are both proud to call her mom. She forged on, trying her best to fit into this life given to her by God.
She was a devout Catholic girl who attended Mass almost daily, and she must have related to the old Italian widows in church all dressed in black better than the kids her own age the way the other children teased her. She wore her bowlegs and crossed eyes like badges of courage; children can be so cruel.
One of the largest failings we have as human beings today is the way we judge each other based on how we appear rather than what is in our spirits. If only we could all open our inner eye - what a world this would be!
She met and fell in love with a neighborhood boy when she was fifteen years old. Nicholas Moon was a special man indeed because he could see her inner beauty, and she blossomed to the point that the family noticed her. Many pictures of her were taken after meeting Nick, and they married in 1941.
She followed her husband to the state of Washington in 1946. Here she worked for the War Department as a canvas repair specialist until Sgt. Moon's return to civilian life in 1947. Once home they opened a small Mom & Pop grocery store in the poorer section of our town in 1948. They named their little store the B&E, which stood for "Buy and Eat." The name came to my Dad as they stood in an office at City Hall applying for a business license to operate the store.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - SD
Jeannie...this is a wonderful accounting and such a great credit to your mom. Kudos to you! I understand how difficult this must have been to write becase it is so heartbreaking to read. Keep on writing you are doing a fabulous job!!
2 - Cousin Fred
Well done. Well done indeed. I live parts of this daily in my life as a insurance agent for seniors. I am trying to stop this from happening to others as I stand in the gap and touch as many lives as I can from my perch.
3 - klondikekitty
God will bless you, Jeannie, for telling your mother's painful story to the world . . . please, everyone who reads this, find a copy of the documentary film, "Sicko," produced and directed by Michael Moore, and watch it. DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN to support national health care for every man, woman and child in the United States, and break the stranglehold the insurance and pharmaceutical companies have around our nation's very throat!!! Call your legislators, send emails to them, make them understand how VITAL this is to the entire structure of our country . . . please, do it for your children . . .
4 - Jordan Richardson
Another winner, Jeannie. Well done.
Health care in America is a moral issue and, while callous some right-wingers may be apt to discard this tale and the countless others like it as "sob stories," these are the stories and tales that make us human. They are SO important.
5 - Jeannie Danna
I can't even believe that my name is attached to this website, I feel so undeserving of all this praise. You see, I don't think it's me! I am compelled to write..
I want to say thank you to everyone who ever reads my writing.
I forgot to add one very important line to my Mom's story!
Please call your Senators, insist that they PASS HR 676 Single-Payer-Health-Care!!!!
6 - Cindy
Jeannie,
"One of the largest failings we have as human beings today is the way we judge each other based on how we appear rather than what is in our spirits. If only we could all open our inner eye - what a world this would be!"
I wanted to 'retweet' you, as you would say. :-)
In your piece there is a very important comment on the kind of society Capitalism creates and requires. Humanity is lost from consideration, where profit reigns. The hopes and needs of real human beings, like your mom's wish to go home are made invisible and out of the realm of concern.
And yet we all have moms and most of us, like you, would be right there fighting for that wish to be heard and to count above all other considerations. Because no matter what money (some thing we invented and worship) changes hands--one can never get back life. Sadly, we could watch a movie, or read a story about a situation such as the one in which your mom found herself, and it could move us to tears, but I don't know why it doesn't move us to action, to change ourselves.
I watched a movie last night called Nights in Rodanthe. Not a very good movie, but there was one part about it that was very worthwhile and relevant to your article. It was a scene in which a doctor is able to move past his defenses and see the woman who died on his operating table as a real human being through the eyes of her husband.
I like to look at things in terms of how they can change the world. For me, one of the most fundamental changes needed is the reclaiming of our human empathy. We need to put the hopes and wishes of real lives first. It's what makes us human after all.
This is an inspiring article for seeing that. Thanks for writing it.
7 - Bliffle
Excellent article! Well written and very moving.
8 - Clavos
Jeannie,
Once again, you write evocatively and with great warmth and feeling. This article particularly struck me because my wife is a paraplegic with severe chronic pain issues who spends nearly as much time in the hospital (she's in one now), as she does at home.
That said, I do think, however that you contradict yourself in this piece.
You say, on page 3, "At the ripe age of 80 my mother needed another heart operation to continue her life. Instead of slowing down naturally and accepting the inevitable, her doctor advised her that they could operate once more. Since she had such a fine, self-funded insurance policy, the company's name will not be mentioned here. We all said with her "Why not?"
"...The irresponsibility and blind greed of the present medical system in this country makes me sick. How they could take an eighty-year-old woman in my mother's condition and operate for profit is beyond me. In my opinion, which I will express to my last dying breath, I say to you, "They knew in their heart of hearts that this operation was too much for her!"
Instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to educate us of the true risk involved, the medical team forged ahead along with the insurance company, drawing up lengthy and complicated disclaimers and medical malpractice forms for Carmela to sign if she wished to continue living!"
Yet, a bit further on, you tell us,
"They wanted us to pull the plug now. "Mom can you hear us?" Fred whispered in his mother’s ear. His eyes were becoming darker now and the stress lines made his whole face and forehead look naught and stretched. He blamed himself for her predicament. If only it would become more than a passing thought. If only it would become his cross to bear. So we said no to unplugging Mom from the wall outlet. We just couldn't let go. Then one morning she woke up!"
And,
"I thank God for the time I had with my Mom after that. Day after day and night after night I slept in a chair next to her bed..."
Please understand. I'm not picking on you. On the contrary, having lived through four years (so far) of similar experiences, I understand all too well what you faced.
There is much that is wrong with our present medical system, but as you point out, you did get another year with your mother, for which you are, naturally enough, grateful.
We do already have a government-run single payer health insurance system in place. It pays most of my wife's bills, which are substantial, but it also refuses, on the basis of "cost effectiveness," treatments and/or tests and procedures recommended by her physicians. Faced with the choice of her receiving a surfeit of medical treatment as opposed to a scarcity, I, like you, would be grateful for the extra time with her provided by the surfeit.
Under a government-run, single payer system you would not have had the year with your mom.
9 - Jeannie Danna
Clavos,
I must disagree with you on one point here if I may. It is the private insurance industry that we are fighting in many Long-Term care decisions. You just said yourself that Your doctor's hands are tied when they are the ones that know what treatments and tests your wife should have, not an insurance agency that looks only at the "cost effectiveness." I am so sorry to hear of your wife's medical condition and I hope you can override that insurance company altogether.
I have VA medical care and I refuse to be signed on to my husband(Rick's) plan at work. I believe contrary to some,I read your article, that the VA is an excellent model that the States could adopt so that we all could have coverage. Have you ever watched the documentary "Sicko" by Michael Moore? It is mentioned here by klondikekitty and after the film was over Rick and I were ready to move to Canada! with Jordan :)just kidding, we didn't know Jordan yet!
Fred(my brother) and I could not let Mom go because we sensed she was still in there! The hospital wanted to unplug her because they realized if she survived she would be in long term care. They had already made the bulk of their money from her initial operation and anything extra was going to cancel out their profit! Hence the words FOR-PROFIT-HEALTH-CARE
One of my many attempts to work in this world led me to a company called "Combined Insurance"; it was an indemnity company so they were money for the patient not the physicians or hospital, but insurance is always a gamble and the whole idea is to take in more than you give out.
I feel a blog coming on Clavos! But I have to get off this computer for awhile! I am honored that you came over to debate with me. :) I won!
10 - Jeannie Danna
Thank you Bliffle! If my mom could only see us now!
11 - Jeannie Danna
CINDY,
I retweet you very much for your words to me! :)
12 - Dave Nalle
It's a touching article, but it is indistinguishable from stories you can hear in any nation in the world. It's just that in the other nations the author would be pointing the finger at government bureaucrats who had budgets to meet and disallowed necessary care because it wasn't on the approve list or delayed care of the maltreated loved one.
The truth is that a for-profit bureaucracy is no worse than a government bureaucracy, and it is at least responsive to consumer pressure and the need to maintain a positive public image. Plus a private company can be sued and in most cases the government healthcare managers will be immune from prosecution.
Dave
13 - Jordan Richardson
The truth is that a for-profit bureaucracy is no worse than a government bureaucracy, and it is at least responsive to consumer pressure and the need to maintain a positive public image.
Really? Governments don't need to maintain positive public image? Gosh, Dave, how else do you propose they get elected?
The government-run health care system here in Canada is responsible to those who fund it through their tax dollars: the public.
Plus a private company can be sued and in most cases the government healthcare managers will be immune from prosecution.
Yes, and when private companies are sued, what happens to the insurance rates?
Also, what exactly is a government healthcare manager? Do you really think we get these individualized caseworkers that sit there and deliver and deny care up here under our system? Nope. We get our money that we've paid into the health care system. Simple as that. Our taxes get reimbursed to us through services we actually need and use. Your taxes, on the other hand, head over to Iraq for war purposes or to arm Israel or some other such junk.
We're not all suffering and dying up here because we have government supported public-funded health care, Dave. And we're not all running down to America every chance we get. Some people do in order to receive non-essential care sooner and our system is not perfect, but I don't know any Canadian who would trade it in for your system.
Perhaps we've all been brainwashed by the CBC...
14 - Jordan Richardson
Also, we all have access to private care, private doctors, and private clinics anyways. Our system is public/government-run in funding only. Private physicians are essentially private corporations and thereby accountable to all forms of legal accountability.
The only problem is that these private clinics and systems face less regulation than the public health care system and, as such, are not subject to a public standard of care. This can lead to many care discrepancies.
Americans can have the same system with ease, but the myths about publicly-funded health care need to be defeated. Lots of people still don't recognize that a hybrid system like ours in Canada is possible and largely preferential in that it provides an equal standard of care for all and still enables those with more money to receive private care and see private doctors. The states can be responsible for care, like our provinces are, and there can be assurance of access to general universal health care for all citizens. It's not hard and Americans won't slide into communism because of it. It would also be cheaper than the current system, which tops the developed world in amount spent per person and nearly doubles Canada's per-person spending but still doesn't offer every citizen basic care.
15 - Jeannie Danna
Dave, LOOK [Instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to educate us of the true risk involved, the medical team forged ahead along with the insurance company, drawing up lengthy and complicated disclaimers and medical malpractice forms for Carmela to sign if she wished to continue living!] You said private insurers could be sued? This not the case and also...
16 - Jeannie Danna
Dave READ @ what Jordan wrote![what exactly is a government healthcare manager? Do you really think we get these individualized caseworkers that sit there and deliver and deny care up here under our system? Nope. We get our money that we've paid into the health care system. Simple as that. Our taxes get reimbursed to us through services we actually need and use. Your taxes, on the other hand, head over to Iraq for war purposes or to arm Israel or some other such junk.
We're not all suffering and dying up here because we have government supported public-funded health care, Dave. And we're not all running down to America every chance we get. Some people do in order to receive non-essential care sooner and our system is not perfect, but I don't know any Canadian who would trade it in for your system.]
Now Dave, in-order for the above plan to work.
We would all have to PAY OUR TAXES! Even the wealthy corporations would need to pay instead of running off-shore to the Cayman Islands and setting up phony companies while at the same time having their hands out to take OUR TARP MONEY and any other CORPORATE WELFARE they can get their hands on!
Leona Helmsley was right when she proclaimed "Only the little people pay taxes" ...
17 - Dave Nalle
Really? Governments don't need to maintain positive public image? Gosh, Dave, how else do you propose they get elected?
So Jordan, when was the last time you got to vote for a Bureaucrat? They do that in Canada, do they?
The government-run health care system here in Canada is responsible to those who fund it through their tax dollars: the public.
And they take care of them by sending them over the border for service in huge numbers, either by denying services or long waits, or by actually putting them in an ambulance and driving them to the US.
Yes, and when private companies are sued, what happens to the insurance rates?
They go up, but it's spread among millions of people and the impact is minimized.
Also, what exactly is a government healthcare manager?
The bureaucrat who writes up the list of what the government will cover and will not cover, who gets to live and who gets to die.
Do you really think we get these individualized caseworkers that sit there and deliver and deny care up here under our system?
If they were individualized it might be better. But they write rules and protocols and draw lines between those who get to live and die.
Nope. We get our money that we've paid into the health care system. Simple as that.?
So do they hand it to you in cash or as a check?
Our taxes get reimbursed to us through services we actually need and use. Your taxes, on the other hand, head over to Iraq for war purposes or to arm Israel or some other such junk.
Which is regrettable, but entirely irrelevant.
We're not all suffering and dying up here because we have government supported public-funded health care, Dave. And we're not all running down to America every chance we get. Some people do in order to receive non-essential care sooner and our system is not perfect, but I don't know any Canadian who would trade it in for your system.
So explain to me why ambulances cross the bridge to the US with emergency patients from Windsor and other border cities on a daily basis?
Dave
18 - Jordan Richardson
And they take care of them by sending them over the border for service in huge numbers
Define "huge numbers," Dave.
They go up, but it's spread among millions of people and the impact is minimized.
Putting actual insurance all the further out of reach for those who can't afford it.
The bureaucrat who writes up the list of what the government will cover and will not cover, who gets to live and who gets to die.
Name one. Name the position. Give me something tangible. What is the title of the bureaucrat(s) who does this?
But they write rules and protocols and draw lines between those who get to live and die.
Like what? Name a "rule" that has been written in public-funded single-payer system that "draws lines between those who get to love and die." For the love of Christ, Dave, America's not the only country in the world that somehow has it right when it comes to healthcare.
So do they hand it to you in cash or as a check?
Nice deflection, chief. They "hand it to you" in providing for your healthcare needs, something the American government consistently decides not to do.
Which is regrettable, but entirely irrelevant.
On the basis that this discussion is about public (read: tax) funded, government supported health care, I fail to see how this is "entirely irrelevant." This is, instead, entirely relevant and speaks to the priorities in how our respective tax dollars are spent.
So explain to me why ambulances cross the bridge to the US with emergency patients from Windsor and other border cities on a daily basis?
I don't know, but I would like to see some sort of substantiation to this statement. Why do Americans come to Canada for the health care? I don't know that either. Our system is not perfect.
When people get turned away from hospitals, it isn't because the government refuses to cover their care. It's because the hospitals are overcrowded and some regions have staff shortages. The solution for this is not to regress to an American-style system, but rather to improve funding and open the borders for more doctors and nurses who want to come to Canada. Some provincial governments are already meeting this problem and offering incentives to those who want to become doctors or nurses.
Why do people get turned away from hospitals in America? Why are they saddled with enormous bills for the simple accident of suffering from disease or injury? Why do people have to sell their homes in order to pay their medical bills?
19 - Jordan Richardson
LOL @ myself. "Those who get to love and die" should be "Those who get to live and die," although Dave probably thinks our government also decides that.
20 - Jeannie Danna
Your wrong Dave. Canadian citizens enjoy very good health care. They do not cross the border in droves! What fantasy are you trying to weave here?
Perhaps you should try watching that LEFT wing documentary film by Michael Moore it's called "sicko" :)
I would like to read one of your articles Dave. I am going to find one right now so I can understand where you are coming from. My brother is a staunch conservative and we get along. Perhaps you and I could find some common ground.m Ya think?
21 - Jeannie Danna
I'll probably be back shortly... :)wink
22 - Jordan Richardson
A few more questions, just cuz:
Why are uninsured Americans SOL when it comes to seeking emergency care? Why do so many of them simply not go to an emergency room when they have an accident at work or at home?
Why do so many Americans neglect preventive care and, because of this neglect, why are so many of them likely to experience more serious medical conditions that effectively cost the system more than treating the same condition in its earlier stages?
Why did the American Cancer Society release a study that demonstrated that countless uninsured Americans wind up being diagnosed with late-stage cancer in comparison to those blessed with larger incomes and insurance that are able to catch it earlier? Again, this puts a strain on the system and makes the eventual treatment much more expensive.
Why is it okay that the insured health care customers must pay more insurance because the cost of those with a lack of insurance keeps driving the prices up? (Careful with that link, btw, it's 14 pages).
Why does 31%, at least, of the American health care dollar go to administrative costs and overhead? What's efficient about that?
23 - Jeannie Danna
DAVE,
I almost threw you in your little pool just now! My husband is the president of his schools UNION. I want to remind you that The American Medical association, And The American Bar Association are also UNIONS! I bet you do not refer to them as special interests! As far as who has the worse Public education in the Country! South Carolina takes the cake. You have schools so run down and antiquated that the teachers have to stop class when a train passes by! I bet your little Ivory Tower Elementary was not that close to a Train TRACK!!!!
And the FIRST CHILDREN go to private school for safety! Do Ya Think?
common ground?
24 - Jeannie Danna
Dave, READ THIS [Why do so many Americans neglect preventive care and, because of this neglect, why are so many of them likely to experience more serious medical conditions that effectively cost the system more than treating the same condition in its earlier stages?]Jordan is right!
For-Profit health care is keeping us sick! but your little video shed light on the reason you don't give damn! You have what you need in this life don't cha?
I bet if there was a huge natural disaster or a catastrophic illness that took all those toys away you would change your tune!
25 - Jeannie Danna
And here I was going to be nice to you...sorry I just can't understand why conservatives are so ..... can't even find a word