[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H8693-H8694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  LEGISLATION REGARDING BREAST CANCER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on behalf 
of legislation that is in the House and the Senate which will do much 
to help the women of the United States affected by the terrible 
physical tragedy of breast cancer.
  I am speaking of legislation that will prevent the drive-through 
mastectomies, where women who are being treated for breast cancer have 
been called to leave the hospital before 24 hours, sometimes the same 
day as the surgery.
  Our legislation was put forth through the leadership of the 
gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Kelly], the gentleman from New Jersey 
[Mr. Frank LoBiondo], Senator Feinstein of California and Senator 
D'Amato of New York, and earlier today they held a press conference to 
announce the importance of this legislation which would require a 
minimum of 48 hours for a stay in the hospital following a mastectomy.
  We also have in that legislation a requirement for a second opinion 
from a doctor with regard to the length of stay and the treatment. And, 
finally, the legislation calls for reconstructive surgery for each 
woman that may be affected by the dreaded disease of breast cancer.
  Much has been done and much more needs to be done in the way of 
treatment, detection and prevention of

[[Page H8694]]

breast cancer in this country. I am proud to work with the national 
breast cancer officials who are working on a cure and who are working 
to increase the funding, and I am working with them on the DOD funding, 
the Department of Defense funding, as well as the National Institutes 
of Health.
  For me this is priority number one in this 105th Congress, to pass 
this legislation and all legislation which will lead to additional 
research funding so that in our lifetime we can have a cure, we can 
have a vaccine, we can have a discovery that will eradicate breast 
cancer in our lifetime.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the number one cancer death causing disease to 
women in the United States: 44,000 a year. We must do whatever we can 
from a medical, legislative and public point of view to make sure we 
eradicate this disease in our lifetime. Tomorrow is not soon enough.
  So I thank my colleagues for sponsoring and cosponsoring this 
legislation and for working for its passage.

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