[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4876-S4877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, before I send an amendment to the 
desk, if I may, I would like to make one comment on the remarks posed 
to the body by the Senator from New York with respect to the 
legislation that we cosponsored.
  I want to congratulate him for getting this legislation on the 
tobacco bill.
  I also want to express my dismay that this route has been taken and 
that an amendment which is very direct cannot get by this body any 
other way.
  Mr. President, every day women of this country are being subjected to 
a mastectomy being performed in the morning and being pushed out on the 
streets that afternoon. It is called a ``same-day mastectomy,'' a 
``drive-through mastectomy.'' I never thought in my lifetime that I 
would see the medical profession in a position where the length of 
hospital stay could not be determined by the physician.
  All we would do in this amendment is say that the length of a woman's 
hospital stay, having had a mastectomy, would be based on the advice 
and knowledge of her physician. Whether she has a radical mastectomy, 
what her reaction to anesthesia is, what her preconditions are, all 
should be party to that decision, and not some HMO that says henceforth 
all major surgical procedures called mastectomies will be conducted on 
a same-day basis. This, to me, is bad medicine.
  We also, as the Senator said, simply provide that the insurance 
company must provide for reconstructive surgery or prosthetic surgery, 
and that the doctor cannot be penalized for recommending additional 
treatment for the woman.
  It seems to me, Mr. President, that we owe this simple gesture to the 
women of America, because to say to any woman that she has to go into a 
hospital for major, major surgery and is going to get pushed out on the 
street--I would hazard a guess that there isn't a man in this room who 
wants to have major surgery, leave with two to four drains in their 
body, having had a general anesthetic, and losing a significant portion 
of their torso, and hear, ``You cannot stay overnight in the hospital 
no matter how you feel.''

[[Page S4877]]

  So I hope that the leadership of this body, hearing the capacity, the 
energy, the stubbornness of the Senator from New York, would really 
realize that the better part of valor is to allow us to have an up-or-
down vote on this amendment. It seems to me, humbly stating, that this 
is the way this body should, in fact, function.
  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I simply would like to say that I have 
never encountered such graciousness, such tenacity, such great 
dedication to a cause than the Senator from California has given to 
this effort for the past almost year and a half; and what a great 
fighter she is for all of the families of this country.
  I thank her. And it is a great privilege and pleasure for me to have 
the opportunity to work with her in this endeavor.

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