Attending Seminar - Advocating for Cancer Patients

I will be going back to school tomorrow as I attend a day long legal seminar on Advocating for Cancer Patients.

Why does this matter?

I figure the same laws that protect cancer patients when they get their treatments, will also apply to cases where vasculitis patients are denied insurance payments for reasons like, "This medication is an investigational or experimental treatment," or "This therapy is not a standard of care." Both reasons can be invalid for denying patient care if the prescribing physician has followed the accepted practices for a vasculitis specialist. Who decides what those standards should be? Is it the insurance companies? No. In the case of orphan diseases, like vasculitis, it is more often the doctors who specialize in treating the condition that collectively determine the appropriate standard of care.

Now tomorrow, I will look to learn how to put some teeth behind that statement. Something they might have to sit up and pay attention to.

As I prepare to learn how to better advocate for my daughter's medical care, I may also pick up a few skills along the way. If you wish to know more, keep an eye on this blog, or consider coming to a monthly meeting. If I  know you are coming, I can prepare a summary presentation on this topic including handouts. RSVP anyone?

Here is the low down on what is going to go down...




Advocating for Cancer Patients
UNM Cancer Center

Keynote Speaker: Melanie Royce, MD
Topic: The UNM Cancer Center: What's Happening in Cancer Research and Trials and their Impact on New Mexico Breast and other Cancer Patients.

The CLE portion is entitled:
Advocating for Cancer Patients
Presenter: Julie Neerken, Rodey Dickason Sloan Akin & Robb
Melinda Silver, Former Counsel to NM Superintendant of Insurance
Rita Seigel, Seigel Law Firm
Jane Wishner, Southwest Women's Law Center

This program combines the resources of the ABA Health Law Section/Commission on Women in the Profession Breast Cancer Advocacy Program with local resources to train attorneys to represent patients with cancer and other life threatening diseases. This CLE will include information on federal, state statutory and civil law remedies for patients denied treatment and /or insurance coverage, employment, and end of life legal counseling, including wills and guardianship. The CLE program will be followed by a tour of the UNM Cancer Center, New Mexico’s foremost cancer treatment facility.