I want to share a story with you about why I'm so passionate about reform

[nerd57]

My name is Alice Chen. I'm an OFA supporter, and a physician practicing internal medicine in Los Angeles.
P.S. -- I want to share a story with you about why I'm so passionate about reform:
Two years ago, I took care of a businessman in Los Angeles. He had Crohn's disease, and his health and nutrition had been getting worse for over a year. He was seeing doctors at one of our private hospitals, but he lost his insurance, so he couldn't see his doctors anymore. Buying private insurance was impossible - no amount of money could have convinced an insurance company to cover him. He tried the county hospital ER, but the wait was 24 hours. He thought maybe he could manage.

A few months later, when he could barely walk from his bed to the door, he tried the ER again. By then, he had kwashiorkor (the kind of malnutrition that famine-stricken African children get) as a complication of his gut disorder. Every organ system was failing. I remember that even in the hospital, he tried to keep up his work via his Blackberry. We tried to help him, but he rapidly deteriorated and died just six days after admission.

I was devastated and talked to many colleagues about what I could have done differently to save my patient. He should have been living his life and being a productive member of society today, but he's dead. We could have saved him if he had been able to come for care sooner -- instead of being deterred by his lack of insurance. Ultimately, I recognize that he died because the system failed him. In our great country, that is unacceptable.
Dr. Alice Chen