From exesen@yahoo.com Tue Feb 12 08:56:39 2002 Received: from mailscan5.cac.washington.edu (mailscan5.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.14]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with SMTP id g1CGu5Mr038932 for ; Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:56:22 -0800 Received: FROM mxu1.u.washington.edu BY mailscan5.cac.washington.edu ; Tue Feb 12 08:56:05 2002 -0800 Received: from web21201.mail.yahoo.com (web21201.mail.yahoo.com [216.136.129.59]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with SMTP id g1CGu4pj011464 for ; Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:56:04 -0800 Message-ID: <20020212165603.41020.qmail@web21201.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [66.32.19.45] by web21201.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:56:03 PST Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:56:03 -0800 (PST) From: "Leona P." Subject: Fwd: Please Urge Your Rep. to Oppose Raising Limits on Hard Money To: exesen@yahoo.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Greetings, friends I am forwarding you a newsletter about a couple of important issues, the SECOND of which is coming up for a vote this wednesday, and I ask you to please click on the link to send a fax to your representative. This in one way you can help stop big corporations and the rich individuals controlling our government and prevent disasters such as Enron debacle that had left thousands of honest working Americans in destitute, not to mention raising energy costs throughout the coutry. The FIRST article has to do with how physicians are treted while going through their training program. The hours they have to work are worse than what is set for truck drivers, and yet they are expected to be clearheaded and perform their best in handling life and death decisions about their patients. These are young men and women many of whom entered medical schools with good intentions such as giving serivce to the community. Yet the residency training period, when they are mistreated, humiliated by the rigid hierarchy of medical establishment (from which they have no chance of escape if they are to finish their training and start their career as a physician), and put through the grueling hours they have to endure that makes them jaded. They start to feel bitter about their work and about their profession. Why do we have to care about that, you say. Because we are directly affected by that mistreatment. When they start losing interest in serviing their patients, their focus will shift to making money. And us, the patients, will suffer the consequences. So we have a vested interest, although an indirect one, in how physicians are treated when going through their residency training programs. that is why I invite you to read and forward the messages to your friends and publicize the issues. Please let me know if you don't want to be included in further mailings on other issues affecting our lives and our society. Thanks, Leona :D ------------------------------------------------------ Feb. 11, 2002 ACGME's Proposed Limits on Resident Physician Work Hours Are Inadequate, Coalition Says WASHINGTON, D.C. - New standards being proposed today for governing the work hours of resident physicians are woefully inadequate to address serious patient and physician safety concerns, according to a coalition of medical students, resident physicians and consumer advocates. The Accreditation Committee for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Working Group on Resident Duty Hours and Learning Environment is set to announce new proposed guidelines in a report published today. The proposal would allow resident physicians to work 36-hour "on-call" shifts every other night and put in a 125-hour workweek once a month, which would leave only 43 hours in that week for personal time. The ACGME is the body responsible for accrediting residency programs. The coalition, headed by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU 1957 and Public Citizen, contends that the Working Group's report is in part a response to a petition the coalition filed in April 2001 with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to regulate resident work hours and to Rep. John Conyers' (D-Mich.) Patient and Physician Safety and Protection Act of 2001 (HR 3236), filed in November 2001. Both the petition and the legislation would limit resident physicians to an 80-hour workweek and provide for active enforcement mechanisms including monetary fines. "In contrast, the ACGME's proposed guidelines fail to incorporate any viable mechanism for enforcing work hours limits," said Amer Ardati, a medical student working with Public Citizen. Added Dr. Ruth Potee, national president of CIR/SEIU and a third-year family practice resident at Boston Medical Center, "The consequences of working excessive hours are serious, both to our patients and to ourselves. Auto accidents, complications of pregnancy, depression - all disproportionately impact resident physicians working long hours." CIR/SEIU represents 11,000 resident physicians in the United States. "We are disappointed that the ACGME continues to resist the involvement of the federal government," said Jaya Agrawal, president of AMSA and a fourth-year medical student at Brown Medical School. "Teaching hospitals annually receive $8 billion of taxpayers' money for graduate medical education. Public dollars should mean public accountability." AMSA represents 30,000 medical students. Added Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, "The ACGME proposal is nothing more than a sham designed to prevent real reform." A table comparing the resident work hour reform proposals is available at http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7151 A copy of the coalition's original petition is available at http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=6771. ----------------------------------------------- --- Congress Watchdog wrote: > Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 12:31:30 -0500 > From: "Congress Watchdog" > > Subject: Urgent Action Needed! Urge Your Member to > Oppose Raising the > Limit on Hard Money > > Historic Vote on Campaign Finance Reform on > Wednesday, February 13 > > In the final hours before a historic vote on > campaign finance reform, your action is desperately > needed to assure final victory. > > Right now in the Capitol, opponents of campaign > finance reform are proposing several anti-reform > amendments to the Shays-Meehan bill. One such > amendment would raise the limit on individual > contributions to a House candidate from the current > $1,000 to $2,000. > > This proposal is bad public policy. Currently, > almost half the contributions to congressional > campaigns come at the $1,000 limit. These checks are > largely from wealthy individuals who can afford this > size donation. Raising the $1,000 limit to $2,000 > would send a strong message to all large > contributors that the price of access and influence > had doubled and that they should consider raising > their donations accordingly to maintain their > relative status. A larger percentage of campaign > funds coming from the rich would make candidates > more dependent on these few givers, causing further > disconnect between elected officials and the average > voter. > > It is important that your Representative hear from > you about this amendment, please click this link and > send a free > fax:http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?id=30&source=2 > > Please forward this email to your friends, family > and activist networks. > > For more information about this, and the other > issues Public Citizen works on, log onto our website > at http://www.citizen.org __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com .