Theresa Brown RN New York Times Opinion Column “Bedside” Debuts

RN and Author, Theresa Brown

We are excited to share with you the debut of a monthly opinion column for the New York Times. Called “Bedside,” by Theresa Brown, an oncology nurse, former guest on Nurse Talk  and the author of “Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between.”  The column offers a nurse’s eye view on “ways to make health care better and more humane.”

This week Theresa argues in favor of the Affordable Care Act.

Theresa says, “The Supreme Court decision is looming, and while I try to hope for the best, they may invalidate the law, which in my view would be tragic for the many uninsured or underinsured Americans who need care.”

In the column she writes, “Crowds at conservative rallies have, astoundingly, cheered the idea that uninsured people should, if they become ill or badly hurt, be left for dead. It’s easy to imagine such a thing in the heat of a rhetorical moment. But the reality is, I hope, harder to embrace. Because reality means a real person — you, me, someone we know — condemned to a possibly preventable death because, for whatever reason, they don’t have insurance.”

Read the column, Money or Your Life at: http://TheresaBrownRN.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=422a80c56d2a0694a1a718284&id=45e74c3aa3&e=34fbf3473b

This column will also appear in print in the Sunday Week in Review section.

Our best to Theresa! Congratulations.

• Bobbi McCarthy

  Theresa~  I enjoyed reading your article through the link provided…You did a good job summerizing the issue in every day terms that the readers can understand.  Right now I am in a Master’s level class for my MSN and the course is The Delivery of Healthcare in the U.S. and we are discussing these very topics…  Ive been a nurse for 21 years and the last 11 of those have been in the ER so I see first hand the uninsured, underinsured and highly insured… as well as the abuse of the system etc.  I didnt know how I felt about universal healtcare until i truly started looking at it from the dollars and sense perspective and the human perspective…There has to be a change…currently we spend 16% of the GDP on healthcare; without better outcomes!!   Anyway~ I enjoyed your perspective.  

• Dawn

  Theresa,
  Cancer doesn’t care if you are a Republican or a Democrat.   We all need to work together to make sure that we can implement the affordable care act.   Let’s start with nurses – if we all told our stories – human stories – showed the world our expertise and compassion and used our collective voices to support health care reform – we could be the difference.  The lives of our patients are at stake.   Make your voice heard in every nursing lounge, every public forum, letters to the editor – use your vote to elect candidates that are moving forward –  work against any candidate that talks about repeal.  The time of stand up is now.  

• Eiggam2

  In an ideal world, I whole heartedly agree with the premise of “Universal Health Care.” We do not live in an ideal world, we live in the very real world, “Universal Health Care” is not reality based, it is something we chase after, a utopia of sorts.
  The proposed health care act contains dangerous and life altering changes for the majority of hard working Americans. Imposing  penalties for those who cannot afford health care, listen to these people ranting about helping the poor, that seems like a great solution, impose a penalty when they cant afford to pay!!
  There are many more key points that contradict the essence of affordable health care.

• Bobbi McCarthy

  Just wanted to share my blog with you…its about my patient stories
  http://loveyournursinglife.blogspot.com/2012/07/prayerpatients-and-presence.html