Battling Cancer

This week 18 California hospitals were fined for poor care violations, some which led to deaths.

How can you protect yourself from poor cancer care?

One way is to find out if your hospital has The Joint Commission Accreditation.

“The Joint Commission has been accrediting hospitals for more than 50 years. Its accreditation is a nationwide seal of approval that indicates a hospital meets high performance standards. JC accreditation helps hospitals improve their performance, raise the level of patient care, and demonstrate accountability in the rapidly changing health care marketplace.”

The Joint Commission sets national patient safety goals each year and along with accreditation programs has certification programs and awards.

How does your hospital measure up?

Find out how your hospital or health care organization rates per The JC. You can also see if they have won any additional awards. You can also file a complaint here. Additionally you can search for the best health care facility in your area for your particular treatment needs on this site.

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I received an interesting (well to me it was) email from my local blood donation center..nudging me to schedule my eight week donation and adding this information:

Did you know that there is another way you can save lives? Each year thousands of people are diagnosed with diseases like leukemia and lymphoma for which a stem cell or marrow transplant could be the only cure. About 70 percent of these people are unable to find a donor match within their family and must search for an unrelated donor on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

Why the need for stem cells or marrow?

Stem cells are destroyed by chemo or radiation. Stem cells are considered the foundation of blood formation. Stem cells become white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets.

For more information on this see the Battling Cancer Archives on neutropenia.

From the National Marrow Donor Program:

The basics:

“Race and ethnicity matter in tissue matches”

Your heritage can make all the difference. If you are from one of the following communities, you are urgently needed as a bone marrow donor or cord blood donor:

• Black and African American
• American Indian and Alaska Native
• Asian
• Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander
• Hispanic and Latino
• Multiple race

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Your rights as a cancer patient are covered by the laws listed below.

Consider this a jumping off point to your advocacy. If you are unable to self-advocate then utilize your personal advocate as recommended in the Battling Cancer archives article Patient Advocacy.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: Basic guidelines of the ADA include:

What is reasonable accommodation? It requires employers to modify an employee with cancer’s job responsibilities and or hours while they are undergoing treatment and beyond. This may include modification of work equipment or allowing an employee to come in late and make up the hours during treatment. Employers are not required to make changes that would require an undue hardship on the business.

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