ACOG, Curb Your Enthusiasm

My first trip to Albany was intense but a little somber. I had expected to finally meet Teresa Lacey Montant, a fellow breast density advocate with whom I had been corresponding, but instead met her widower.  Under these tragic circumstances, the mood was slightly subdued. As our small group trudged from office to office of New York assembly members, Mr. Montant carried a mounted tennis ball that was smaller than the tumor his late wife had discovered three months after a normal mammogram, the tumor obscured by dense breast tissue. He explained this to shocked and sympathetic assembly members. Each survivor-advocate expressed our desire to spare other women from the nightmares we were experiencing due to unnecessary late-stage diagnosis. All this is a way of saying that although we are a buoyant group, our meeting decidedly un-festive. Support or oppose the legislation, no one would find this bill an occasion for fun and laughter.

Or so I thought. 

Two weeks after our trip, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) sent a delegation of doctors to Albany to lobby against the life-saving legislation--and the mood was quite different. This is how ACOG described it in their newsletter:

ACOG LOBBY DAY 2012: SUCCESS, SURPRISES & SMILES
...Lobby Day 2012 also provided a few surprises – and a lot of smiles. Assembly members and senators were more than happy to discuss proposed “dense breast” legislation (S.6769-A/A.9586-A) – but you should have seen the shocked look on their faces when our members explained that we were opposed to the bill....

(Not hard to imagine the shock. You see, we had been there two weeks prior explaining to the same legislators how the Connecticut law this bill is modeled on had doubled the cancer detection rate for women with dense breasts who received follow-up screenings. Why would ACOG oppose this?)

Later, the newsletter continues:

There was clearly a Lobby Day 'camaraderie' shared by our members. In fact, during lunch, the laughter from one of our tables could be heard throughout the Capitol Deli."

Wow. These doctors lack even a basic sense of decorum, let alone empathy. They made no attempt to contain their merriment as they lobbied for the right to continue harming patients by withholding material medical information. They even bragged about what an uproarious time they had lobbying against a bill spearheaded by late stage breast cancer survivors and their surviving family members that ACOG members had harmed by withholding information. It did not even occur to their communications manager that writing about it this way would be inappropriate.

For ACOG, Lobby Day was like a field trip to to Disneyland.

Could there be a more literal example of adding insult to injury?

ACOG's talking points against the legislation are here. I already exposed the rank hypocrisy of one of their arguments in my last post. Believe me, the rest of their points are every bit as specious. Are You Dense Advocacy responds, point by point, here. However, there were eight of us lobbying, and seventeen of them, and they were a healthier group. They boast that they met 90% of legislators face to face. Despite our energy we only were able to meet a fraction of the assembly. That's why I urge you to use the link at left to find and contact your state senator and assembly person if you live in New York.

Here is a picture of Teresa Lacey Montant, the density advocate who never made it to Albany. Here's her story.

Her husband continues her advocacy work while he struggles financially after losing her health insurance (and income).

Here are the names of the laughing lobbying doctors:

Matthew Blitz, MD
Ana Cepin, MD, FACOG
Eva Chalas, MD, FACOG, FACS
Matthew Blitz, MD
Ana Cepin, MD, FACOG
Eva Chalas, MD, FACOG, FACS
Cynthia Chazotte, MD, FACOG
K. Michelle Doyle, CNM, LM
Leah Kaufman, MD, FACOG
Nicholas Kulbida, MD, FACOG
Ellen Landsberger, MD, FACOG
Mary Ann Millar, MD, FACOG
Howard Minkoff, MD, FACOG
Allen Ott, MD, FACOG
Lawrence Perl, MD, FACOG
Hartaj Powell, MD, FACOG
Mary Rosser, MD FACOG
Naomi Ufberg, MD
Ronald Uva, MD, FACOG
Mary Margaret Wilsch, MD, FACOG

Have they no shame?

Update: if anyone happens to have/obtain a photo of the raucous Capitol Hill Deli lunch, leak them to me at "s [at] womanhattan [dot] com".  Communications will be kept confidential.