Family Values?
Compassionate Conservatives?
In March, I wrote a diary about a friend who was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.
You can read it here:
My friend just had a Kaiser drive-through mastectomy
http://www.dailykos.com/...
She is a 38-year-old single mother with three children.
She was born in the Phillipines and became a naturalized American citizen about a year ago.
She works as a nurse in Los Angeles. She is one of the nurses, we Americans are counting on to relieve our dire nursing shortage.
Although she worked hard and played by the rules--and became an American citizen, our government has denied entry to her sister who wants only to come to America to see and care for her ill sister.
Compassionate Conservatives?
This is a summary of my friend's medical treatment.
1. She had a lengthy and very debilitation course of chemotherapy which made her very ill. She lost all her hair.
2. Followed by a radical mastectomy. She now wears a compression device on her arm so it doesn't swell up.
3. Now she is undergoing additional chemotherapy about three or four treatments which result in profound sickness.
4. Next she will undergo six weeks (more or less) of daily radiation.
This is the letter her Kaiser doctor wrote pleading for her sister to be given a VISA to travel to the U.S. Her sister currently lives and works in Milan, Italy. My understanding is she was turned down by the U.S. authorities in Italy.
We are writing on behalf of____ who is under our care at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center (Panarama City).
Unfortunately, Ms.xxx a single mother with three children has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Currently she is undergoing chemotherapy treatments to combat the cancer. Side effects of her treatment have been nausea, vomiting and extreme fatigue. In March, she will undergo a mastecomy surgery to remove the cancer.
Because we believe that all family support is important at a time like this, we are requesting that the following relative be allowed to visit her in her Los Angeles area home.
We thank you in advance for all accomodation that permit Ms. xxx to have the family assistance she needs to get her through her cancer treatments. If you need further information, please feel free to contact Ms. xxx social worker.
Sincerely,
xxx,M.D.
Department of Oncology
One more important fact: the sister purchased a small apartment in Milan two years ago. She provided proof to the U.S. authorities that she has strong financial ties to Italy and will not become an illegal immigrant in the United States.
This is the ugly face of America.
This is our compassionate conservative government.