‘The Cause of My Life’, By Edward M. Kennedy (dated: July 18, 2009)

[jefferson_dem]

‘The Cause of My Life’
Inside the fight for universal health care.
By Edward M. Kennedy | NEWSWEEK

Published Jul 18, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Jul 27, 2009

In 1964, I was flying with several companions to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention when our small plane crashed and burned short of the runway. My friend and colleague in the Senate, Birch Bayh, risked his life to pull me from the wreckage. Our pilot, Edwin Zimny, and my administrative assistant, Ed Moss, didn't survive. With crushed vertebrae, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, I spent months in New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. To prevent paralysis, I was strapped into a special bed that immobilizes a patient between two canvas slings. Nurses would regularly turn me over so my lungs didn't fill with fluid. I knew the care was expensive, but I didn't have to worry about that. I needed the care and I got it.

Now I face another medical challenge. Last year, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center removed part of the tumor, and I had proton-beam radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital. I've undergone many rounds of chemotherapy and continue to receive treatment. Again, I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy.

But quality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.

This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege." For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years.

Nothing I'm enduring now can compare to hearing that my children were seriously ill. In 1973, when I was first fighting in the Senate for universal coverage, we learned that my 12-year-old son Teddy had bone cancer. He had to have his right leg amputated above the knee. Even then, the pathology report showed that some of the cancer cells were very aggressive. There were only a few long-shot options to stop it from spreading further. I decided his best chance for survival was a clinical trial involving massive doses of chemotherapy. Every three weeks, at Children's Hospital Boston, he had to lie still for six hours while the fluid dripped into his arm. I remember watching and praying for him, all the while knowing how sick he would be for days afterward.

<SNIP>

http://www.newsweek.com/id/207406/output/print

[Dinger]

1. I Still Have My Copy

Think I'll see if I can order some back copies.

[mmonk]

2. Thanks.

The public option was his compromise a long time ago. The corporate wing of the party needs to know that and pass it with a public option, not something to be dealt away or it will fail the American people like Medicare part D failed for seniors.

[gateley]

3. Thank you so much -- I hadn't seen this! Recommend!! nt

[BREMPRO]

4. This is a must read for all DUer's

This is the last public document of Kennedy's views on health care reform and his best. He lays out and addresses ALL the issues, why this is the moment to act, and a plan of action. He does say that the time for incremental action if over, but I think it's important to realize Kennedy's pragmatism between the lines of his idealistic vision. He's not talking about a radical change, but urgent comprehensive action that includes covering all Americans, including allowing those who are currently covered to keep their private insurance, along with a deficit neutral public option to cover the uninsured. I read this when it first came out and was impressed, on second read, he really has the best achievable enduring arguments laid out for why, how, when, NOW. This was the cause of his life.

Let's do this for the Skipper!