Shelley Berkley: “I rise today to tell you a story that explains why I am a passionate supporter of the Patients' Bill of Rights. This…”

“I rise today to tell you a story that explains why I am a passionate supporter of the Patients' Bill of Rights. This story, which is only one of many that I heard during my campaign, illustrates why health care plans must be held accountable if their financial decisions overrule the sound medical decisions of a doctor. This story is about a constituent who lives in my Las Vegas district. The man is a dialysis patient. He was scheduled for dialysis treatments twice a week, but over time he became toxic in between treatments and was continually sent to the emergency room during treatments. A third session became critical for his very survival. Rather than dealing with the ordeal of gradually becoming toxic and rushing to the emergency room because two treatments a week simply were not enough for him, the patient's doctor determined that without a third dialysis treatment the patient would be faced with a life-threatening situation. But the patient was told by his insurance company that his diagnosis called for only two treatments per week.”