-Ongoing refinement and elucidation of this proposal will now proceed as a series of letters to Mr. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Each new letter will post in front of the original proposal for approximately one week, after which it will be shifted to follow in temporal sequence, below (after the text of the original proposal itself), so these letters can be read as if the reader is writing to the man who will be the next Secretary to the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States of America.-
01-12-2025
Dear Mr. Kennedy,
When last I wrote to you, I described how, in the summer of 2014, I was led to believe I had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, based on a single, non-numerical, blood test result.
I had been living in extraordinary pain since 2010, working, and paying taxes through my small business all that time. But I had been unable to consult with a medical doctor about my condition due to not having access to medical care services, through no fault of my own, for financial reasons. I feel I must advise, Mr. Kennedy, the oft-referenced âsafety netâ of free medical help being available to those of US with no, or inadequate (e.g. a high-deductible policy, including one issued under the ACA) health insurance is a myth for most of US who are working taxpayers who come to find themselves in immediate need of medical care.
Iâd acquired health insurance, finally, through a negotiated, verbal, special contract with one of my larger veterinary practice clients (the Lycoming County SPCA), in December of 2013, and had been seen at my PCPâs office in February of 2014, and then again in August when there had been no improvement in my condition (as expected).
When I contacted my doctorâs office after receiving that highly disturbing blood test result of âpresent,â I was advised a referral had been made, and I was to see a Dr. Sharif Khan, a specialist in hematology and oncology, at the Knapper Clinic, Geisinger, on October 27, 2014.
At that appointment, where I faced both Dr. Khan and his Physicianâs Assistant, Dave [not his real name], I found Dr. Khan to be somewhat top-down domineering toward me. I suspected strongly this was due to, for reasons I wonât go into at length here, the fact I am a woman. He also had an air of a used car salesman who likes to use fear tactics as part of his sales pitch. He kept repeating that the blood test result Iâve already mentioned indicated I had, âa 1% chance of developing multiple myeloma.â I presume he expected a pronounced fear response from me, given that information, especially since I am a womanâŚas would/had happen/ed with most other women to whom he delivered such news? And perhaps he expected me to hold back tears as I asked what needed to be done to try to stop the cancer? âŚand how soon could we start? I can only speculate, because it became increasingly obvious, he wasnât quite sure what to do or say in response to the reaction he did get from me.
The â1%â part was new information. I informed him of my professional occupation, and began to ask questions about that particular blood testâŚquestions that, he, a âspecialistâ in hematology, could, or would, not answer. These were basic information inquiries that should have been able to be responded to, and discussed, by any college sophomore who had completed an entry-level, undergraduate biology course in immunology with an eye on going to medical school. I wasnât asking about prognosis or treatment, or even cancer at that point, just basic science. I wanted more specifics about the subclass of IgA antibody that had been found to be in excess in my blood because I knew I had an occupational exposure that might cause a completely benign elevation in circulating IgA.
After about the third or fourth time he said I had, âa 1% chance of developing multiple myeloma,â in answer to each of my various, different questions, and my looking at him with an attitude of, âSo what? I could probably have a 1% chance of getting hit by a car if I made a habit of crossing busy intersections in my current state of being barely able to walk,â Dr. Khan made some excuse for having to leave the exam room for a little while, indicating he would leave me with Dave, who was going to do a physical exam.
Dave listened to my heart and lungs with a stethoscope. Iâm sure he took my blood pressure, and he palpated my cranial lymph nodes. He may have even looked inside my mouth with a tongue depressor. He said nothing indicating he found any abnormalities. It was obvious he was just going through the motions. The blood pressure, especially, was largely meaningless under the circumstances of Dr. Khan having just deliveredâŚor having just tried to deliver, the idea I had cancer. Dave made me feel like he was concerned about me as a patient. But I also sensed there was something else going on, that there was a reason heâd been left to deal with me when I had pretty obviously not given Dr. Khan the reactions he expectedâŚand wantedâŚso he could start administering chemo. Chemo, on which he profits, directly from the drug company which produces it, as the ordering doctorâone of the most obscene conflict$ of intere$t in American medical care. This country has a terrible problem, Mr. Kennedy, of putting wealth before health.
Once upon a time in this country, a doctor could lose his or her medical license for taking kickbacks from a pharmaceuticalâs producer. Itâs why prescriptions were filled at a pharmacy independent of the medical doctorâs office. Corporate medicine has changed all of that. Itâs been standard operating procedure in cancer treatment for years for doctors diagnosing cancer to benefit financially from then ordering the specific drug to be given to the patient to treat itâalways the newest, and so, supposedly âbest,â and, of course, still-on-patent and most expensive oneâand PS, if Iâm interpreting current commercial television advertisements and internet ordering standards correctly, this is now happening with most, if not all drugs. American medical doctors have been being trained to be drug pushers for decades. Those who refuse to comply are either starved out financially, or have their licenses threatened by lawsuits from attorneys who believe the newest and most expensive drug is always the ârightâ one, and who are very good at convincing juries of the same.
Back to my story. I was distressed about what had just happened with Dr. Khan. Earlier that day, waiting for the appointment to begin in a waiting room full of bald, pasty and pale-skinned, obviously very sick and debilitated people, some of them actually lying on a gurney with IV drips hanging had been more than a little unsettling.
I could not believe, now that I finally had health insurance, I was seeing an oncologist. I had been waiting for four years, ever since I was kicked by that horse, to see an orthopedic surgeon, possibly in consultation with a neurologist, about the excruciating pain in my legs and my incrementally losing the ability to stand and walk.
I finally broke the silence with Dave by saying, âHeâs going to need a whole lot more evidence than a single lousy blood test to convince me I need to start undergoing chemo. Everyone Iâve ever known who did, died.â
Dave looked at me and said, âWell, some of the newer treatments are having success.â
Iâm sure the look on my face suggested, âReally? I bet you have a bridge in Brooklyn youâre offering for sale, too, to âcureâ my cancer.â
At that point, Dave decided suddenly he needed to leave the exam room, too.
I sat there, alone, for five to ten minutes.
Next, Dr. Khan came back into the room followed by Dave. Dr. Khan was very brusque as he said, âWe need to take some x-rays. And you need to have more blood drawn, but it is too early to re-test your IgA since it has only been three months since the original result.â I had already had a half dozen tubes of blood pulled from my arm earlier that day. I had been told to arrive a half hour early for the appointment because this would need to be done. My suspicion and skepticism kept expanding.
After the first attempt to discuss subclasses of IgA with Dr. Khan, I was dubious, but I decided to offer him the rest of what was on my mind about my individual condition. I explained that, in the course of my veterinary work I routinely administered an intranasal flu vaccine to my equine patients. I explained that most horses are not particularly fond of having something spritzed up their nose, and they often do a very good job of snorting some of the liquid vaccine back out just as fast and into the veterinarianâs face. Dr. Khanâs blank stare and what struck me as impatient agitation made me suspect he had zero familiarity with intranasal vaccinesâand zero interest in horses or any medical comparisons between non-human species and human medicine. -Please see *1 below
Given my earlier attempt to discuss IgA subclasses with Dr. Khan, I felt it necessary to point out an intranasal vaccine is meant to stimulate specifically production of IgA antibody (the kind that is produced on mucous membranes as opposed to IgG which is the kind that circulates in the blood and is the primary antibody type produced by the body in response to an injected vaccine).
As I said this, Dr. Khan had ceased to look me in the eye such as he had when telling me about the 1% chance of developing multiple myeloma. His hands were shaking a bit, holding the orders for more blood testing and radiographs for me. Still looking down, his only response to what Iâd told him was, âBut it still wouldnât be monoclonal.â
I have to admit, that slowed me down for a moment, but when I thought about it for a few more minutes, my conclusion was, âWhy wouldnât it be? The modified-live, equine intranasal flu vaccine was/is produced in a laboratory. The antibody produced in response was going to be specific to whatever inactivated strain of equine influenza virus was used to make the vaccine, i.e. there is no constant strain variation in an inactivated virus such as is known to happen with the naturally-occurring, so-called âwild typeâ virusâwhy flu preventive has always been called a flu shot, not a flu vaccine, and must be taken annually. Strain variation means the virus is always one step ahead of the vaccine manufacturers, finding a new way to make people sick. Please see *2 below
Dr. Khan was swift to capitalize on my pause over the question of my excess circulating IgA being monoclonal. He ended any further discussion right then and handed me my marching orders.
I was sent to the blood lab first. The phlebotomist raised an eyebrow over the fact I was there again. She asked gently if I was going to be OK; she had a whole lot more tubes to fill this time (and knew Iâd sat for quite a few already earlier that day). She said something about she did not understand why they hadnât ordered all of it in the first place. I told her it was a long story, and to go ahead and stick me again.
Down in radiology, people were lined up out into the hallway. Dr. Khan must have had some pull as an oncologist ordering stat X-rays because I was escorted quickly to the head of the line. I felt badly for all the people there with real problems that needed a radiographic diagnostic. Dr. Khan had ordered a bone surveyâmultiple views of skull, cervical spine, thoracic spine, lumbosacral spine, chest, humeri, pelvis, and femurs. Iâm sure I glowed in the dark for a week afterward.
I had another wave of compassion pass over me as I walked past all those deathly-ill-looking people in the waiting room when I exited the clinic. My mind was racing between whether or not Iâd just signed my own death warrant by declining chemotherapy this doctor seemed sure I needed; and questioning how many of those poor people hadnât had a provable case of cancer, either, before they got theirs, because they didnât know as much about their condition and test results as I did about mine. The latter was unthinkable, but so was the idea of having the toxic waste that is chemotherapy flooded into my veins if I didnât actually need it.
Until next time Mr. Kennedy,
Peace, Lise.
*1 The human version of the intranasal vaccination product I was talking about had been developed a few years [circa 2003] after the original equine one gained approval and came on the market. The for-human-use product was produced because of the phenomenal success achieved industry-wide, in competition horses, with equine intra-nasal flu, dramatically reducing the incidence of not just equine influenza, but other, common, serious, contagious respiratory diseases, as well. The human FDA-approved product had become a standard in many pediatriciansâ offices because children usually tolerated a spritz up their nose more readily than a shot. The intranasal route of inoculation had since been utilized with the same level of success as the horses in other species, perhaps most notably in the control of kennel cough in concentrated, and constantly changing and comingling populations of dogs. When I first saw this research, done right here, in the U.S.A., and the spectacular results achieved in live, control-matched (inoculated horses versus uninoculated horses intentionally exposed to clouds of live virus) studies, I knew intranasal vaccination against viral respiratory diseases could and should be for 21st century health what antibiotics were against bacterial infections for health help in the 20th century. Even though I wonât live to see/hear it, I still believe this will become the medical miracle upon which health news reporters will be expounding as America turns the calendar page to enter the 2100s.
*2 A human being, including a veterinarian, will not contract the disease and become ill from the equine influenza virus, but the human immune system does not know that, and so, will still see the equine influenza modified-live vaccine as a potential threat to the upper respiratory tract and lungs, and will, upon encountering it in the eyes and nose of a vet who has just had a horse snort it back at him/her, begin to produce specific antibodyâin this case IgA first and mostâin response, to try to neutralize what that human immune system sees as an invading, infectious disease âthreat.â At the same time, this building of antibody troops, will also trigger a high-alert signal to the immune system âspecial ops,â independent, non-specific âsniperâ cells (e.g. killer T-cells) whose job it is to take out any invading organism that might be trying to set up a base of operations that will make its host sick. In other words, because of the intranasal route of vaccination, an intranasal flu prevention product has the potential to provide significant protection against other respiratory diseases such as COVID, or other viral or bacterial colds.
original proposal:
Healing America starts here. This policy provides Health Help funding for EVERYONE, equitably, in a uniquely American, permanent, way, requiring no new taxes, ever. This will be cross-posted to the economy category at some point because the biggest problem with our healthcare system is how we are paying (too much) for it in the face of massively declining public health, especially among our children, i.e. what is being done with the money weâre throwing at healthcare in this country clearly isnât working despite ongoing marketing (not medical) efforts attempting to convince everyone it is.
With healthcare now costing roughly a fifth of the GDP, American life-expectancy is going down, chronic illness is epidemic, and, because of corporate capture, The People cannot trust federal agencies which were supposed to monitor and regulate to prevent this human rights catastrophe (born of greed, massive miseducation of the American public via the media marketing machine, and highly improper LEGAL intervention into American MEDICAL matters).
With a much-needed, simple change to campaign finance law, and a small change in federal business tax code for advertising expenses, this country can have fully-funded permanently, high-quality healthcare for everyone paid for by our politics and the excess profits of our most successful businesses, not our taxes. This is an equitable plan that treats every individual equallyâas provided for in the ârightâ to Life in our founding documents and, unlike the current system, does not discriminate, often egregiously, based on economic or employment status, age, gender, level of incarceration, or any other (usual and/or peculiarly American, e.g. self-diagnosed) biometric and/or financial qualifiers. This national policy gets medical money OUT of the hands of lobbyists and spending-addicted Washington, permanently, returning responsibility for it to âthe People,â so it cannot be stolen from future generations by turning it into war machine, and other reckless, irrational, and irresponsible debt.
Meanwhile, this Peopleâs Mandate stabilizes the overall banking system by having the state banking system, only, hold money intended for medical care, if needed, on behalf of The People. Those holdings are kept as secured savings that earn significant interest until such funds are needed. Financial medical resources will never again be depleted by upper level corporate greed or âshareholderâ payout profits such as is done now by the unnecessary (and unconscionable) so-called health insurance system, and other corporate leeches on medical money. State banks with a proven track record of responsible lending and consistent depositor yields, only, will handle that amount of money set aside for health needs (as noted, currently a fifth of GDP) every year, so the federally-chartered banking (some say âloan sharkâ) system cannot squander it in bad loans (including health-leveraged ones) while VPs directing or making most of those bad (often also based on criminal fraud) loans steal most of whatâs left for themselves and go running to Washington for yet another âbail-out.â
This is also COMPLETELY NON-PARTISAN, and so, stable, not subject to massive distortion and changes in prioritization every four to eight years (something that should NEVER happen to something so critical as healthcare) in the face of ridiculous, and often corrupt, political party haggling and destructiveness (what has become our ongoing, never-ending, Second Civil War).
Hereâs the basic plan:
The Peopleâs Mandate demands $0.50 of every dollar donated to any political campaign or purpose (including PACs, Direct party donations, local mayoral races, etc. any money directed to buy political influence of any kind), anywhere in the USA be immediately diverted to a National Health Savings account, held under the auspices of state banks, only, where it accumulates interest.
On a designated day in late November of each year (the Wednesday before Thanksgiving would be ideal) this money is re-distributed to the individual health savings accounts of all Americans. The individual accounts can only be debited by a medical provider designated by the individual patient who holds the account to pay medical bills, or more usually, to pay direct, local insurance between the doctor and hospital the patient intends to use when they need medical care.
The Washington 2.0, giant, so-called âhealth insuranceâ greed corporations, which provide absolutely no medical services whatsoever, and steal in the form of premiums, more than $0.50 of every healthcare dollar to serve themselves and their non-patient shareholders, while interfering with almost everyoneâs ability to get the care, tests and procedures they need, are phased out and go away, permanently. Their assets will be immediately liquidated and disbursed by paying shareholders off at 50% of current value as an endpointâthe stocks become worthless after that, and there will no longer be Wall Street trading in other peopleâs lives, ever. The remainder will be distributed to state banks on a per capita basis to become the first distribution to the national health savings account. If employers want to contribute to employee healthcare, they do it by contributing directly to individual employeesâ health savings accounts. It remains a tax-deductible, for the employer, expense, but they no longer buy a corporate policy (which further enriches those who are not sick or injured) because those no longer exist, and never will again.
Political money is well tracked and not tax-deductible. It is a huge vat of funding never before considered to be partially utilized to secure national healthcare. It should be. Given the inordinate amount of money spent on American politics, which increases constantly, and the fact healthcare has been at or near the top of the list of voter concerns constantly for more than thirty years, itâs pathetic, and an American embarrassment, and disgrace, it isnât. If political donors have extra money they can afford to give away to buy political influence, they have money they can afford to give to securing national healthcare for everyone.
Imagine, EVERY CANDIDATE IN EVERY ELECTION, AND EVERYONE WHO WORKED FOR THEM OR SUPPORTED THEM, can feel proud on election day, no matter who wins, because they have made a massive effort that benefits ALL of America, already, before anyone takes office.
This process is completely non-partisan since it comes from both sides. No matter what happens in any given election cycle, national healthcare becomes more secured, especially so every four years during a Presidential cycle. Any politician who leaves office automatically donates anything left in their âwar chestâ to the national health savings account. They canât redirect it to their replacement or back to the party. Term limits would vastly increase the national health savings account reserve.
There are other finer points and details, but this is the basis for a completely tax-free, uniquely American way of funding healthcare for all, permanently, and keeping decisions about medical care where they belong, between the patient, and his or her doctor and preferred hospital.
First Amendment.
This is the piece that will clinch the Mandate.
There was some flack, back at the beginning, about whether or not 50% of all the money used to buy political influence in this country would be enough money to fully fund healthcare. It definitely wonât fully fund profit-driven healthcare, because all the money in the world isnât enough to satisfy that greed monster. Weâve been proving that for many years now as Americans shovel more and more dollars, a larger and larger percentage of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) into the health system, AND LIFE EXPECTANCY FOR AMERICANS IS GOING DOWN!!!
Much of profit-driven healthcare could, should, and would be dismantled under the Peopleâs Mandate. But unless and until that happens (this is capitalist America, after all), and since we know how power-hungry too many political people are, how much they lie and cheat and steal, and We the People are forever at risk because they also make their own rules (and break them with no accountability) there will be one more addition to the Peopleâs Mandate.
Advertising is a flexible expenditure for businesses. Itâs not a necessity. A business can continue operating without spending a nickel on advertising. Successful businesses, though, tend to spend quite a bit on it. So, the First Amendment to the Peopleâs Mandate is as follows:
Henceforward it will be mandated that every business in America, including so-called non-profits (most of which havenât really been non-profit for decades, e.g. hospital systems, pet charities, âcausesâ of all kinds), no exceptions, will, upon the filing of their federal AND state income taxes, send proof to the IRS and state revenue authorities (a receipt from the state bank that received it) 10% of that amount deducted under Advertising on the businessâs tax return went to the national health savings account. (e.g. if a business buys a $10 ad, they simultaneously put a dollar in the National HSAâheld by the state bank in the businessâs jurisdiction).
In other words, 10% of all the advertising budgets for all the businesses in America will henceforward, off the top, go toward securing individual national health. Just like the 50% of all political budgets, this money will be held in trust in the state bank of their particular jurisdiction, to be distributed to individual health savings accounts of all Americans on that designated day in November of each year.
This is totally do-able. All it takes is the will of the People to do it.
Further elaboration on policy details based on feedback from a variety of sources will continue as a series of letters to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the presumptive incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services for the United States of America.
November 5, 2024-election day
Dear Mr. Kennedy,
As I write this, the polls are just opening in my area of the country. No matter what happens today, in yet another major battle of the now more than half-century of this countryâs second, and bloodiest, civil war -that would be the one in which the Supreme Court of the United States fired the opening volley in January of 1973 when they handed down the Roe v. Wade decision- I hope you will keep this Peopleâs Mandate proposal in mind. ( RIGHT TO MATERNAL/FETAL HEALTHCARE & EDUCATION to stabilize the abortion issue - #187 by PeoplesMandate RIGHT TO MATERNAL/FETAL HEALTHCARE & EDUCATION to stabilize the abortion issue - #203 by PeoplesMandate RIGHT TO MATERNAL/FETAL HEALTHCARE & EDUCATION to stabilize the abortion issue - #209 by PeoplesMandate RIGHT TO MATERNAL/FETAL HEALTHCARE & EDUCATION to stabilize the abortion issue - #199 by PeoplesMandate Economics for the people - #42 by FreedomLife Redirecting... Comments - In Bipartisan Panel, Kennedy Offers Solutions for Americaâs Chronic Disease Epidemic ) On behalf of the more than 60 million now, very young casualties of this most horrible war in human history, I pray, you will keep it in mind.
I say this because this idea is about healingâŚthe bodies, minds, and perhaps most importantly, hearts, of individuals, AND this nation, as a whole. No matter who is declared the winner some time later today, this idea is still about healingâŚALL of US. As has been noted more than a few times, no matter what color, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, financial statusâŚor ageâŚwe claim, We all bleed, red.
With that in mind, I have a suggestion for you and Mr. TrumpâŚOR Ms. HarrisâŚOR, better yet, all three of you. Since this Peopleâs Mandate is completely non-partisan, how about we turn it into the PEACE accords between the new, AND the old, Administrations, and let it become the treaty under which we agree to a cease-fire? How about we have a former President, the current Vice-President, and the nephew of a beloved former Presidentâwhose life was cut far too short, just like the 60,000,000+, in terribly troubled times not so unlike where we are nowâbring this treaty, these accords, to the current, sitting President, and ask that he sign The Peoplesâs Mandate-Healthcare for All Americans into law, very soon. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving would be ideal. (Think you can get that done, Congress? Iâd be happy to come to Washington and help. All it will take is a simple change to campaign finance lawâIâm sure Congresspeople are quite familiar with that, and a tweak to allowable advertising deductions for businesses under U.S. federal tax code. Perhaps, to speed things up a bit, you could suggest that part to the IRS, Mr. Biden?)
May the God known as LOVE bless you and keep you as s/he does all of us, as his, or her, Children, always.
Sincerely,
Lise Lund VMD
PS-In the long run, this proposal is about real âsocial security,â and a real, forever, TRUST Fund, to go with it, born out of giving, not taxes, as such a fund should beâŚ
âŚespecially in the United States of America
*This policy will be elaborated upon in future posts that will appear as additional discussions with Mr. Kennedy about the problematic current American healthcare system.
12-25-24 Christmas Day
Dear Mr. Kennedy,
I feel it is necessary to tell you some things about my background, education, experience, and personal health which led to my proposing The Peopleâs Mandate-Healthcare for All Americans. Health before Wealth. the People's Mandate- Health Help for All Americans https://www.facebook.com/100036084640155/
Having considered how to do this presentation for quite a while, Iâve decided to write a series of letters to you about what life has been like for me because of how this country, peculiar among modern, wealthy nations, has chosen to offer health help to our people, i.e. to âdoâ healthcare.
I grew up as a chronically ill, lower middle-class child. As an adult who has always believed relationships are not meant to be primarily financial contracts, I never married. This meant despite always being employed, Iâve lived near, or below the poverty line (accompanied by all the attendant fear that goes along with that modern America âconditionâ) in these United States my entire adult life, as a second-generation, born-American woman who is the grandchild of four Norwegian immigrants who entered this country legally, through Ellis Island, in the ~1910s.
Iâve made it on my own, in cities, suburbs, small towns, and, hardest by most peopleâs standards, but best for me, in more than one rural area. At mid-life, still quite poor, I went back to graduate school and became a medical doctor, in the field of medicine which had been my dream to support ever since I was that sickly, young child. At six years-of-age, I had lost, to euthanasia, a beloved someone (not some"thing") who was less than two-years-old and who was effectively my little brother at that point in my life. He was a stray, long-haired black cat weâd adopted about eighteen months previously, when I was five.
For multiple reasons, -many of them criminal or bordering on it-on the part of the system- earning that graduate degree only worsened, severely, my financial situation.
These letters will be a good way to illustrate the many problems with:
our current medical education system (and the extended indentured servitude most higher education, regardless of field of study, has become for the vast majority of Americans); our healthcare services acquisition system(s); and our federal banking loan systems and federal financial regulatory and âhelpâ offices with respect to particularly small business owners (corporate capture is not isolated to Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Big Manufacturing environmental pollutersâBig Banking owns their regulators, too).
From my childhood experience onward, I will offer evidence of our dy$function in medical care, as a nation, and more importantly, extensive guidance toward fixing it, including critical, effective treatment modalities costing very little which are summarily ignored by the profiteers in control (including the medical educational system) because they do not/will not generate enough wealth for the already-wealthy.
My life-long inclination to be a biology geek coupled with the unusual scientific perspective and insights coming out of my chosen field of medicine affords me the ability to offer some unusual (in no small part because they are based on declaring peace, not war, on disease), much less expensive (because they come out of ancient wisdom and knowledge joining with modern intelligence, discovery, and initiative to help individuals, not out of the mass-marketing departments attached to secretive, profit and power-motivated laboratories out to âsellâ the next best thing), and far less toxic (on a whole lot of levels) solutions to our current national dilemma and disgraceâŚof too many people dealing with a chronic fear (which is its own âillnessâ) that they, and those they love, cannot AFFORD to be alive, or stay, aliveâŚin the (?) âgreatest country on Earth.â
At the top of the list of what needs to be revealed about my personal health should be probably the fact I am just past ten years, now, from having declined and refused treatment for cancer. I need to tell you about how, in this current, American, blindly-throw-Money (we donât have)-at-everything (pretending to fix it) culture, attempting to speak out publicly about being a âsurvivorâ of not undergoing cancer treatment, is seen as nothing short of blasphemy. This is because medical care, in this country, has become nothing short of a (very un-Constitutional) State religionâŚand oncology has devolved down to being the worst of its radical, terrorist sects. The self-congratulatory cancer money machine, from prevention, to diagnosis, to treatment,âŚto death, runs on perpetuating itself by inflicting constant fear. This is the epitome of sick.
I am motivated to begin to tell you about all of this on this most special day of the year for so many of US, because this part of my story has massive, but also very specific and personal implications for the future health (some of it many years distant) of our current kids, teens and young adults. I was never able to have a much-wanted family of my own due in no small part to the many missteps of American medicine (and courts improperly intervening on medical care) over the course of my lifetime. The âgiftâ that is life, itself, has been threatened for me always by way of this U.S. governmentâs negligence in never having provided for our working people having equitable access to high quality healthcare help as a civil/human right. As such, though it may not seem like much of a present right now, Iâm hoping my story and this information will prove ultimately to be a lasting gift to ALL of the American family, my American family, even after my Time in this Life is done.
Sincerely, and I hope with Loveâs Grace as the first of multiple messages,
Lise Lund VMD
12-31-2024 -New Yearâs Eve
Dear Mr. Kennedy,
The title of this proposal has been changed to ââŚHealth Help for All Americansâ this morning because, by way of listening to some people who have commented on the idea (or, in this instance, more importantly, on what they thought the idea was because of that word âhealthcareâ) here, and on FaceBook, itâs become clear âhealthcareâ is a trigger word with a whole lot of negative connotations, at this point in American history.
My own observations very much confirm this with my having had the thought many times and for a long time, that the âcareâ part has been disappearing steadily. As weâve moved evermore toward running our hospitals and medical system like the profit-driven, corporate monstrosity itâs become, it is the âcareâ part of health help thatâs become the most neglected. My realist, business-experienced mind notes that this is likely caused by the fact legitimate caring takes time and effort, but [fortunately] there is no credible way to bill for itâŚbecause Careâs giving is unconditional and absolutely freeâŚand ALWAYS will beâŚ
Most serious in this direction, is the fact medical schools are clearly making an effort to train doctors that the âcareâ part is not their realm, that they are being trained to execute a more superior, and important, position. (WHAT, pray tell, is more important, in a doctor, than caring about each and every individual patient?) And as nurses are being financially leveraged and demanded to show an increasing portfolio of academic credits in order to get, and retain, their careers, our historically most powerful force of âcaregiversâ are now being trained to believe they should abandon this fundamental part of their work, tooâin favor of âefficiency,â or, CYA against lawsuitsâjust like our doctors.
Ummmmm⌠Caring, the ability to offer it, and receive it, and the understanding of the conscious and unconscious need for a patient to receive itâŚand a true cargiver to give it is as fundamental to why we do âhealthcareâ as it gets. Care, and Caring are the bedrock on which all medical âscienceâ is based.
As we are about to begin this new year numbered 2025, itâs about time We, (all) the People remember that, Mr. KennedyâŚand never forget it again. I know you get that somewhere deep inside. Itâs why your most fervent hope is to be a part of healing this country. Itâs about time we stop letting those who worship a different god known as Money declare that to be the primary bedrock for Health, aiming all our efforts on health in Moneyâs direction. Money is not the bedrock on which health help is, or should be, built, and it never will be. This is fundamental and immutable.
You, and yours, have a Happy, and HEALTHY, New Year Mr. Kennedy (Bobby, -if I may?).
Sincerely,
Lise Lund VMD (or just Lise, perhaps?âIt rhymes with âpeaceâ)
01-08-2025
Dear Mr. Kennedy,
This comes to you from a place of profound concern for the health of every individual in this nation. Please accept the following as my unique perspective on the overall medical system serving this country.
Americans have been taught to have a blind faith in our healthcare, that is, sadly, no longer warranted. For a very long time, this countryâs magnates of corporate medicine, along with the entirety of health insurance have increasingly prioritized profits being paid to already-wealthy people (e.g. CFOs, CEOs, upper administrative personnel in management and business offices, shareholders, etc.) who are not sick or injured, over medical dollars being used to create an optimum outcome and thus, hopefully, a sustained good health future for patients who are currently suffering ill-health. These are unacceptable priorities for a health help system.
As you well know, we grow more unhealthy as a nation with each passing year. We have a declining quality of life as well as length of life. I contend, and will use my own health history to illustrate, a profit-driven health help system and declining health are cause and effect. We have an inherent conflict of interest, and a travesty of prioritization because of it. Medical education via mass media marketing and advertising means mass mis-education. Real preventive practices are available to anyone for the choosingâe.g. exercise, better dietary selections, attention to emotional need, time management so as to include adequate sleep and restâthese last being two distinct and different needs, whether this is recognized generally or not. In other words, the most important fundamentals of prevention are broad-based, and do not come in pill form, or out of the end of a hypodermic needle.
In addition to being misled about what actually constitutes good prevention, we have been lied to, in various ways, about alternative, less expensive, and usually far less toxic and damaging treatment modalitiesâincluding when to say, âNOââTen years ago I declined cancer treatment for a cancer diagnosis I was convinced was not valid. If my deep concerns about this somewhat unnerving episode come across as irate at times, I do apologize, but given our current situation, perhaps my intermittent outrage and frustration are justified.
So, for the sake of this nation and all of its people, especially our children, I see a need to begin by telling you some specifics about my experiences with the cancer treatment system in this country. I do this from the knowledge, background information, and perspective of:
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a licensed and practicing medical doctor
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a highly trained and vastly experienced woman biological scientist with a sub-specialty in criminal investigations and the judicial process because of, and as a part of, my work in medicine
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a patient directed to the cancer system as the first priority in response to my presenting complaints, in February 2014, of:
severe, chronic (constant, with varying intensity, for then just over four yearsâ duration) pain in my right(R) leg and lower back (which intermittently, and with increasing frequency over time, became intense to the point of life-threatening)
chronic debilitating pain in my left(L) ankle
steadily decreasing ability to walk or stand for more than a few moments
and a numbing neuropathy in my left(L) hand which was resolving
Again, I must emphasize, with these symptoms, this set of clues, I was sent to an oncologist/hematologist for investigation of what might be the underlying cause of my suffering. I hope that specialty as a first consult for such a case sounds peculiar to you, because it should.
Despite enormous monetary investment and tens of thousands of dedicated people doing the actual hands-on work, marketing âhealthâ as if it is a capitalist commodity, able to be mass-produced and offered for sale, is failing US. [Case, Anne and Angus Deaton. Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism. Princeton University Press, 2020]
The following additional details from my individual case story are very pertinent to illustrating several of the massive general problems with our overall medical system:
In January of 2010, in the course of a routine exam, I was kicked by a dangerous horse being housed by incompetent handlers running a rescue. The blow from this kick landed against my lower back and over my R hip and buttock and launched me 10-15 feet across the barn. I got up and walked away from the incident, but I began to have ever-increasing pain. For financial reasons (felony theft and fraud committed against me), I was not able to seek medical attention.
Finally, in 2014, I acquired health insurance coverage again, and was able to see a doctor. I was charted as suffering from âdegenerative arthritis of lumbar spine, cervical neuropathy, fatigue.â No further explanations/suggestions for treatment were offered, but routine, preliminary blood tests had been ordered, so I assumed Iâd receive the doctorâs full assessment, explanation, and direction once those results became available.
At 11pm that same night, I received a phone message from the doctorâs office telling me he had ordered an additional, special blood test. They were advising I should check with my insurance about whether or not that test was covered. It was. I looked up the reason for that particular test. It was used in the diagnosis of multiple myelomaâa bone marrow cancer. I was distressed, to say the least, but also became suspicious about why on earth my presenting complaints of protracted unbearable orthopedic pain following a traumatic orthopedic injury event was being viewed as a likely oncologic condition.
The special test came back several days later with âIgA kappa gammopathy ââpresentââ as its resultâno numbers, no range of normal/abnormal, no explanation of the test, just âpresent.â
In addition to the excruciating pain I was in day and night, I began to experience that special form of terror known only to people who have been told, âYou have cancer.ââŚ
Until next time, Mr. Kennedy,
Lise Lund VMD