Breast cancer conference focused on rights

A new consumer measure requiring doctors and hospitals to tell breast cancer patients about their rights to reconstructive surgery was the theme of a daylong conference that drew survivors, advocates and politicians.

A panel of physicians discussed a range of treatment options and advances in the overall understanding of breast cancer, and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) vowed to continue fighting for federal research funding, especially for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Doctors, however, were riveted by advances in surgical techniques that help improve the cosmetic outcome for women after breast cancer operations.

Dr. Christine Hodyl, a breast surgeon at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, told the more than 200 people attending Friday's Long Island Breast Cancer Summit in Farmingdale that plastic surgery can begin at the time of surgery.

"We are doing different kinds of surgeries, and we work very closely with our plastic surgeons," Hodyl said.

Women on Medicaid and Medicare have been less likely than those with private insurance to undergo reconstructive surgery, said Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, whose medical group helped sponsor the summit.

Alizadeh praised New York's approval last year of a law requiring hospitals to inform patients about insurance coverage for reconstruction before they undergo a mastectomy, lymph node dissection or lumpectomy. The law, signed by former Gov. David A. Paterson, took effect in January.

The measure complements the federal Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act, also known as Janet's Law, which requires health insurance companies that cover mastectomies to also provide benefits for mastectomy-related services, including breast reconstruction. Long Island patient Janet Franquet, the 1998 law's namesake, was denied reconstructive surgery in 1997.

"This is so important. Those who have breast cancer must be notified with respect to their options," said Geri Barish, a three-time breast cancer survivor and president of 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Coalition in Hewlett.Michael Dowling, chief executive officer of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, who received a lifetime achievement award at the summit, hailed the work of doctors throughout the region who are bringing new tools and ideas to the treatment of all forms of cancer.

Dowling said cancer is a significant condition on Long Island. At his hospital system alone, 16,000 new cancer patients were treated last year; 3,000 of those patients had breast cancer. "I want to congratulate all of the cancer patients and the survivors," he said. "You represent the fragility in all of us -- and the strength in all of us. We're all potential patients of some kind or another."