Mr. and Mrs. Republican: A lawmaker's response to their hospital acquired infection

Leo and Rita Pepino were married for almost 60 years. "She was my life," Leo says.

Rita died from bone cancer in 2005, after battling two other cancers. She was affectionately known in New Hampshire as "Mrs. Republican" for her political activism. Her husband Leo was the former Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

Rita had acquired several painful infections while in the hospital, getting sicker from the place that was supposed to make her well, Leo said.

"Every time she went to the hospital, she always got an infection," he said. He got one, too, years ago from a different hospital when he had back surgery.

Also a Republican, he kept his word after Rita died, helping to marshal through a new law requiring New Hampshire hospitals to report to the state for public release their rates for the three most serious hospital-acquired infections.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed the bill into law in 2006, "in memory of Rita." However, public reporting has lagged: the state still does not publish the rates of individual hospitals' infections.

A year ago, Leo vowed at age 81 to run again for the seat he lost last time around to make sure consumers get information to compare hospital infection rates. It's for Rita, he said.

Advice to political activists: Be vigilant to ensure your new patient safety laws are implemented faithfully after they become law.

Read another story about Massachusetts'new law on reporting hospital acquired infections.

Thanks to Helen Haskell, and Nancy West for the source article in the New Hampshire Sunday News of August 10, 2008.

Take heart: Compassionate care at the end of life

Jay's story:
Nine years ago, my wife lost her battle with cancer. She also endured harsh, unfeeling treatment at work. The week we learned that additional treatment would not prolong her life, she came home in tears due to a nasty comment from a co-worker.

The next day, I accompanied my wife to her office and asked the supervisor for permission to address those co-workers. The supervisor was clueless about what had been going on. I said, "My name is Jay and I’m Jena's husband. I love her with all my heart, but we found out this week she is dying and there is nothing more that can be done.” The silence was deafening. I took my wife's hand, told her I loved her and said if she didn't want to work there anymore, she could come home so I could take care of her. With tears in her eyes, she replied, "Let's go."

By the time we arrived home, our answering machine was full of kind messages from her co-workers. The supervisor came by a week later to see how she was doing and informed us that three employees had been fired for "creating a hostile work environment."

My wife died in my arms six weeks later. She had forgiven them and so have I. To all the survivors out there, take heart. Every day that goes by will give you a little more strength to get through.

Advice to cancer patients facing tough choices: Follow love.

Read another story of another tough choice at the end of life. Jay's letter to Annie's Mailbox appeared in today's Boston Globe.

He’s fulfilling a promise: Breast cancer misdiagnosis

Bill realized on their first date that he was looking at his future wife. After their second date he and Maureen moved in together and never parted. Eventually they had two sons, Erik and Ryan. Happily living together, active in their church and well-loved in their community, they were your average working-class American couple, Bill says.

In late 1994, Maureen found a small lump in her left breast while performing self-examination. Over the next two and a half years, three different doctors told Maureen she had absolutely nothing to worry about, that the lumps in her breast were harmless fibroid cysts. Once her cancer was finally diagnosed, she lived only one year, undergoing radical mastectomies, multiple surgeries, chemotherapies and stem-cell replacement therapy.

Maureen Thiel passed away at 43 due to a delayed diagnosis of breast cancer. She left behind a husband and two young sons. Maureen's story is a tragically shocking case of a deadly misdiagnosis that clearly demonstrates the need for a Universal Standard of Care for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of breast lumps.

According to he Universal Standard, a biopsy would have been performed on Maureen within a month after she first found a lump. If she had received an earlier biopsy, there is a good chance she would still be alive today, a good chance her devoted husband, Bill, would still have a wife, a good chance their two sons, Erik and Ryan, would still have a mom.

Maureen's Mission is the fulfillment of a promise a husband made to his dying wife.

Advice: Become an advocate, as Bill Thiel has.

Read another of our breast cancer stories, or the source and web site of the nonprofit organization, Maureen’s Mission.