“Put me down as a ‘no’ for killing people,” Ward said after the vote

Shame on the rest of them.

Wow! Representative Jim Ward: A real politician who actually thinks that people are more important than money. Consider my gasts flabbered![/quote]

It’s hard to rise above victim blaming but some manage – Ward being one.

J.

That’s a shocking report, nurses stealing IV drugs and refilling and reusing the syringes on patients. That is insanely reckless and irresponsible. They should be hung.
Some of the comments on that page reveal the ignorance of the public re HCV. Mention of sexual transmission which I understand is extremely rare, and lack of a cure. Not sure about the USA, but in Australia every news media has carried stories of the new DAAs and recent government scheme.

True sonix,

Having recently come out and started telling people of my situation, I am astounded at the level of ignorance that does still exist in the community. Someone I recently told who I consider well educated, with an enquiring mind commented that they had seen the announcement on the news but hadn’t taken much notice of the detail and during further discussion that they were aware of the blood to blood contact situation “but could I catch it by, say….sharing a water bottle with you?”
And they have certainly not been alone in that level of understanding. Most people are amazed when I point out that about 180M or one in forty people worldwide have HCV. All basically driven by the stigma of having it and the associated taboos around talking about it.

Hi m,

there is a lot of comment about inequity with availability of the meds which I fully agree with.

I would like to add though, another dimension from the perspective of my having been in a position to say in response to a doctor saying: “You need another 12 weeks meds on top of the 12 you are doing” – “okay”. I can afford it (generics).

This dimension is the issue of getting treated as some obligation not to get fully crook and really place a burden on the health care system.

Whether we are:

a) some rich bloke who can afford the $80,000 for the meds from Gilead,
b) some lucky joker who gets gifted the meds on a trial,
c) or like me who can afford the generics,

I think we (at least I) am obligated on my part to try to get better for my own sake, my family’s well being, and not to end up a basket case too soon and drain the health care budget.

I hope the government here in AUS sticks to its recent announcement of meeting its obligations to help people not in positions a, b, and c above meet theirs. Hope yours does too. From what I have seen on this forum, the effort people overseas seem to put into getting their health under control is commendable.

Yours

J

It’s about time that fatigue were taken seriously. I can honestly say that fatigue has been my one and only major symptom of HCV, the one I have complained about the most and the one that has been consistently played down if not outright dismissed by my doc. Fatigue has wrecked my quality of life. It has ruined my ability to socialize. In recent years even a trip away from home has seemed too daunting.

So it is good news that fatigue is finally being looked at with a view to making improvements. I don’t agree with some of what this article says but just glad that somebody is trying. I do hope that their efforts don’t turn into some kind of boot camp for the HCV-fatigued. They need to listen to the people who have felt it. It is a completely different animal to the healthy tiredness of a normal person after exertion, so you can’t extrapolate what it is like from that. Imagining that every bone in your body is made from lead might come closer.

dt