Pallone Holding Up Legislation For Kids With Head Injuries
By Art Gallagher
Frank Pallone is preventing H. Con Res. 198, a resolution recognizing Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury as the leading cause of death and disability in the United States for children and young adults from birth until 25 years of age and endorsing the National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan to develop a seamless, standardized, evidence-based system of care universally accessible for all of these children, young adults, and their families, regardless of where they live in the country from being referred from the committee he chairs and getting an up or down vote from Congress, according to Patrick Donohue, father of Sarah Jane Donohue and founder of The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation.
110 members of congress from both parties have co-sponsored the resolution.
Donohue’s organization has developed a comprehensive plan for the prevention of and treatment for brain injuries among children and young adults up to the age of 25. The program would cost approximately $930 million and would be funded through several federal departments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the $787 billion dollar “stimulus” package passed last year.
Pallone refused to discuss the resolution or his reasoning for preventing a congressional vote on it, according to Donohue. Maybe Pallone doesn’t like it because ACORN is not involved or because labor unions will not be putting members to work with “prevailing wage” compensation. Or maybe it is because Donohue is a New York Republican fundraiser with close ties to former NY Governor George Pataki.
It can’t be because Pallone is suddenly a fiscal conservative. After all he wants to spend $400 million to count fish.
UPDATE: Yesterday on his facebook page Pallone had an announcement that his committee had moved a bill for veterinary care. Imagine that, pet care before pediatric brain care!
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Pallone is feeling the heat
Wait a minute.
As a conservative I don’t think the Government should be involved in this.
if this system is so great for treating Brain Injuries then Doctors will use it and patients request it without the Government shoving it down the throats of Doctors and Physicians.
I understand it is hard to say no to someone who says But its for the brain damaged Children.
Well I say no because I do not believe it is best for Brain damaged children for the government to get involved.
That is this kind of thinking that sent us down the road we are now on.
Doctors and patients should make these decisions NOT the government.
Now because you made me defend something this waste of a good suit Congressmen has done I need to call my therapist
Thanks alot ART.
Hold the prozac TR.
1) Pallone is not opposed to this legislation on idealogical grounds.
2) A significant part of the plan is infrastructure….45 brain trauma centers throughout the country.
3) Donohue argues that the federal government already spends $3 billion a year on HIV/AIDS and less than $100 million on pediatric brain injury
4) Even before
ObamaPallone Care the government has taken over much of the medical industry…NIH, Center for Disease Control, FDA.I agree with you philosophically, but practically, the private sector has long been removed from this sector of the medical industry. Even research is primarily government funded.
Your argument, while sound philosophically, is analogous to arguing that the private sector should build and maintain roads, including the location of those roads.
Makes you think about how much freedom we have already lost to the creeping socialist machine and haven’t noticed.
First off I don’t agree it is analogous to the government building roads. They should build infrastructure. I don’t have the same personal relationship with the civil engineer that builds my roads as i do with my physician. Government should be involved in broad public health issues such as sanitaion and innoculation as that protects broad swaths of humanity.
Treatment options for particular conditions however should not be the province of the Government. The fact that they are already too involved so we should encourage them to be more involved is not a logical argument.
This all being said I know this is not the reason Pallone has held this up because obviously his objection is not his philosophy of small government. makes you wonder what the rat is up to. That is the real story.
TR and Art,
Thank you for taking the time to discuss this matter. I think if you read two letters it will answer many of your issues and concerns about what exactly we are doing at The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation as well as why Congressman Frank Pallone is holding up this resolution.
Do me a big favor and take a few minutes to read my recent letter to Sarah Jane when she turned five years old which gives a pretty good summary of what and why we are doing: http://www.TheBrainProject.org/lettertosarahjane.php and then take a few minutes and read this letter to Rep. Pallone written by many of the leading experts (non-government experts) from across the country dealing with the #1 leading cause of death and disability for American youth: brain injury: http://www.TheBrainProject.org/lettertopallone.php
After reading both letters, please post your questions or comments and I would be delighted to answer them.
All the best,
Patrick
TR: re: analogies…my point is that practical, not idealogical. Government controls both domains.
Patrick,
Thank you for participating here. More importantly, thank you for using your family tragedy to make a difference for others.
I’ve read your links…there is quite a bit of information there. Perhaps I missed it, but I can not find a definitive reason that Pallone is opposing your resolution. I can speculate. Do you know his definitive reasoning?
Art,
Thank you for your kind words, but most importantly, please keep the prayers coming for Sarah Jane and the millions of children like her.
There are a couple of major reasons we have been told Rep. Frank Pallone is holding this measure from an up-or-down vote:
1. The PABI Plan was written and created by the leading experts in the private sector along with families and advocates – not by the government
2. The current administration seems unwilling to commit any significant funding towards American children with brain injuries even though it is leading cause of death and disability for our youth (i.e., there are about 35-40,000 new cases of HIV/AIDS each year with over $3 BILLION in federal research while millions of American youth suffer a brain injuries EVERY YEAR and the federal government devotes less than $100 MILLION towards kids with pediatric acquired brain injury.