This society has as it's immediate goals:

Since starting SPCP, more experience has been acquired in the American health care system. This defective system has made the United States number one in the world in health costs, yet only 37th in health care quality results. Change is necessary. It is not only Florida, which has a horrible health care system, but the entire United States.

Why has this come to be? It has occurred because the same environment, which allowed Enron to occur is running our Health Care System: corrupt or amoral corporations and individuals are putting individual profits over public good. Who are these individuals? They are Insurance Corporations, Health Care Corporations, Drug and Pharmaceutical Corporations and Professional Medical Groups, who put their own interests above that of the public good [AMA is only one example].

For this reason, the founder of SPCP has come to the conclusion of many more experienced patient rights' activists, the entire system must be changed. For this reason, I recommend viewing the Citizen for Medical Safety petition and signing it.

Http://petitiononline.com/CMS/petition.html (This organization's home page address: http://www.citizens-for-medical-safety.com). The life, you save many be your own.

The trend (through inadequate press coverage) puts into mind that malpractice suits are causing a skyrocketing insurance cost crisis. This is not born out by the facts. Please view Public Citizen's findings on malpractice. It states that it is the failure of the physicians themselves to weed out their own black sheep! Visit: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1222.

Laws are not being enforced, which could help our system (The case of Zoe illustrates this). Health care and enforcement thereof must be changed to provide us with the kind of health care that we, Americans and America's guests, deserve. Join us in this campaign for responsibility in our health care system. The petition is a start. Contact us, if you want to sign but are afraid to put your name on this public petition.

Also ask your newspaper and TV stations just why they are not reporting about these patients' rights movements? Are they lackeys of the corporations or are they afraid to report movements in the interest of your health? --Donja Quinote 10/25/02

1. Get the Wrongful Death Act repealed. This is the major detriment to receiving responsible medical treatment. People must be made aware of this law and what it means to them. Elderly patients (all Medicare patients) are especially endangered by this. Legal "free kills" appear to be made to hide medical mistakes. A live patient might sue, but not a dead one.

2. Force the agencies, who are supposed to protect us citizens to do their job. This includes the Peer Review Organization (Florida Medical Quality Assurance, Inc. [FMQAI], the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), Medicare Florida which is currently First Coast Service Options, Inc. (FCSO - a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield) and CMS's - Center for Medicare Services- (former HCFA's) Region IV office in Atlanta.

3. Help patients and their loved ones to become aware of the pitfalls of the system and aid in avoiding them. (This includes taking a more natural approach to our health as opposed to the current American pharmaceutical/operational direction. American medicine appears to treat symptoms as opposed to the cause. This will never lead to true healing, since the basis of the ailment is never addressed. Treating symptoms with drugs and operations only causes more side-effects resulting in ever spiraling health costs).

4. Provide information and support to families of stroke victims.

5. Help victims of malpractice and negligence to get timely legal aid.

6. Work to get more transparency in the health laws. Patient's rights is no more than lip fare today in Florida.

• a. Adverse incidents (Code 15 incidents) should be public information. The public has a right to know about every failure. The principal behind the secrecy: the perpetrators would be more willing to come forward if the information is not public has not been validated. The secrecy allows for them to hide it easier.

• b. Complainants should be given the option of whether they want their names made public. Here secrecy is used to keep a group of people from getting together and assuring accountability from the health care supervisors, who endanger everyone's health by not diligently prosecuting negligent health care providers.

7. Reduce health costs by assuring accurate accountability and proper treatment. Medicare as is currently practiced is eating up public funds and at the same time harming the patients! Secret payments are being made on at times known inaccurate if not even fraudulent medical records.

Updated October 25, 2002