The text of Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick’s Nov. 5 letter to Ron Walls, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, follows:
Dr. Walls,
As you may be aware, my constituent Dr. Amy Reed has been courageously battling an aggressive leiomyosarcoma that was spread throughout her body by a dangerous medical device known as a laparoscopic power morcellator.
This device has taken the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of women since it was allowed on the market by the Food and Drug Administration. This tragic reality hangs over this mother of six’s head every single day.
And because of this, Dr. Reed and her husband, Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, have passionately advocated for improved medical device safety to ensure no other family has to endure the same pain and heartbreak they and other have experienced.
But I write today because of a different concern raised in a Nov. 4, 2015 Boston Globe report. This report details how Dr. Reed’s husband was put under surveillance, targeted for enhanced security, and told if he did not submit to the terms ordered by Brigham that he would not be permitted to be by his wife’s side during her surgery to remove a third reoccurrence of her leiomyosarcoma.
As Dr. Reed’s and Dr. Noorchashm’s Representative in Congress, I am deeply concerned about what appears to be an effort to retaliate against their advocacy and silence their First Amendment Rights.
Dr. Reed chose Brigham because of its world-class surgery division. She knew the doctors at your hospital provided the best chance to take her one step closer to claiming victory in her battle to slay the aggressive leiomyosarcoma that is ravaging her body.
I hope the outcome of Dr. Reed’s surgery will prove to be successful, and I hope that she never has to be admitted as a patient to Brigham, or any other hospital for that matter, ever again to treat this cancer. But if she does, I hope that she and her husband are treated with dignity and respect—just as should any other family who are facing some of the darkest days in their lifetime.
Sincerely,
Mike Fitzpatrick
Congressman
