Names of the Dead

We lost Paula, my sister, 5 years ago to a heart attack. She was at her desk at work. She had just turned 49 a week before. Paula was a college graduate and had a professional job. She was the director for 3 assisted living homes in her community. Her employers refused to offer health insurance. (Ironically they were doctors.) She debated weather to pay her mortgage or buy health insurance, of course she opted to put a roof over her and her children. She had chronic pain in her abdomen for about 5 years. She had trouble sleeping and whenever she'd exert herself the pain would be extremely severe. One evening the pain was so bad (1year before she died) she went to the emergency room and was told she had acid reflux and she was sent home. In April of 04 she went back to the emergency room and they decided to take out her gall bladder, never once doing a heart check or a family history check. (We have a high prevalence of heart disease in our family.) That same year in September of 04 was when we lost her. I was able to obtain her medical records and was shocked at the lack of care she received when she went to the emergency room but then she didn't have health insurance. The Medical Examiner did an autopsy at our request and her heart was severely enlarged and her arteries had a lot of blockage. It was so obvious that she had heart disease. Her symptoms that they said were acid reflux were actually angina attacks that mirror the symptoms of acid reflux. When she went for her post op from her gall bladder surgery she stated that the pain was the same as before and her doctor told her lose weight and take the acid reflux medication. It was extremely frustrating for her because she was such an active person and she had such pain when she did any kind of physical activity so it was next to impossible for her to exercise and the doctor that cared for her was made her feel very inferior. My opinion is that she didn't have health insurance she was treated as a 2nd class citizen. This tragedy has a major trickle down effect. She was a single mother and there wasn't a father for the children that could provide any kind of support. Luckily we have a strong family connection that could care for the children but we didn't live in the same town so it made it very difficult but we didn't want to uproot her children. It was so sad to see my mother and father lose their oldest child. It was so sad to see my niece and nephew lose their mother. And my brothers and me are so sad to have lost our sister. All for the simple fact that we do not have health care for our citizens. My sister's employer now offers health insurance. The county that licenses the the homes would not renew their license unless they provide health care to their employees. One bight spot in this tragedy. Thank you, Karen Barnes Apple Valley, MN