Proposed Laws Require Workplace Accommodations for Pregnant Women

The Kennebec Journal reported today that two bills have been introduced in the Maine legislature that seek to support pregnant women on the job. According to the article, the first, LD 830,

would require employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant women, such as allowing them to sit periodically even if they normally stand all day, or let them carry a water bottle, even if company policy prohibits it.

The second bill, LD 777 would permit employees who are breastfeeding to file a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission if their employer doesn't provide a suitable space for them to express milk. Employers already are required to provide a clean, private place for nursing mothers to express milk; making failure to do so a human rights violation would be new.

These bills have the support of the ACLU, women's groups, and pro-life groups, but others find the use of "reasonable accommodation" language problematic, saying that these bills would put pregnancy in the same legal class as disability:

James Erwin, an attorney [for] insurance company Unum, opposed [LD 830], say[s], “Requiring employers to accommodate the effects of ordinary pregnancies as if they were disabilities, when the law says they are not, adds an unnecessary and duplicative protection that will create confusion and, most certainly, litigation.”

Read the article, "Pair of bills would require allowances for new mothers in the workplace."

Medical Marijuana Patients Protest in Maine

Ability Maine's Mike Reynolds covers the patient protests in Hallowell and Augusta of the state's failure to warn patients that the medical marijuana dispensary, The Wellness Connection of Maine, was under investigation for tainted by mold and pesticide.

According to Reynolds' article

The state's month-long investigation of the WCM, which has four dispensaries in Maine, revealed more than 20 violations of regulations regarding the cultivation of medical marijuana. Most of the violations involved the use of pesticides and fungicides to kill mold on the plants. During the course of the investigation, the state allowed patients to continue to purchase the tainted product.

To read the complete story, read "Patients Protest State's Handling of Medical Marijuana Investigation" at Ability Maine.

Cover Maine Now! Supporting Health Care, Economic Vitality, and Jobs in Maine

A coalition of dozens of health, civil rights, labor, and other organizations have come together to support the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Maine. Proponents say this step will stimulate $350 million in economic activity and create 3,100 jobs in Maine, as well as providing health care coverage to up to 69,500 Mainers who are currently uninsured.

In an email to a disability group in Maine, Jennifer Lunden explained what's at stake and how Mainers can get involved:

A new coalition of concerned businesses called Cover Maine Now! has been working to bring new federal funds to Maine to provide healthcare coverage to tens of thousands of uninsured Mainers. My agency, the Center for Creative Healing, is a member of this important coalition fighting for health justice.

You can help us out by signing this new petition which will go to your state legislators. Accepting these federal funds will save lives and save money. It's a win/win! 

I am so appreciative of your help last year fighting devastating cuts to MaineCare. This is an opportunity to not only restore funding, but to increase it. Thank you for taking action!

The petition, which can be signed and sent from the Cover Maine Now! website, is short and simple. It says

Maine Legislature: Save lives and save money by covering more Mainers!  

Accepting the federal dollars that have already been set aside to cover Maine’s uninsured will benefit all Maine people and boost Maine’s economy.

• More Mainers will have health insurance. 
• Health care costs will go down. 
• More lives will be saved and people will be healthier. 
• Maine’s economy will grow.

I call on you to accept the federal funds set aside for Maine to provide health coverage to more than 69,500 Mainers and save taxpayer dollars by fully expanding MaineCare.

To learn more about this bill intended to bring more money into the state for health care and healthcare-related jobs, visit Cover Maine Now! You'll find fact sheets, media releases, and the petition mentioned above, and other information.

Worldwide Lyme Disease Awareness Protest

Lyme disease activists from around the world are coordinating a day of activism to bring attention to Lyme disease on May 10 and 11, 2013. Activists list six goals for the protests:

According to the website worldwide patients are raising awareness and protesting to highlight the need for:

1. Recognition that Lyme disease/borreliosis, and other tick-borne infections, such as Babesia, Bartonella, Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, are serious, and sometimes fatal illnesses.  

2. Awareness of the fact that the transmission of tick-borne pathogens, such as borrelia, babesia, rickettsia, via blood transfusion is of global concern. 

3. Agreement that Lyme disease/borreliosis should be listed as a notifiable infection. Notifiable status will aid in ensuring that the incidence and spread of this disease are monitored, a necessary precursor to determining the human suffering and socioeconomic impact of the disease. 

4. Education of the healthcare sector regarding the accurate diagnosis of Lyme, which in some cases may be limited to clinical presentation due to limitations of serological testing. 

* Education should ensure all doctors are familiar with the CDC caution pertaining to criteria for blood tests for Lyme: “This surveillance case definition was developed for national reporting of Lyme disease; it is NOT appropriate for clinical diagnosis. . . Surveillance case definitions are created for the purpose of standardization, not patient care.” * Education that Lyme should be included as a differential diagnosis when considering other illnesses that are also reliant on subjective clinical presentation, or have no known cause. This includes, but is not limited to: Motor Neurone Disease (MND) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) ; Multiple Sclerosis ; Alzheimer’s; Parkinson’s disease; Sarcoidosis. 

5. Education of the healthcare sector regarding affordable and effective treatment of both acute and chronic Lyme and other tick-borne infections. This includes the need to update the outdated treatment guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and to take into account the treatment methods of other Societies such as: The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) and the German Borreliosis Society (Deutsche Borreliose-Gesellschaft : DBG) 

6. Funding for research into tick-borne diseases. Including: Funding for medical research into accurate Lyme testing and treatment ; Funding for research into vectors and reservoir hosts to determine what diseases they may carry and transmit. 

In Maine, the protest will take place on May 11 at Monument Square, Portland. Angela Rice is coordinating the Lyme disease protest in Maine. Participants are encouraged to hand out brochures and tick kits, hang lime green ribbons, sign petitions, and to take part in a letter-writing campaign.

More information about how Mainers can get involved is available at the protest website or on the Facebook planning page. Lyme activists and allies from other states or countries outside the US can find out what's happening in their area at the worldwide Lyme disease awareness protest website, as well.

Traumatic Brain Injury Leads to Surprising Partnership between Two Portland Rabbis

An article in today's Jewish Daily Forward tells the tale of Rabbi Alice Goldfinger and Rabbi Akiva Herzfeld, a Reform and an Orthodox rabbi in the Portland Maine area. Goldfinger lives with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) which she sustained in 2009. The TBI ended Goldfinger's career as she knew it as the rabbi of a Reform congregation. However, Herzfeld reached across the denominational and gender divide to invite Goldfinger to lead services at his Modern Orthodox synagogue.

Both rabbis were interviewed for the article:

“It’s irregular and out of my comfort zone,” [Herzfeld] said, looking at Goldfinger. “But it was important to let her know that I was with her in her struggle to be strong and… that I was going out of my comfort zone —” 

“And that’s when he said, ‘One of us had to be uncomfortable; why should it have to be me?” Goldfinger interrupted, referring to a quote she included in her moving nomination of Herzfeld for the Forward’s America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis series, which appeared in March. 

“I tried to imagine what it would be like for me to be a female Reform rabbi. I thought, what if I were her and she was me? I would want him to ask me to lead services,” said Herzfeld, 34, who joined Shaarey Tphiloh, Maine’s oldest synagogue, five years ago. 

“Women’s issues in Orthodox Judaism are controversial,” he said bluntly, “but it was important to do this for her — for our synagogue to know that we have a rabbi coming and we will respect her, and realize that she continues to be a religious leader even if she doesn’t have the position of rabbi of a large synagogue.”

Read the rest of the article.

Not Dead Yet Reports on NEJM Article and Poll on Assisted Suicide

The disability rights organization, Not Dead Yet, just as posted on their blog that a recent New England Journal of Medicine article presented the pros and cons of assisted suicide. What is perhaps most interesting is that the NEJM website is conducting a poll. If you would like to weigh in on whether or not you support assisted suicide you can vote here on the right side of the page.

Maine Human Rights Commission Sides with Guide Dog Partner

The Portland Press Herald reported on February 25 that a Presque Isle diner accompanied by his guide dog was discriminated against at an Augusta restaurant. According to the article, "Ruling Backs Humiliated Blind Diner":

Bruce Archer . . . was seated apart from the rest of the diners . . . and "each time I went up to the buffet and everywhere I walked, there was a woman with a bucket on wheels following right behind me, mopping." . . .

Read more about the case and see a picture of Archer, along with his attorney and his Golden Retriever Seeing Eye dog, Flash, in the Portland Press Herald article.