By Jim Anderson/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – A couple of bills awaiting action by the governor address health care.
One would require doctors to provide a hepatitis C screening for patients who are baby boomers – born from 1945 to 1965. This is a liver disease whose symptoms don’t appear until the patient is very sick, said State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston).
“Many people who have the disease do not know they have it, but it can be deadly, and the most important thing that has been mentioned already is that now it can be cured: Over a 90 percent cure rate with a treatment that has no side effects – very, very different from the past treatments,” she said.
Also, lawmakers passed a measure allowing families to install a camera in a nursing home to keep an eye on their loved one. The family would have to pay for it, and it could operate only with the consent of all the patients in the room. This is seen as a way to assure nursing home patients get proper care, or to provide evidence if abuse is suspected.
