Sigh....

November 14, 2005

Hi-

I need some advice. Again. Because

of a familial genetic problem, I am alas on my third bout with a different form

of cancer. I’m becoming an old hat at this. The problem once again

is that the hospital insists that it cannot “do vegan” and that I

cannot provide vegan broth, jello, etc., etc. (no outside food). So I

usually end up eating nothing until I go home, which pisses off the nurses and

my doctor, etc. Before I go in for THIS surgery, I want to figure out a

way to resolve this. Any ideas – laws – etc. that may help

me?

Cynthia

November 14, 2005

Hi Cynthia,

I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. The last thing you need is to

be disrespected about your veganism!!!

The examples you give suggets that the foods you will need must be liquids

(more or less). Is this right?

When I was in a hospital having my son, the staff was clueless but tried to

accomodate me. It turned out that many of the vegetarian meals were vegan.

If your diet isn't really limited, that might be the case. They gave me a

lot of bread and peanut butter. Eek. Is the hospital used to accomodating

vegetarians? Maybe you could look through their meal plans and find out

which of the staple items are accidentally vegan? Maybe writing a letter

would help them to respect your position and better understand that they are

certain to have other patients with similar needs (e.g., people who follow a

kosher diet)?

Sorry if this isn't terribly helpful. It's too bad that you need to worry

about such an easily remedied problem! If the staff isn't going to budge,

what is going to stop visitors from bringing food to you? That sounds a

saner approach to me than going without, though I also like the Gandhi

nature of your strike. You could put signs on the doors " Hungry patient.

This hospital refuses to accomodate vegan patients. " That could get covered

by the media! That might change their tune. You'd think you were

expecting them to offer you prohibitively expensive gourmet meals with hard

to find ingredients!

Best wishes,

Sheri

> " Cynthia Gadarian " <cgadarian

>

> Sigh....

>Sun, 13 Nov 2005 20:10:31 -0500

>

> Hi-

>

>I need some advice. Again. Because of a familial genetic problem, I am

>alas on my third bout with a different form of cancer. I'm becoming an old

>hat at this. The problem once again is that the hospital insists that it

>cannot " do vegan " and that I cannot provide vegan broth, jello, etc., etc.

>(no outside food). So I usually end up eating nothing until I go home,

>which pisses off the nurses and my doctor, etc. Before I go in for THIS

>surgery, I want to figure out a way to resolve this. Any ideas - laws -

>etc. that may help me?

>

>Cynthia

>

><< image001.jpg >>

November 14, 2005

Hi Cynthia

Couldn't you claim to be Hindu, Hare Krishna or Jain? Then they would

surely have to respect veganism as part of your religion....

BB

Peter

On 14/11/05, Cynthia Gadarian <cgadarian wrote:

Hi-

I need some advice. Again. Because

of a familial genetic problem, I am alas on my third bout with a different form

of cancer. I'm becoming an old hat at this. The problem once again

is that the hospital insists that it cannot "do vegan" and that I

cannot provide vegan broth, jello, etc., etc. (no outside food). So I

usually end up eating nothing until I go home, which pisses off the nurses and

my doctor, etc. Before I go in for THIS surgery, I want to figure out a

way to resolve this. Any ideas – laws – etc. that may help

me?

Cynthia

November 14, 2005

Hi,

I have dealt with this one a few times, being in hospital and needing vegan food

that is.

Firstly they tried to say I needed to see a dietitian before I could have vegan

food.

Then I discovered this thing called the multicultural menu. It has a lot of

vegan options on

it as it caters to the religious hindu and the muslim (muslims are required to

eat

vegetarian food where halal is unavailable as vegetarian food is automatically

halal). Once

they realised they actually had a menu they were offering to the minority

religions of the

north east they realised they had to offer it to me! You don't have to pretend

to be another

religion as in any case some christian sects are vegetarian!

In the hospital I go to each patient is encouraged to complete a menu card

request for

every day they are in hospital which determines the food the the person

occupying that

bed will have the following day. So the veggies have to be aware they may not

have

anything available for them the first day they are in hospital.

I live in England UK and go to a public NHS hospital. I assume all hospitals

vary.

I would strongly advise you to look into this from all angles and not assume you

were

given the correct answer when you were told they cannot do vegan. Who actually

told you

this? I would be inclined to involve a third party too, do you have a home

doctor or a

minister or someome who could speak for you or write a letter demanding they

feed you? I

don't wish to seem to disempower you but it looks like the person who said they

could not

do vegan needs a good telling off. maybe they don't know what vegan is. For

certain you

should not be forced to not eat while there, that will hinder your recovery.

Please come

back soon and tell us what happened.

Herb,

Tyneside,

UK

-- In , Peter Kebbell <metalscarab@g...> wrote:

>

> Hi Cynthia

>

> Couldn't you claim to be Hindu, Hare Krishna or Jain? Then they would surely

> have to respect veganism as part of your religion....

>

> BB

> Peter

>

> On 14/11/05, Cynthia Gadarian <cgadarian@a...> wrote:

> >

> > Hi-

> >

> > I need some advice. Again. Because of a familial genetic problem, I am

> > alas on my third bout with a different form of cancer. I'm becoming an old

> > hat at this. The problem once again is that the hospital insists that it

> > cannot " do vegan " and that I cannot provide vegan broth, jello, etc., etc.

> > (no outside food). So I usually end up eating nothing until I go home, which

> > pisses off the nurses and my doctor, etc. Before I go in for THIS surgery, I

> > want to figure out a way to resolve this. Any ideas – laws – etc. that may

> > help me?

> >

> > Cynthia

> >

>

November 14, 2005

Cynthia,

I don`t know if you are in the U.K., but if you are , the following link may be of interest..............

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/vegan/nil1.htm

The Valley Vegan.......................

Things You didn`t know about Wales No.14

Antidisestablishmentarianism started in WalesCynthia Gadarian <cgadarian wrote:

Hi-

I need some advice. Again. Because of a familial genetic problem, I am alas on my third bout with a different form of cancer. I’m becoming an old hat at this. The problem once again is that the hospital insists that it cannot “do vegan” and that I cannot provide vegan broth, jello, etc., etc. (no outside food). So I usually end up eating nothing until I go home, which pisses off the nurses and my doctor, etc. Before I go in for THIS surgery, I want to figure out a way to resolve this. Any ideas – laws – etc. that may help me?

Cynthia

Peter H

To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre.

November 23, 2005

Thanks very much for the advice on Hindu, Moslem and Kosher diets.

On another topic:

In my long life, I have taught at many schools. I currently teach at a very

large public high school in Maryland.

I have NEVER had this situation before. Our school is used for training

little baby Secret Service Agents to become big boys and girls Secret

Service Agents. Out of nowhere, a bunch of them will be in the halls,

standing around speaking into their shirts and wearing headphones. We are

instructed to ignore them. However, when one of these " training " events

goes down, it is hard not to trip OVER them, since there are so many of

them. I can just see the headline now: " Suspiciously large Vegan

schoolteacher wrestled to the ground by fledgling Secret Service trainees

for engaging in 'Trainee mooning' " .

Cynthia

On

Behalf Of sheri lucas

Monday, November 14, 2005 1:19 AM

RE: Sigh....