Lifetime Applauds Passage of Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act

Lifetime Television Thursday was celebrating the House's passage Thursday of the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act.

The women’s-targeted cable network collected more than 22 million signatures on an online petition supporting the legislation, which would end so-called drive-through mastectomies, where women are required to leave the hospital soon after surgery.

Lifetime said it has been working on getting the law passed for the past dozen years, including airing spots with Desperate Housewives’ Marcia Cross urging the change in hospital policy.

The effort is part of the network's Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign.

Meredith Wagner, executive vice president of public affairs at Lifetime, praised the House move, then urged the Senate to follow suit.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.