Progress: Marie-Claude Belzile’s Petition Gets Traction in Québec’s National Assembly

Thanks to the pioneering work of Québec advocate Marie-Claude Belzile of Tout aussi femme (who is also a member of our Council of International Advocates), the main online French-English translation database for Québec, Grand dictionnaire terminologique, has included “mastectomie à fini plat” (the French analogue of aesthetic flat closure) since mid-2020. And now, her petition (sponsored by Assembly member Christine Labrie of Québec solidaire) to ensure women in the province receive full information about all of their reconstructive options is getting major traction in the Québec National Assembly!

In Marie-Claude’s words, she created the petition last Spring to ensure women facing breast cancer surgery in Québec province:

“… who choose flat reconstruction after a mastectomy and the transparency of the information given to women to make a free choice and enlightened about post mastectomy surgery”

Marie-Claude Belzile (Québec), Tout aussi femme

The Ministry of Social & Health Services wrote a letter of support for Marie-Claude’s petition, agreeing that full disclosure of all reconstructive options including aesthetic flat closure is a critical component of informed consent for breast cancer patients facing surgery. The letter will be forwarded to the Québec College of Medicine a (the main professional society of physicians in the province) and to the Breast Cancer Committee of the Québec Oncology Program (the government agency which guides, coordinates and evaluates government action aimed at reducing the burden of cancer in Québec).

#aestheticflatclosure

#mastectomieafiniplat

#putflatonthemenu

#toutaussifemme

Published by Not Putting on a Shirt

Founder of Not Putting on a Shirt, a mastectomy patients' rights organization that advocates for optimal surgical outcomes for patients going flat.

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