I am writing in response to a letter published last Sunday (“Maine paid family leave bill should include fraud deterrent,” May 21). While pushing the idea of ensuring that medical leave time is used appropriately, the author equates the flow of money “from those who are well to those who are unwell” with “from those who are responsible to those who are irresponsible.”

Wow.

This means getting a serious medical diagnosis, requiring corrective surgery or needing cancer treatment equates with being “irresponsible.” Or birthing a baby with significant medical and care needs. Or needing a hip replaced, which was my own predicament at the age of 45. Fortunately, I had a job that allowed accrued time off for such occurrences, and I used every minute of that necessary time off well, so I could return to my job in due course. I shudder to think what would have been my fate had it been otherwise. We were also allowed to donate time to a bank for other employees with unmet needs.

As an employee of a hospital, I often had patients who were in for workups they had not anticipated: newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis in a middle-aged man, with no time off for medical issues from his small company. He lost a week’s wages into the bargain.

Make this bill happen however it needs to be done, but let’s stop labeling anyone who has no control over when a medical crisis hits.

Isabel Higgins
Standish