On Tuesday March 5, a dozen patients, clinicians, and activists from Right Care Boston delivered six gravestones bearing the names of the six people who have died in the past few years from insulin rationing. Three of these deaths — Jesse Lutgen, Micah Fischer, and Meaghan Carter — occurred in 2018, and yet Sanofi has continued to raise their insulin prices.
After attaching the wooden gravestones to the outside of the Sanofi building, RCA members with type 1 diabetes told their personal stories of managing their chronic illness while honoring those who died because they could not afford the insulin they needed.
“Jesse Lutgen died from diabetic ketoacidosis at age 32, with his whole adult life ahead of him,” said Chris Noble, Right Care Boston member and person with type 1 diabetes. “I’m 29 years old and there are so many things I want to do with my life. I don’t want to be next.”
For more about the protest, see the press release and coverage by WBUR.