Posted on 06/05/2008 5:00:58 AM PDT by Between the Lines
SALEM, Oregon, June 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lung cancer patient, Barbara Wagner, was recently notified that her oncologist-prescribed medication that would slow the growth of cancer would not be covered by the Oregon Health Plan; the plan, however, she was informed, would cover doctor-assisted suicide should she wish to kill herself.
"Treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life, or change the course of this disease, is not a covered benefit of the Oregon Health Plan," read the letter notifying Wagner of the health plan's decision.
Wagner says she was shocked by the decision. "To say to someone, we'll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it's cruel," she said. "I get angry. Who do they think they are?"
This past Monday morning, however, Wagner had reason to rejoice. A representative from the company that manufactures the treatment called the cancer patient to say they would give her the medication for free.
"I am just so thrilled," she said. "I am so relieved and so happy."
Dr. Walter Shaffer, medical director of the state Division of Medical Assistance Programs, which administers the Oregon Health Plan, attempted to defend the health plan's decision. "We can't cover everything for everyone," he said. "We try to come up with polices that provide the most good for the most people." Shaffer then addressed a priority list that had been developed to ration health care. "There's some desire on the part of the framers of this list to not cover treatments that are futile," he said, "or where the potential benefit to the patient is minimal in relation to the expense of providing the care."
According to an AP story on Wagner's case, local oncologists in Oregon have said that, despite the Health Services Commission's assertion that they were just clarifying policies already in place, healthcare practitioners have observed a sizable shift in policy in the way recurrent cancer is treated in the state. Increasingly, say local oncologists, sufferers of recurrent cancer are not receiving coverage for chemotherapy. They are always, however, eligible for state-funded assisted suicide.
Wesley J. Smith, a prominent conservative bioethicist, says that he was not surprised by the events.
"We have been warning for years that this was a possibility in Oregon. Medicaid is rationed, meaning that some treatments are not covered. But assisted suicide is always covered. And now, Barbara Wagner was faced with that very scenario."
Smith also mentioned a similar circumstance that had occurred in the past: "This isn't the first time this has happened either. A few years ago a patient who needed a double organ transplant was denied the treatment but would have been eligible for state-financed assisted suicide."
So, we've finally arrived, and not in Kansas, Toto.
In the very big picture, perhaps the only thing that can save us from ourselves...is a very bitter medicine that we won't want to take...
All you need to nkow about "free" healthcare.
Disgusting, but may explain why Romney fled
his own ROmneyCARE, from Mass. to California.
I’m sure it costs way more to treat a cancer patient. I imagine with so many people complaining about medical costs, that this factored in greatly in their decision. I’m not sure what should be done...keep people alive and spread the costs out to everyone, or try and control costs?
LOL!
I’ll bet you’re right.
Our divisional vice president left to be the CEO there. He retired not long ago.
It’s a good company.
It's all the same as Kevorkian care. It's cheaper and easier to kill than it is to preserve life.
God have mercy on this country.
Great PR.
Keep the government the hell out of health care.
Whenever “the public” picks up the tab, “the public” gets to impose their will on others.
In the most critical issues of life and death, I do NOT trust a bureaucracy.
Let the free market run healthcare. Cut out property taxes for those who are retired and living on a fixed income so that they'll have more money for healthcare.
But under no circumstances do we implement socialized medicine and then decide to kill people because it is saving “the public” some money.
life
Oregon endorses the “Master Race” policy!
“We can’t cover everything for everyone,” he said. “We try to come up with polices that provide the most good for the most people.” Shaffer then addressed a priority list that had been developed to ration health care. “There’s some desire on the part of the framers of this list to not cover treatments that are futile,” he said, “or where the potential benefit to the patient is minimal in relation to the expense of providing the care.”
I would think that treatment that results in death is "futile", or at least "not beneficial to the patient" who wants to actually live.
At least she still has a choice -- they aren't forcing her to take the death pills, she can still just suffer a slow, painful, agonizing death instead.
Socialized medicine at its finest.
Great PR, but after the hoopla, the policy remains.
My health policy will pay 90K for a quad bypass, but not $28. a month for EDTA to keep my arteries clear. Pretty stupid isn’t it.
Once the state becomes responsible for all health care expenses, assisted suicide will stop being an option and start being a duty.
I have to wonder just how much having a politically incorrect smokers disease factored into the decision.
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