A tale of two professors and Sarah Palin on Obama's 'death panels'

Examiner ^ | 08/09/09 | Mark Tapscott

[freespirited]

 

Sooner or later, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's critics are going to realize that, while her style of speaking drives them up the wall, they are spectacularly imprudent to assume she doesn't know what she is talking about. Consider the reactions of two prominent law school professors to this statement posted by Palin on her Facebook page:

"The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Palin's reference to Obama's "death panel" inspired Prof. Harold Pollack to pen the following "have you no decency" witticism on The New Republic's health care blog: 

"To be clear, it is downright evil to establish a 'death panel' that decides who is allowed to live based on their “level of productivity in society.” Less clear is what the heck Palin or Bachmann are talking about. I can’t find the words “death panel” in any administration position paper, the stimulus package, or the House and Senate draft health reform bills. Don’t take my word for it. Read the bills."

Of course, Pollack, who is a University of Chicago professor of social service administration, could as easily have said that there could not been any genocide in the Soviet Union, China or Cambodia because Joseph Stalin, Chairman Mao, and Pol Pot never  used the term "death camp" in any official communication, either.

But another professor's reaction to Palin's statement demonstrates that Pollack's snark was too cute by half. According to Cornell University law school's William Jacobson, writing for the Legal Insurrection blog:

 

"The incoming fire has been withering, as usual. Palin is accused of becoming the 'Zombie Queen,' certifiably insane, 'clinically wrong,' and espousing a 'gruesome mix of camp and high farce.'

"These critics, however, didn't take the time to find out to what Palin was referring when she used the term 'level of productivity in society' as being the basis for determining access to medical care. If the critics, who hold themselves in the highest of intellectual esteem, had bothered to do something other than react, they would have realized that the approach to health care to which Palin was referring was none other than that espoused by key Obama health care adviser Dr. Ezekial Emanuel (brother of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel)."

 

Jacobson explains that:

"The article in which Dr. Emanuel puts forth his approach is 'Principles for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions,' published on January 31, 2009 .... While Emanuel does not use the term 'death panel,' Palin put that term in quotation marks to signify the concept of medical decisions based on the perceived societal worth of an individual, not literally a 'death panel.' And in so doing, Palin was true to Dr. Emanuel's concept of a system which considers prognosis, since its aim is to achieve complete lives. A young person with a poor prognosis has had a few life-years but lacks the potential to live a complete life.

 

"'Considering prognosis forestalls the concern the disproportionately large amounts of resources will be directed to young people with poor prognoses. When the worst-off can benefit only slightly while better-off people could benefit greatly, allocating to the better-off is often justifiable ... When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.'

 

"Put together the concepts of prognosis and age, and Dr. Emanuel's proposal reasonably could be construed as advocating the withholding of some level of medical treatment (probably not basic care, but likely expensive advanced care) to a baby born with Down Syndrome. You may not like this implication, but it is Dr. Emanuel's implication not Palin's."

 

Put another, less charitable way than Professor Jacobson chose, the analyses of Palin critics would be more likely to be taken seriously if they displayed at least a modicum of intellectual honesty.

 

[freespirited]

An improvement in the discussion, but still not entirely accurate... Zeke Emanuel has indeed proposed withholding basic care from individuals he deems unworthy of resources.

[S]ervices provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia."

[GeronL]

Ol’ Zeke says they should focus on those 15-40 if they really run low on funds

[clintonh8r]

Pollack, who is a University of Chicago professor of social services administration

From the name forward, that phrase is full of so many surprises. Not.

[B-Cause]

An improvement in the discussion, but still not entirely accurate... Zeke Emanuel has indeed proposed withholding basic care from individuals he deems unworthy of resources.

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Very well said freespirited

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Great Slide Show of ObamaCare and Images of President "the Joker/Zero"

Click Here to watch this great slide show and the video clip of Sarah Palin!

(Look what ObamaCare Will do to Seniors!)


(Look The Worst President in U.S. history (alias - THE JOKER Wants to do to Seniors)!)


Run Sarah Run!
(for president that is)

[Names Ash Housewares]

Palin nailed it.

Government health care rationing MUST be based on making such decisions. It’s life or death decisions, and any government run system MUST decide at times that people will die instead of getting further treatment.

Obama himself has said as much. Maybe just take the painkiller right?

[BigBobber]

The Dems are making a serious miscalculation if they think they can outflank Palin on the issue of care and compassion for disabled persons and the infirm.

I don’t care how many “professors of social services” they put up against her. One image of her holding Trig with that look of love and determination will blow them all out of the water.

[Sarah Barracuda]

A lot of people were not aware of what Ezekial Emmanuel has said until now. Since Sarah’s statement, more people will begin to understand what Obama’s plan is REALLY all about. Just imagine, if it is Sarah’s words that help bring down DeathCare. That is why the Dems are so damn worried, they didn’t think she would bring up Ezekial’s words, now his words are coming back to bite him in the ass

[JLS]

The ulitmate sentence is just a few sylables too nice.

Put another, less charitable way than Professor Jacobson chose, the analyses of Palin critics would be more likely to be taken seriously if they displayed at least a modicum of intellect.

Had he stopped here and not included ual honesty, he would have been more accurate.

[freespirited]

Zeke has quite a damning paper trail. If the media were doing their jobs, this latest Obamafraud would have been DOA.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Zeke has quite a damning paper trail. If the media were doing their jobs, this latest Obamafraud would have been DOA.

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The media, do their jobs..HeHe, you made a funny. The Media IS the Democratic Party. They will NEVER EVER say one bad thing about Obama, his policies, or the people he associates with

[GBA]

The proponents of obamacare must not have read what is being proposed otherwise they would not want it for themselves or those they care about. Those who are voting on it most likely haven't read it either, but don't care because they are exempt from it.

Should it pass, I believe obamacare would be unconstitutional for violating the Fifth and Ninth Amendments.

[SuziQ]

"These critics, however, didn't take the time to find out to what Palin was referring when she used the term 'level of productivity in society' as being the basis for determining access to medical care. If the critics, who hold themselves in the highest of intellectual esteem, had bothered to do something other than react, they would have realized that the approach to health care to which Palin was referring was none other than that espoused by key Obama health care adviser Dr. Ezekial Emanuel (brother of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel)."

Heh. A VERY inconvenient truth.

[HiTech RedNeck]

They are not dumb, they are acting dumb in order to further an agenda.

[calex59]

Ol’ Zeke says they should focus on those 15-40 if they really run low on funds

Shades of Logan's Run. The only difference is the max age in that scenario was 30 not 40.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“...Pollack’s snark was too cute by half”’

One of the first places to start in ‘setting the record straight’ is academia. For way too long academics have been given an esteem they don’t deserve. The real world accuracy and relevance of academic opinions is often minimal. Politicians, academics, and the media have formed into a self-congratulatory elitist triumvirate who rarely listen to opinions outside of their own ranks. As such they often have no idea how much they have no idea.

[mkjessup]

The illegal 0bamunist regime wants all of the American people peasants to believe that a federal health care program will be superior to the private enterprise-based system that exists now, in our crumbling Republic (crumbling because the Dear Comrade has been working night and day to shatter every part of it that he can).

A multi-trillion dollar porkulus bill gets passed, unemployment is still hovering around 10 percent nationwide, businesses are still shutting down, but the 0bamunist/ACORN & Union thugs are living quite nicely, organizing their shock troops to assail, assault and put down the resistance of those tea-party rabblerousers and other malcontents who refuse to roll over for the Dear Comrade.

It is going to get increasingly ugly.

I think that Governor Palin should be considering the formation of a Government-in-Exile when the inevitable martial law is declared and a combination of federal and foreign (UN) troops land on U.S. soil to 'enforce order'.

Don't think it won't happen?

Think again.

[JLS]

My view is all Dims are dumb or evil or venal or a combination. I generally try to be nice and err on the side of dumb and only call someone evil or venal if there is evidence of that.

[HiTech RedNeck]

When referring to Rat politicians it is safe to assume they are very, very venal if not utterly evil. Rat VOTERS might be granted the benefit of the doubt and called dumb.

[ari-freedom]

[tbw2]

Agreed. They no longer see their job as finding the truth but in supporting Obama’s truth.