Posted on 08/21/2009 4:55:58 AM PDT by Kaslin
WASHINGTON -- Let's see if we can have a reasoned discussion about end-of-life counseling.
We might start by asking Sarah Palin to leave the room. I've got nothing against her. She's a remarkable political talent. But there are no "death panels" in the Democratic health care bills, and to say that there are is to debase the debate.
We also have to tell the defenders of the notorious Section 1233 of H.R. 3200 that it is not quite as benign as they pretend. To offer government reimbursement to any doctor who gives end-of-life counseling -- whether or not the patient asked for it -- is to create an incentive for such a chat.
What do you think such a chat would be like? Do you think the doctor will go on and on about the fantastic new million-dollar high-tech gizmo that can prolong the patient's otherwise hopeless condition for another six months? Or do you think he's going to talk about -- as the bill specifically spells out -- hospice care and palliative care and other ways of letting go of life?
No, say the defenders. It's just that we want the doctors to talk to you about putting in place a living will and other such instruments. Really? Then consider the actual efficacy of a living will. When you are old, infirm and lying in the ICU with pseudomonas pneumonia and deciding whether to (a) go through the long antibiotic treatment or (b) allow what used to be called "the old man's friend" to take you away, the doctor will ask you at that time what you want for yourself -- no matter what piece of paper you signed five years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
There is no way the socialized system they have planned for us can possibly accommodate all of the parasites that want to line up and suck the blood from it. Government bureaucrats will have to resort to their perverse statistical models and central planning structures in order to decide who gets what based on availability. “End-of-life” counseling?
An individual choosing (important word) to seek counsel from an attorney, doctor, family, etc., does so voluntarily, and with a specific result in mind. That is a far cry from what will become the government’s mandatory two cents when you have some self-interested, psychobabbling bureaucrat breathing down your neck and forcing his “expert” advice on you, giving out prescriptions for how to live or die. Anytime the government wants to “counsel” anyone on anything, it is a very bad sign; one that suggests authority and manipulation, with the end goal being able to control the outcome, which, in this case, is life or death, care or no care.
If the word PALIN is brought up in his presence Dr. K leaps out of his chair and runs in place.
If Chuckie thinks there isn't going to be RATIONING and getting granny off this earth faster, he's kidding himself.
As a fervent conservative who -- by any liberal's definition -- has "quality of life issues", surely he would be one of the first subject to Death Panels?
Not something anyone would want to contemplate up close and personal, hmmm?
Cheers!
Call it what you will but the bottom line is that a group of bureaucrats will be deciding who lives and who dies.
I’ve felt for awhile now that the “Death Panel” focus has been misplaced in this debate. Krauthammer’s article confirms that. What bothers me more than the idea of a doctor “counseling” hospice or end-of-life options to terminal patients, is the idea of a government panel determining the value of various medical solutions that should be offered to a given patient. And this is part-and-parcel of ObamaCare.
We will no longer have one-on-one counseling between doctor and patient. A panel will help decide the “appropriate” and cost-efficient treatment for that patient at that time in his/her life. IMO, this is where the use of “death panel” is far more appropriate.
Having been asked important questions while in the hospital for truamatic reasons, I do NOT approve of this. Folks may have trouble comprehending all that is said and be able to make the kinds of decisions they would normally make because of the stress of the environment or disablility. The government should not have this kind of influence over our healthcare providers. Government's only real responsibility, in my humble opinion, is in licensing physicians and approving drugs.
BS hip deep. This guy was repulsed by Sarah after her nomination, so of course she would not be allowed in the same room with him. He has that same viral condition that afflicts the rest of liberals. I will give him the same merit he snarled against Sarah from the get go. Bama flat out said there needed to be somebody to evaluate whether grandma should get a procedure or be given that 'end of life' pill he apparently has contracted with big Pharmas to produce.
Ignoring the fact that O himself commented on allowing his grannie to have hip replacement given her cancer.
Many many times the doctor has told a patient they have only a certain amount of time to live and that person is alive and well decades later.
Heaven help us if we rely on this cabal of devils to decide who will be entitled to health care.
When this Harvard Medical School shrink defends
his favorite Harvard Law School imposters, he feels
uncomfortable that an honest woman is in the room.
So uncomfortable, that the shrink has forgotten an
age old oath, he once took.
The “Death Panel” involves non-medical intervention in
a previous one-on-one relationship: Doctor and patient.
Apparently, the shrink is neither a real doctor
nor a surgeon, but only a fawning facilitator of his
sociopathic friend.
He just can’t write an article without bashing Palin.
Of course, he adores Romney...
I used to like Krauthammer. Now every time he writes something I shake my head and wonder who’s side he’s on. Seems to me he must wish Obamacare on the country. Maybe HE should step out of the room.
I’m just thinking that once Ocare is in place, what box you checked off ten years ago will be binding even if you have changed your mind or medical technology changes.
Hey Kraut:
“On Page 29, there’s an admission that health care will be rationed under this new plan. On Page 30, it says that a government committee will be established to decide what treatments and benefits we’ll get. However there will be no process to appeal their decisions, as is now the case with private insurance plans.”
Death Panel is a clever visual that destroyed the bill. Whether there is an actual panel or a computer matrix, we all know that the gummit will be deciding life or death.
So Kraut, this commoner that you elitists hate did in 2 words what you could never do in 2 books. Get over it.
Pray for America and Lady Palin
Sis should have known better. She's a geriatric nurse practitioner.
That's why the last thing I think a senior citizen needs to hear is the plan for his/her death. It creeped my Mom out.
With all the debte, shouts, lies and “moral requirement”, the one thing I have not heard brought up is this:
“This government stole money from our paychecks for 40 years and now they want to steal our lives when it is time to collect on the promises made.”
Go ahead, LIBs pass YOUR bill the way YOU want, with whatever means YOU think is necessary. Then book the first flight out of MY country, because there won’t be a safe place for YOU.
So... show me what Sarah Palin got wrong. I guess you can pretty it up a little: no, no, it's not a death panel, it's just a group of beaurocrats telling your doctor what he's allowed to do for you, depending on the statistics. (Is that better, Charles?)
Krauthammer takes a lot for granted when he assumes he or his family will get to decide a course of treatment "when the time comes." (see The Netherlands). When someone else controls the purse strings, that someone controls it all.
As Mark Steyn so succinctly phrases it, "ultimately, government health represents the nationalization of your body."
I think Kraut was deviously brilliant on this.
He made all of her points. LOL
“We might start by asking Sarah Palin to leave the room.”
We might start by admitting that she’s right-
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