Posted on 08/24/2009 3:55:56 PM PDT by CedarDave
PORTLAND, Ore. Some terminally ill patients in Oregon who turned to their state for health care were denied treatment and offered doctor-assisted suicide instead, a proposal some experts have called a "chilling" corruption of medical ethics.
Since the spread of his prostate cancer, 53-year-old Randy Stroup of Dexter, Ore., has been in a fight for his life. Uninsured and unable to pay for expensive chemotherapy, he applied to Oregon's state-run health plan for help.
Lane Individual Practice Association (LIPA), which administers the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County, responded to Stroup's request with a letter saying the state would not cover Stroup's pricey treatment, but would pay for the cost of physician-assisted suicide.
"It dropped my chin to the floor," Stroup told FOX News. "[How could they] not pay for medication that would help my life, and yet offer to pay to end my life?"
The letter, which has been sent to other terminal patients throughout Oregon, follows guidelines established by the state legislature.
Oregon doesn't cover life-prolonging treatment unless there is better than a 5 percent chance it will help the patients live for five more years but it covers doctor-assisted suicide, defining it as a means of providing comfort, no different from hospice care or pain medication.
"It's chilling when you think about it," said Dr. William Toffler, a professor of family medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. "It absolutely conveys to the patient that continued living isn't worthwhile."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I don't recall, as I haven't followed this as closely as I perhaps should have, and I'm not an Oregon resident. There was an earlier thread about this, which is where I gleaned the information that I do have about it, but you'll have to search for it...
the infopwarrior
Oregonians love it, they want to spread it to the whole country
O_o
I said what I said, and not a single word more....period.
Anything you wish to twist it into is yours to do with as you intend.
Outstanding.
Forerunner of Obammycare!
I hope someone here with far more knowledge than I about PhotoShop can put the Marxist's Pigs head on this picture.
are you having yours?
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