Posted on 06/13/2012 9:13:03 PM PDT by JohnKinAK
Here in NY, at present, if you have a DNR order only a hospital and doctor can accept it and declare life saving measures to be stopped, but who knows if this is always the case?
It’s a tough thing because my husband is a ff/Paramedic who has been in the middle of performing CPR on a patient when a family member will literally stick the DNR order in his face as he tries to work. Others on the scene attempt to explain the situation. It’s tough all around, because there are different out comes. In some cases, the person may never come to, lay in the hospital unconscious for a period of time and then pass away. Maybe a long period of time. Yes, that’s costly. But other times the person
has been revived and twice my husband has received mayoral life saving awards and the person he saved has been there to thank him in person. One had a DNR and said “Thank God you didn’t let me die!” So my husband always feels if you error, error on the side of life. He’d be so mad at me for posting this because he’s a pretty humble guy. But none of you know me so I don’t care!
“A nation that kills its own children is a nation without hope.” Pope John Paul II
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I watched a loved one die - and saw the parade of doctors walking the the room - glancing at the chart and walking out.
A doctor friend once told me (this was many years ago) that a morning ‘hospital walk’ was worth about $2,000. They waltz in, sign the chart and charge for an office visit or more. 30 seconds of their time... And now those wasted dollars are being used as an excuse to 'off' the elderly? Where are teh doting court eunuchs of the MSM? Why aren't they looking into this on their own? Do they always have to wait for a democrat to spoon feed them what to cover?
Death panels have to be part of any long term plans to make SS and Medicare viable. The govt just isn’t making that fact widely known.
Excellent graphic. Thanks for posting.
You sure didn’t mind taking their money while they were working. Now that they’re retired and ready to collect what they paid for, all of a sudden it’s your money. If you’re fortunate enough to live long enough to join the group you now say are not worthy of life, how quickly will you jump into the grave?
The same liberal elite democrats who want to kill off the elderly are the same folks who want to tell everyone what to eat and what do drink so they CAN LIVE A LONG TIME.
Control freak dems are going to kill of us if they can, we might as well eat, drink and be merry... Oh, and give ‘em the finger while we’re at it...
I only post it when I come across someone saying the same thing. After all the times I’ve seen people parroting that Nazi propaganda poster, it still shocks me every time. Especially here. I’ve long known that the general public is ignorant of history, but I expect better from FReepers. And I expect higher morals than that too. Conservatives don’t murder little old ladies to save a buck.
I’m sorry if I upset you. I’m only taking of economic realities. For one, people who are currently collecting Medicare did not generally pay into the system nearly as much as they are getting paid out. Social Security is a similar program that’s under water. The ones who are collecting now are generally getting paid far more than they paid in. If these programs aren’t made fiscally solvent, then those who are currently paying in won’t get the same benefits.
Secondly, there’s no way to collect enough money to offer unlimited medical care to everyone who needs it. I doubt very many people paid hundreds of thousands into Medicare/Medicaid, but that is what some procedures can cost. Nursing home care is also very expensive. Yet, retirees think they are owed it simply because they paid a proportionally small amount of it when they worked. Since government is picking up the tab, it is inevitable that rationing will and must occur.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are underfunded by trillions upon trillions of dollars. Enjoy what you get while you can, because those programs are not solvent. Making them solvent on the backs of current workers, something current retirees depend on, will destroy the economy. There simply isn’t enough money.
Oh, one other thing...
I’m not taking “their” money and don’t enjoy it when government does. If I had my way, I’d keep the promises made to current retirees while privatizing everything else. Private charities should take care of those who cannot afford their own treatment. No one has a right to other people’s money, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be charitable.
If you ask me, it’s a sad shame that some generations think they are owed so much on the backs of others. Like all Ponzi schemes, it’s good to get in on the scam early. I did not vote to establish these unaffordable entitlements. The generations that did have already cashed out, leaving generations after mine to hold the bag. That, my FRiend, is despicable.
Insurance benefits should be capped at the amount each individual paid in? Then what would be the point of taking out an insurance policy in the first place? And who gets the money left by people who die before collecting the money they paid in? Do you refund it to their survivors?
Do you see our whole medical system as the patient, the elderly as the disease, and health care reform as the cure?
As for money that has been paid into government entitlement programs, I'm afraid it's gone. Politicians have promised more than they can deliver. Those at the front of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security have reaped the benefits while passing (a goodly portion of) the bill down to those who are late to the Ponzi scheme.
Do I think beneficiaries should be able to pass down as inheritance what was collected from them and not paid out? No. Medicare and Social Security are taxes, not actual insurance programs. On the other hand, I do think government should try to take care of current retirees. If we don't alter course soon, I wonder if even that will be possible, because we might bankrupt the nation trying to keep paying what we cannot afford.
As for you final question, I don't see the medical system as the patient. I just don't think we should have a “medical system” per se. What we should have is freedom, the freedom of individuals to make their own health care decisions. In other words, my dream health care “system” is not really a system at all, more of a free market.
No. I also don't see the elderly as a disease. I'm almost one myself, and I have loved ones who are on these programs. I believe in taking care of loved ones and private charity for one’s neighbor. I can't afford to pay directly (out of my own pocket) for everything my retired family members get. That is why I accept the reality that programs can't be changed over night.
People have planned and lived their entire lives based on these entitlement programs, so choices they could have made earlier to better prepare were made based on a belief that government would be there. Now you have ridiculous situations like one retiree paying out everything he owns for his nursing home care, while a retiree in the next room gets the exact same care without paying anything. Why? Because the one person probably planned and saved so as to not be a burden on others, and the other planned...to be taken care of by others (taxpayers) at their expense.
Finally, health care reform IS the cure to the current mess. I do agree with that. Whether you agree or not, the economic facts are what they are. The nation has trillions in unfunded liabilities if it doesn't alter the terms and benefits of these big entitlement programs.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but which thousand words?
I’m not sure what your point is. Is it that sick, disabled and elderly people are now whipped and stripped from being recognized as humans, much the way slaves were? That a certain low segment of society views them as a commodity to be harvested? That those cretins think it’s okay to kill people when they become inconvenient, all for the sake of money?
Since this is a prolife forum, I hope your point isn’t that you agree with that mindset.
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