[8mmMauser]

Utah tries a new law.

............................

SB75 "tries to make more clear what the laws are," said the bill sponsor, Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden. "There's some vague parts in there and some lapses in the law."

      Current law is unclear on who has final say in end-of-life care decisions, he said, and the bill seeks to clarify that and what happens afterward.

      It also specifies that having authority to make health-care decisions or to make financial decisions is not interchangeable, although the same person could be chosen for both roles. And it says someone making medical decisions does not have the right to limit social contacts. Feuding siblings or in-laws who disagree on care cannot bar each other from seeing a patient, for instance.

      None of the provisions apply unless the patient is unable to speak for himself, and it wouldn't go into effect until 2008.

      Some disputes might still end up in court, "where they should be resolved if there's no other way to agree," Henry said. It would not have solved all the problems presented in the well-publicized case of Terri Schiavo, subject of a court battle between her parents and her husband over use of a feeding tube.

Measure would clarify authority in end-of-life

8mm

[8mmMauser]

It's only business. Terri Schiavo becomes part of the vocabulary defining the right.

By now, everyone should know that Fox News is politically to the right of ABC News. They both have a visible slant in their coverage. You would think that slant reflects the politics of management, but data suggest otherwise. A new study from two economists at the University of Chicago suggests that political slant in the media does not reflect politics; it reflects business.

The study began with identification of the 1,000 most used partisan phrases from the 2005 Congressional Record. Phrases like "public broadcasting," "oil companies," and "middle class, " were used by Democrats. "Terri Schiavo," "death tax," "nuclear power," and "illegal aliens," came from Republicans. From phrases like these, the researchers constructed an index of partisanship, and used it to analyze news (they excluded editorial pages) in 417 newspapers.

Designing Reality

8mm

[T'wit]

Here we go again. "End-of-life care decisions" is another way to say, "Kill the patient!" The key to all of it is "decisions," and the tendency of these legal definitions and laws is always to let somebody else "make the decision" but without legal penalty.

Even George Greer wouldn't let Michael Schiavo kill Terri on his own say-so. Felos had to go dummy up some testimony from two other Schiavos to make a case, ridiculous though it was. These new laws WILL empower future Michaels, if he so orders and nobody objects. The patient will be duly snuffed and all concerned are exempt from prosecution.