Talk Radio Campaign Frightening Seniors
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| Sat, 08-01-2009 - 1:59pm |
Provision for End-of-Life Counseling Is Described by Right as 'Death Care'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/31/AR2009073103148.html?nav=hcmodule
A campaign on conservative talk radio, fueled by President Obama's calls to control exorbitant medical bills, has sparked fear among senior citizens that the health-care bill moving through Congress will lead to end-of-life "rationing" and even "euthanasia."
The controversy stems from a proposal to pay physicians who counsel elderly or terminally ill patients about what medical interventions they would prefer near the end of life and how to prepare instructions such as living wills. Under the plan, Medicare would reimburse doctors for one session every five years to confer with a patient about his or her wishes and how to ensure those preferences are followed. The counseling sessions would be voluntary.
But on right-leaning radio programs, religious e-mail lists and Internet blogs, the proposal has been described as "guiding you in how to die," "an ORDER from the Government to end your life," promoting "death care" and, in the words of antiabortion leader Randall Terry, an attempt to "kill Granny."
Though the counseling provision is a tiny part of a behemoth bill, the skirmish over end-of-life care, like arguments about abortion coverage, has become a distraction and provided an opening for opponents of the president's broader health-care agenda. At a forum sponsored by the seniors group AARP that was intended to pitch comprehensive reform, Obama was asked about the "rumors." He used the question to promote living wills, noting that he and the first lady have them.
Democratic strategists privately acknowledged that they were hesitant to give extra attention to the issue by refuting the inaccuracies, but they worry that it will further agitate already-skeptical seniors.
The side battle also undercuts what many say is the more fundamental challenge of discussing sensitive, costly societal questions about how to align patient wishes at the end of life with financial realities, for both the family and taxpayers.
"I don't think it's about cutting costs; it's about quality," said Tia Powell, director of the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Bioethics. Pointing to extensive research, she said: "The good news is if you get people in an environment that is of their choosing, where there is support and they have good pain control, it is very likely to extend their life."
Not since 2003, when Congress and President George W. Bush became involved in the case of Terri Schiavo, who lay in a vegetative state in a hospice in Florida, have lawmakers waded into the highly charged subject, said Howard Brody, director of an ethics institute at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
The attacks on talk radio began when Betsy McCaughey, who helped defeat President Bill Clinton's health-care overhaul 16 years ago, told former senator Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) that mandatory counseling sessions with Medicare beneficiaries would "tell them how to end their life sooner" and would teach the elderly how to "decline nutrition . . . and cut your life short."
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) said they object to the idea because it "may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia."
Brody says the proposal to reimburse counseling sessions "is an excellent idea," because too few doctors or adult children know what an elderly person wants, even sometimes when the patient has signed a medical directive.
About one-third of Americans have living wills or a document designating a health-care proxy who would make decisions if they become incapacitated, said Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit group that focuses on the rights of the terminally ill. "But it's alarming how rarely they actually get honored because often doctors haven't familiarized themselves with the patient's wishes," she said.
Wesley Smith, an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, said Obama's focus on controlling costs and the legalese in the bill have contributed to the confusion. "People fear these counseling sessions will push toward less care because the point is to cut costs," he said. The average cost of care for a chronically ill Medicare patient in the final six months of life is $46,400, according to Dartmouth University data.
The emphasis on cost containment means "you'll end up with denial of care for the elderly," said Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, who also testified against the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. Possible abortion coverage and end-of-life care in the health bill will be "a watershed battle for the life community."
In the past two weeks, AARP has fielded a few thousand calls from people who mistakenly think the legislation would require every Medicare recipient to "choose how they want to die," said James Dau, a spokesman for the organization.
Though he is "willing to give the benefit of the doubt" to some who may be confused, Dau complained that the effort to "intentionally distort" the proposal "is just plain cruel to anyone who is forced to make one of these difficult decisions at the end of life."
The American Medical Association, which supports the provision, has received similar inquiries and protests from patients who fear doctors will begin denying care late in life.
"These are important discussions everyone should have when they are healthy and not entering a hospital, so they are fully informed and can make their wishes known," said association President J. James Rohack. "That's not controversial; it's plain, old-fashioned patient-centered care."
After letting the controversy simmer on talk radio and the blogosphere, expecting that it might blow over, Democrats have begun to respond.
The allegations of mandatory counseling and euthanasia "are blatantly false," Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) wrote colleagues. The accusations are "as offensive as they are untrue."



They apparently think people are ignorant enough to fall for it.
The problem is that people ARE falling for it.
I guess, according to factcheck, there are emails circulating.
>"Chain e-mail: On Page 425 of Obama’s health care bill, the Federal Government will require EVERYONE who is on Social Security to undergo a counseling session every 5 years with the objective being that they will explain to them just how to end their own life earlier. Yes…They are going to push SUICIDE to cut medicare spending!!!"<
Lots more info. & emails see link........
http://factcheck.org/2009/07/false-euthanasia-claims/
"It is really sad that people can be deceived so incredibly easily."
I agree. Because it comes in an email they believe it must be true.
More distortions.......
Canadian Straw Man
More ads claim that Congress is pushing a Canadian-style health care bill.
http://factcheck.org/2009/07/canadian-straw-man/
Edited to add this informative link.......
Distortions rife in health care debate
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g5ewCvsGcSPBeHJurb6qYZLVU8OgD99QQ2OG0
In my area, the health care providers are very inaccurate in their care.
With all the medical interventions which are now available, life can be prolonged far past the point of having good quality.
I wonder when we each say "enough". For some, that point becomes clear early on. Others so fear death that they refuse to consider any alternative but extraordinary resuscitation measures. My aunt was one such. She was under the care of a doctor she had known during her career as a nurse. Shortly after she had a stroke, he berated me over the phone for not being more diligent in meeting what he considered her needs--never mind that she lived in Portland, Oregon, I lived in Missouri, and she refused to consider any setting other than her not-accessible apartment in Portland (due in part to the fact that she was tied into the Kaiser health care plan which did not extend to care in states where her nieces and nephews lived).
Eventually, she was compelled by her health conditions (diabetes, kidney failure, congestive heart failure) to move to a nursing home which I helped her do--with her fighting me every step of the way. The doctor who had earlier scolded about meeting her needs, unilaterally decided to issue "do not resuscitate" orders on her medical records. And she died. Yet another reason why I have less than total faith in health care providers.
Not sure whether he was practicing under Kaiser (think it was Kaiser because auntie had been a Kaiser nurse) or whether it was under Medicare. Either way, it really shocked me that he made that decision, and we didn't find out until just before she passed. While I might have made a similar decision had she been unable to speak for herself and if I'd had power of attorney for health care issues, fact remains that she could express her wishes and he ignored them. Scary.
Jabberwocka
"With all the medical interventions which are now available, life can be prolonged far past the point of having good quality."
My father was 89 yrs. & surgeons wanted to perform a major surgery. (He was under my brother's care in England.) My brother said no which was the correct decision IMO. Why put an old man though painful surgery only to prolong his life a short time? When I'd visited about 18 mths. prior he didn't know me
Very irritating when twisting things around deliberately to scare people. Dishonest and reprehensible, IMO.
Heck, I'm 62 and had a triple bypass in March. I have come back strong and am doing well, and my quality of life is good. My mind is still functioning. I can live my life pretty much on my own terms because my body and mind are full functioning
However, when that is no longer my life's reality, I *DO* want to know my options to go before I become a lump of flesh, a total burden, with no link to the real world, with a body that is bed ridden. I do not see a value in extending my life under such circumstances. And I am not fearful of dying. I want to have the right to plan and choose my own death, so that I can go with dignity, and without being an undue burden on family or anybody else. I would appreciate such counseling with my doctors, and learning my alternatives, how my doctors can help me or assist me, when and if needed.
This is far from condemning me to death or medical care being withheld because I am chronologically a certain age. That's total bunk and a lie and it is, as I said, really reprehensible to cause unnecessary fear, when the real fear is not having medical coverage and care at all, with no access to medical care due to financial hardship, and so forth, which happens with the elderly as well. And because of the fat cat profits and ways of doing business for profit in the medical industry, inhumane choices and options are what's available for a lot of people, of all ages, in this country, who are not fortunate enough to have access to decent medical care.
Life and death are connected. Death is the normal end we all come to. How we come to that end, is important, though. And knowing my options and choices are welcomed, so I can better prepare so as not to be a burden on my family. I think this type counseling is a *good* thing. And I already talk to my doctors about all of my concerns, and preferences, and have it all in writing. When talking medications or surgeries, I always want to know my odds, whether it's worth going through it or risking side effects, or what have you. That my doctors can work with me as a team, giving me full information so I can better make decisions *according to my values and preferences,* is part of their job as my medical caregivers, IMO. *BUT* it is also *MY* responsibility to seek out information, research, read, ask questions. And for *ME* to make the decisions for myself. It's not just all up to the doctors. It's up to me, too.
Blessings,
Gypsy
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.
It's not the dog's fault.
All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."
--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/
Mika Dog
"All things share the same breath;
the beast, the tree, the man.
The Air shares its spirit with
all the life it supports."
--Chief Seattle
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go where they went."
~Will Rogers
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
Edited 8/3/2009 12:16 pm ET by gypsywolfwoman
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
These are the same kinds of lies that were spread when my state was trying to pass our Death with Dignity law.