Local Town Halls on Health Care w/Sue Myrick

[NCyank]

Originally Posted by lumbollo

Assisted suicide and murder are still illegal in this country. No doctor is going to even come close to putting himself in a situation such as that by writing an order to "off" someone because he thought the money spent on the care wasn't worth it.

Unless there are very specific terms in a living will that the patient has written, this simply isn't going to happen. Aside from that, I don't even know why a doctor would have the incentive to do something such as this. It simply doesn't make any sense.

I've read stories of both, people who want to try every treatment right until the end and those who resign to live out their final days more peacefully, refusing aggressive treatment that has little chance of success. What is more important about these stories than the results is that each patient decides, not a panel of government experts who decides who will get treatment and who will not, effectively removing that end of life choice for patients.

The doctor wouldn't have to write the order to 'off the patient', just inform the patient that no further treatments for their illness will be authorized...effectively a death sentence, possibly against the patients will. It would remove their right to fight to the end, if that is what they want to do. From what I have read, there is no appeal process for these government panel decisions as there is for private insurance.

Of course you can argue that we can keep our private insurance and not deal with the government panels but how soon will it be that the standard of care is equalized? Certainly it won't be tolerated that 'rich folks' with private insurance can choose to try aggressive treatments when folks on the government plan are being turned down for those same treatments.

I'm also concerned about the long term impact of denying care on the basis of cost would have on our fighting spirit. If someone wants to fight...I want them to FIGHT!! I don't want people to eventually consider them selfish, asking for and using resources that someone else, someone younger or with a better chance of success could have. We all should have the choice to go out on our own terms, fighting if they want...for their life, for one more year or one more month or one more day.

[brokensky]

Originally Posted by lumbollo

Assisted suicide and murder are still illegal in this country. No doctor is going to even come close to putting himself in a situation such as that by writing an order to "off" someone because he thought the money spent on the care wasn't worth it.

Unless there are very specific terms in a living will that the patient has written, this simply isn't going to happen. Aside from that, I don't even know why a doctor would have the incentive to do something such as this. It simply doesn't make any sense.

No one needs to convince me! I actually helped draft the first state distributed Living Wills here, and I work in healthcare and am totally aware of the law.

However, I was contacted by 7 individuals via email and phone, including several in healthcare administrative positions, and asked to read that section of the bill and find out exactly what the legal language denoted, as so many folks were upset and asking questions.

I did, indeed, re-read that section. I read it FIVE TIMES trying to figure out what the problem was and then I finally caught it. The term "doctor's orders" was used and that statement could be interpreted to mean the doc could OVER-RIDE the patient's decisions. I thought the whole "death panel" thing was ludicrous and was highly aggravated by the media continuing to play it up, wh/ hyped the public who DID NOT UNDERSTAND. It was a simple misunderstanding that should have been cleared up but instead, the media stirred it up, making Palin the discussion, not the legislation.

I have never listened to ONE BROADCAST from Rush Limbaugh in my entire life and my friends don't listen to Rush, either. If they do, I sure have never heard them admit it, lol. My friends and family had questions, and I explained the legislation to them and then they got it. However, I have not seen much rational discussion by trusted individuals on TV. I have heard confusing explanations and "non answers" when asked direct questions, tho. And that makes people feel dismissed.

This IS central to the discussion b/c the thread is about Sue Myrick and the consensus seems to be that Myrick did not give a thorough explanation of issues. Well, I don't think that is unusual - seems this is what is going on in the media as well as with Reps all over the country.

[Smash255]

Originally Posted by NCyank

I've read stories of both, people who want to try every treatment right until the end and those who resign to live out their final days more peacefully, refusing aggressive treatment that has little chance of success. What is more important about these stories than the results is that each patient decides, not a panel of government experts who decides who will get treatment and who will not, effectively removing that end of life choice for patients.

The doctor wouldn't have to write the order to 'off the patient', just inform the patient that no further treatments for their illness will be authorized...effectively a death sentence, possibly against the patients will. It would remove their right to fight to the end, if that is what they want to do. From what I have read, there is no appeal process for these government panel decisions as there is for private insurance.

Of course you can argue that we can keep our private insurance and not deal with the government panels but how soon will it be that the standard of care is equalized? Certainly it won't be tolerated that 'rich folks' with private insurance can choose to try aggressive treatments when folks on the government plan are being turned down for those same treatments.

I'm also concerned about the long term impact of denying care on the basis of cost would have on our fighting spirit. If someone wants to fight...I want them to FIGHT!! I don't want people to eventually consider them selfish, asking for and using resources that someone else, someone younger or with a better chance of success could have. We all should have the choice to go out on our own terms, fighting if they want...for their life, for one more year or one more month or one more day.

I agree with that, however nothing in this bill has the government making that decision, nothing. It is up to the patient.