Death Panels

Sarah Palin claims that “Obama’s” health care plan includes a provision that will result in the creation of death panels of doctors who will decide when your life is too costly to maintain. Off you’ll go to be euthanized, thus saving the insurance company lots of end-of-life expenses. Typically, the overdressed Alaskan sociopath has grossly misunderstood the facts. We do need the “death panel” provision, which has unfortunately been cut thanks to the furor the megalomaniac bimbo from the 49th state raised.
When my mother was hospitalized for her final illness, we had to choose day by day to what extent we would honor her wish not to be on life support. Each decision was excruciating to make. If we said no to the ventilator, she would die. If we said yes, we were going against her wishes. Did her odds of survival justify saying yes? We were not ready to let her go. One doctor gave her 50-50 odds of survival. Even I thought that was overly optimistic, but his input was important in making decisions. We badly needed a conference with her pulmonologist, her nephrologist, and her hospitalist to discuss the choices. Fortunately these doctors saw this as part of the job and did not charge for their time. But what if she had had a slower course of disease...say, cancer? What if we needed an appointment to discuss when to withdraw treatment because it would only prolong her suffering? Would insurance cover that? What if we needed to discuss palliative care? Is that permitted in conservative ideology? Or is it too similar to assisted suicide? Do they have the right to force her to keep fighting even when it’s obvious she hasn’t a chance and the fight is simple cruelty? The right to die takes on a whole new meaning.
I tend to watch the antics of the conservatives with a shake of my head and a look of disgust. My first reaction to Obama’s statement that they were dropping the end of life counseling provision was, “Oh well, that’s a reasonable concession.” But it isn’t. We’ve let a flat out fabrication undermine good medicine. I was a hospice volunteer years before I had to handle my mother’s end of life care. I have seen how much end of life care matters. Most of us will need it eventually. I know that hospice will continue to fill in the gap for many, but we should be making insurance pay their share. It matters. Please write to your representatives and ask that this provision not be cut. We need clarity, not concession. Define end of life care so Americans can understand it.