On Aug 17, 2009, at 11:06 AM, LuKreme wrote: > On Aug 17, 2009, at 11:18, Chris Gehlker <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Seriously, isn't this kind of counseling the kind of thing that >> physicians should provide as part of any office visit or other >> treatment? I'm not sure we should be paying for it separately. > > I believe the issue is that under current laws, Medicare doctors > CANNOT talk about end of life issues.
Sarah Palin is very specific. She is talking about "Section 1233 of HR 3200, entitled “Advance Care Planning Consultation.”" <http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=116471698434> It's really interesting to read the whole thing. Sarah argues that doctors won't pressure patients to off themselves unless they are paid for the consultation. Sarah must think doctors are really stupid. They will give up the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they could make by keeping people in a vegetative state for years in exchange for a one time fee. But she is absolutely convinced that: "Though not mandatory, as some on the right have claimed, the consultations envisioned in Section 1233 aren’t quite “purely voluntary,” as Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.) asserts. To me, “purely voluntary” means “not unless the patient requests one.” Section 1233, however, lets doctors initiate the chat and gives them an incentive -- money -- to do so. Indeed, that’s an incentive to insist. "Patients may refuse without penalty, but many will bow to white- coated authority. Once they’re in the meeting, the bill does permit “formulation” of a plug-pulling order right then and there. So when Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) denies that Section 1233 would “place senior citizens in situations where they feel pressured to sign end-of- life directives that they would not otherwise sign,” I don’t think he’s being realistic." I guess in Sarah's world, every doctor is Dr. Kavorkian. -- A young idea is a beautiful and a fragile thing. Attack people, not ideas. _______________________________________________ OSX-Nutters mailing list | [email protected] http://lists.tit-wank.com/mailman/listinfo/osx-nutters List hosted at http://cat5.org/
