Comments on: Not quite “death panels”—but the slippery slope of palliative care policy

By: jon baker

jon baker — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:34:14 +0000

Neo, you must stop doing this. Can’t we all get along? You will drive the moderates out of the party and they will all vote Democrat in the next election. Plus its racist. (sarc)

By: Cappy

Cappy — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:52:05 +0000

Of course, there are ways they can improve their predictive record. Paging Dale Gribble…

By: Thomass

Thomass — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:12:42 +0000

Chris Says:

“It surprised me that so many people took after the “Death Panel” issue to mean end-of-life counseling.”

It was mostly a dishonest trick… strawman to avoid Palin’s argument. Many knew better and others chose to only read the partisan talking points that Palin was an idiot talking about the end of life chat stuff that really was not a big deal.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:43:21 +0000

It surprised me that so many people took after the “Death Panel” issue to mean end-of-life counseling.

A “death panel” suggests a board of people who denies care at some point when a patient is close to dying.

That’s rationing.

Who will do this? Not the doctor – the government will approval/disapprove of treatments based on certain thresholds.

You’ll find this in any current ObamaCare bill.
(You’ll also find it in insurance companies, but I’ve more freedom to control an insurance company than a gov’t.)

By: Stphnd

Stphnd — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:46:53 +0000

N.I.C.E. begins to look as though it might more appropriately be known as N.A.S.T.Y. (National Agency to Stifle Terminal Yestermen).

By: camojack

camojack — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:55:59 +0000

As Willie Shakespeare said: “a rose by any other name” and so forth… 🙁

By: stumbley

stumbley — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:44:06 +0000

I like Dennis Prager’s line:

“The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.”

By: Oblio

Oblio — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:19:42 +0000

The economics of health care are unworkable unless patients have incentives to limit their own consumption. You will never fix the free-rider problem otherwise. The problems with health care cost are 1) that insurance is too generous and 2) government puts too much money into it. Giving more people more insurance and having the government spend even more money is to prescribe whiskey as a cure for alcoholism.

By: Andrew_M_Garland

Andrew_M_Garland — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:05:58 +0000

Denial of care is an issue for all emergency services. Right now in the US, emergency rooms are being financially squeezed by federal law that requires giving services to all comers, regardless of medical judgment, and without federal reimbursement. That is why an ER aspirin costs $10. It is a federal law (EMTALA) that forces emergency rooms to give full workups to everyone, including drug seekers who repeatedly make up symptoms. This drives costs way up. If government can't deal with the costs of this current policy, then how will it change this policy? Begging for Medical Care The well-known actress Natasha Richardson was very unlucky. She hit her head in a minor ski fall. Montreal, Canada, does not have fast transportation to a full-service hospital, even near a ski area. Why not? Patients are a cost to the system. The bureaucracy sees you as a cost, especially if you have already paid. All people and organizations seek income and avoid costs. Socialized or centralized healthcare is paid up-front and delivers services after the fact. How hard will a system work to earn the money that they have already been paid? This is something that everyone can understand in his gut. A customer is lost without competition for his dollar.

By: rickl

rickl — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:05:28 +0000

dane:

Like how much we gain and learn from incredible amounts of experience embodied in older people.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I can't shake the thought that those who wish to transform our society into something utterly alien are anxious to hustle off the stage those who have not undergone the indoctrination of our modern educational system.