The Nation: Hit-Piece In Favor Of The Pro-Deathers

This is a long piece posing as balanced debate, but really is just another, albeit fairly sophisticated, pro-deather rant.

Anti-Choice at the End of Life

Last week a regulation to provide Medicare coverage for advance care planning counseling—that is, offer reimbursement to doctors for time spent talking to patients about end of life care—was abandoned … for the second time.

. . . A collective American reticence to frankly discuss death enables organizations like the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network and NRLC to misinform the public about existing government programs like hospice, Medicare, and other legal tools for the elderly, like advanced directives and medical proxies, which can provide more control over how they age and die.  Combined with a paternalistic medical profession that’s only recently begun training new doctors on how to talk to patients about how to plan their end of life care and a Republican party dependent on the support of anti-choice groups, “pro-life” groups have been able to fundamentally shape state and federal legislation. more

Obamacare Pro-Deather Emanuel Exits - Good!!

So, Obamacare pro-deather Zeke Emanuel has left the White House. Good. Not that his policies have, however . . .

Another Emanuel leaves the W.H.

Zeke Emanuel, a health adviser in the Office of Budget Management, left his White House post this week, a senior administration confirms to POLITICO. more

Obamacare "End Of Life Counseling" Smack-Down

See, when you shine the light on the pro-deathers, they roll over and play dead. The Obamacare provision for “end of life counseling,” dropped from the law passed last year after strenuous opposition, was sneaked back in as a regulation by Democrat lawmakers who made a point to tell their cronies to keep the matter quiet. Too bad for them, word got out and forced the withdrawal of the regulation. Remember: I said these pro-death types play dead – they’ll be back with more lies and deceit before you can say ‘possum.”

Obama administration drops 'death panel' provision after controversy

After enacting a Medicare regulation on Jan. 1 that would reimburse doctors for holding end-of-life planning consults with patients, the Obama administration swiftly reversed the move just three days later, after intense controversy swirled around the issue. more

Politician's Regret? Nah, Just Sorry He Got Caught Out

Here’s why he regrets the email he sent, which asked everyone to keep quiet that they were using regulations to slip in the death panels that were rejected in Obamacare last year – he was outed.

Democrat Who Started Latest Death Panels Row Regrets Email

The Democrat who started the latest national debate over the inclusion of so-called “death panels” by the Obama administration into federal regulations now regrets doing so.

The office of Representative Earl Blumenauer, an assisted suicide advocate from Oregon who works closely with pro-euthanasia groups like Compassion and Choices, alerted supporters of the change the Obama administration implemented and worked to ask them to keep the news quiet.

“We would ask that you not broadcast this accomplishment out to any of your lists e-mails can too easily be forwarded,” his staff wrote. “Thus far, it seems that no press or blogs have discovered it but we will be keeping a close watch and may be calling on you if we need a rapid, targeted response. The longer this [regulation] goes unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it.”

The memo talked of a “quiet” victory and had the congressman worrying about how Republican leaders would “use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth.” more

Obamacare: Yes, There Really Are Death Panels

Just in case you’re still a little confused about the whole “death panel” thing, this piece should clarify it for you. I agree with it entirely.

Death panels are just the first step

Sarah Palin deserves an apology. When she said that the new health-care law would lead to "death panels" deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed.

Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers -- the New York Times -- that she was right. Under a new policy not included in the law for fear the administration's real end-of-life game would be exposed, a rule issued by the recess-appointed Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, calls for the government to pay doctors to advise patients on options for ending their lives.

These could include directives to forgo aggressive treatment that could extend their lives.

This rule will inevitably lead to bureaucrats deciding who is "fit" to live and who is not. more

If It's So Great, Why Is This Administration Trying To Keep It Quiet?

Here’s a longer piece on the sleight-of-hand by the pro-death Obama administration regarding end of life counseling. Note how the pro-deathers have asked everyone to keep it down – they don’t want the news to get out because it’ll p*** people off even more. Such arrogance, such tenacity.

Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir

WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.

Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.

Congressional supporters of the new policy, though pleased, have kept quiet. They fear provoking another furor like the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the idea of end-of-life counseling to argue that the Democrats’ bill would allow the government to cut off care for the critically ill. more

Pro-Death Obamacare Ignores The Public, Governs By Legislation Over Law

Remember how some of us were excoriated when we foresaw not only the “death panel” idea, but that mandating doctors to discuss (with no guarantee that “discuss” couldn’t turn into “coerce”) “end of life planning” would be part of what Obamacare proposed? Well, after the furor, it was removed from the now infamous bill. But guess what?? IT’S BAAACCKK!!!! Only not through the law, but via federal regulation, which accomplishes the same thing – BUT without a congressional vote. Technically, it’s a regulation vs. a law. No matter, it’s another piece of the pro-death puzzle, trust me.

Obama to bring "end of life" planning in through the back door

The idea that "end of life planning" paid for once every 5 years by Medicare will morph into euthanasia counseling was one of the more bizarre arguments against Obamacare when it was proposed two years ago. People have to make informed decisions about how they want their doctor to treat them if they sicken and are unable to make choices about resuscitation and other important end of life issues.

Everyone should have a Living Will that spells out for their family where to draw the line about extraordinary measures that could keep one alive. If you wish to remain in a vegetative state, that should be your choice and should be reflected in the body of the Living Will. With the force of law, no one - not family or government - can alter that decision. As long as it is clear you were of sound mind when you made that decision, your wishes must be respected.

The question isn't whether Living Wills are necessary. The question is should Medicare be paying for such consultations? more

Obamacare Starts To Take It's Deathly Bite - Duh!!

Well when some of us warned a long time ago that Obamacare would mean businesses unloading their health insurance and forcing their employees into Obamacare, we were laughed at (to put it mildly). Guess what? We were right. It’s simply market forces at work – if firms pay for expensive healthcare, and all of a sudden they can save money by terminating it because a government option is available, why wouldn’t they?

Firms cancel health coverage

The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget.

Since April 1, the date many insurance contracts are renewed for small businesses, the owners of about 90 small companies terminated their insurance plans with Braintree-based broker Jeff Rich and indicated in a follow-up survey that they were relying on publicly-funded insurance for their employees. more

NHS Nightmare: "If We Say You're Dead, You're Dead - Don't Argue"

This would be funny if it weren’t so serious, AND a good look into the kind of bureaucracy-gone-mad socialized health care known as the UK’s National Health Service. It’s a very similar system, by the way, to what Obamacare will turn out to be. Run away! Run away!!

Sorry, you can't have an appointment... you're dead!': Hospital refuses to see cancer sufferer because he's 'deceased'

A cancer sufferer was told he could not book a hospital appointment - because records showed he was dead.

Alan Campbell rang a booking system phone line after becoming worried that the disease may have spread to his throat.

But when he tried to make an appointment with the NHS Choose and Book system, a telephone operator informed him their records showed him as 'deceased'. more

Obamacare Promoting Assisted Suicide

My esteemed colleague Rita Marker has written an excellent piece over at American Thinker about how Obamacare could be used to provide assisted suicide to minors without their parents even knowing about it. I’m not optimistic she wrong.

ObamaCare High School: Reading, Writing, and Suicide Assistance?

. . . Consider the following.

A number of life-threatening (indeed, terminal) conditions can be diagnosed in a clinic or through a referral to a hospital on an outpatient basis. A student may be diagnosed through an SBHC's clinic with acute leukemia or melanoma -- all within school hours, when her parents believe she is in class or at band practice. And she could, under the state's law, be "qualified" for assisted suicide, since, in Washington (as well as in Oregon and Montana), the crime of assisted suicide has been transformed into a "medical treatment." That treatment is available to qualified patients who are at least 18 years old.

Within two weeks of her initial diagnosis, the student who had been looking forward to going to the prom could instead be referred to Compassion & Choices, the assisted suicide advocacy organization formerly called the Hemlock Society. (Compassion & Choices is the go-to group for assisted suicide services, responsible for facilitating most reported assisted suicide deaths in Washington and Oregon.)

Before her parents even knew she was ill, she could be given a prescription for a lethal drug overdose. She could take it. And die. more