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Death & cost of terminal care are still taboo among many patients

8/25/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

The provision of reimbursing time given by physicians to counsel patients on end-of-life issues elicited unease and horror among many Americans. Sen. Sarah Palin spoke against it in terms of “death panels” and others thought the measure was a step towards euthanasia. Such fear is expected. The Obama administration debunked these fears as myths.

The public has been reluctant to talk about advance directives, health proxies, and power of attorneys as “rationing” loomed. If money becomes too tight in the healthcare budget, control on who gets the services may be inevitable in USA.

Not representing the majority of US licensed physicians, the American Medical Association (AMA) believes compensating MDs to discuss options of a terminal patient is OK. It saves on expenses while clarifying voluntarily issues about the death process. Upon request however, free advice on life and the dying has been available in medical care since time immemorial. Why then does the government want to shell in additional money for counseling when it is part of healthcare all along? Obviously, money has something to do with it.

“Studies have shown that the 5% of Medicare patients who die each year account for 30% of Medicare's costs, with 78% of last-year-of-life expenses occurring in the month before death. A March 9 Archives of Internal Medicine study of 603 dying cancer patients at seven hospitals, oncology clinics and hospices found that care for patients who had end-of-life discussions with their physicians cost $1,295, compared with $2,780 for patients who did not have such talks.

Anthony L. Back, MD, professor of oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine and an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center,said “encouraging physicians to have extended counseling sessions with their patients through the Medicare system could help patients get the care they want at the end of their lives while saving the health system money.”---AMA News. (08/24/09, O’ Reilly KB)

The counseling supported by AMA may remove barriers and misconceptions in tackling death, but there are practically no rules on what and how the doctor will share his advice. Physicians are inadequately trained on dispensing end-of-life advices. There is a possibility that patients and their relatives may be pressured in their decisions. =0=

RELATED BLOGS: AARP loses 60,000 members in July-August 2009 Posted by mesiamd at 8/18/2009; Sen. Sarah Palin stirs the healthcare debate with her warning of the “death panel” Posted by mesiamd at 8/15/2009

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Labels: AMA, American Medical Association, death panels, euthanasia, life, life and death issues, Medicare, rationing, terminal illness, Totie Mesia

Sen. Sarah Palin stirs the healthcare debate with her warning of the “death panel”

8/15/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

If Alaska Sen. Sarah Palin is dumb as her detractors have portrayed her all along, how come, in spite of her resignation from her governorship, she has been getting attention from the American public? In her recent indictment of the healthcare overhaul proposal of Pres. Barack Obama, she speaks of a “death panel” that looms when it is approved.

Sen. Palin refers to the effect of rationing that has to be done to rein over the cost of medical care. Rationing is almost inevitable in Obama’s healthcare reform for it plans to cover 47 million uninsured people including illegal aliens. There will be sharp need for doctors and nurses for the expected rise in the demand of medical services. Long waiting times may occur. Quality of care will suffer. Delays in diagnostics and treatments like what happens in Canada and other countries are likely. All these can result to an overall rise in the price of the whole healthcare services. And it can lead to the decline in the preeminence of US medical care which attracts patients worldwide.

There are sectors in society who boldly sell their judgment on who is worthy to avail of the resources of the government. If there will be any cost-cutting measures, the elderly, the disabled, the very young and handicapped are threatened to be denied of services in favor of the young and productive.

Healthcare Discrimination

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, a radical adviser of Barack Obama believes that the life of Americans 15 to 50 years are more valuable and therefore deserving of services more than the old, the chronically ill, and the dying. Put in a compromising stance, Emanuel disavowed his previous support on rationing. Disguised as humanitarian, his scary point of view is an extension of the old debate that supposes that the unborn in the womb is expendable and it’s OK to abort them. Obama is pro-abortion.

After reversing the pro-life policy of Pres. George W. Bush, Obama has already started funding of abortion at taxpayers’ expense not only in the United States, but outside the country. One can see why the debate on “death panel” raised by Palin has morphed into a human rights and moral issue that casts doubt on the Obama plan. The selection on who may live may shift from fetuses in utero to those who are old and unproductive in society.

My Personal Experience

Sen. Palin knows so well because of Trig, her son born with disabling Down’s Syndrome. I can just sympathize with her because I too am handicapped with an unrelenting rare blood disorder. Under Medicare, I have been denied of diagnostic tests and treatments, an aftermath of cost-cutting and government rules interfering with my doctor’s medical judgment.

My doctor and I have to be contented with a medical regimen that is second in line (and probably less effective than what was originally planned.) Such insurance-mandated treatments may shorten my survival and that of other patients who are prevented to get the first line medical intervention.

I have to buy additional coverage from private insurances to help when my primary insurance falters. Speaking from experiene, by responsibly planning one's medical needs and spending for them, one can avoid devastating mistakes. Despite the imperfections of my coverage, my gut tells me problems in healthcare will worsen with what Obama is proposing.

End of Life Issues & Medical Reimbursement

In a push to “popularize” end of life decisions, a group of Obama supporters have inserted in the healthcare bill an end of life provision that will give reimbursements to doctors who discuss to their patients on how to decide on death issues. The provision somehow validates Palin’s “death panel” fears. It is a step closer to the door of euthanasia or something more sinisterly evil. Though optional, the proposed money incentive creates a pressure to direct a patient to decide. To avoid problems ahead, the congressmen decided to drop the provision.

Sarah’s liberal detractors labeled her assertions as “false rumors” and "alarmist" but the intent of the Medicare reimbursements are ominously suggestive. The provision they dropped has hints of selective triage on who deserves to live. That’s not unexpected for there those who won’t stop at anything---at a cost on trampling on age-old moral values---just to cut down the expense of healthcare.

The old and the very young and those with diseases requiring expensive treatments are vulnerable in these cost-saving measures. If they think certain persons are socially expendable, they want to throw the sanctity of life out of the window. Assurances to the contrary is offered by Obama, but will they hold when the right time comes?

Healthcare Intrusion to Private Lives

Plans are in the offing for a group of health experts in government to oversee the decision on who can avail of standard medical care and who will avail of them with what kind of doctor and where. The experts will have access to information of patients when electronic records are set up. Those who fall outside their regulations may be denied or be challenged to go on appeal, delaying treatment, without assurance of success. So we know why the healthcare debate has heated up all over America.

Bureaucrats are inching their way to ram into the throats of the public a social plan that tends to devalue the life of a certain segment of society. The town meetings across America are airing the voice of the angry opposition. Trying to snuff off dissent, those who want to push the healthcare reform have accused these meetings as disruptive handiworks of the mob. Obama blamed the media for paying attention to the protesters.

Foiling Effective Dialogue

Sen. Nancy Pelosi of California (D,) among other partisans, called protesters of the heathcare bill anti-American and pro-Nazi. Such immature accusations by a government official frustrates meaningful discussions to resolve the complex issues of the problem.

The healthcare proposal is promised to be cheap. But the calculations of expenses have run into trillions of dollars that compromise taxpayers’ money. The huge spending and debts scare ordinary Americans who believe it will be hard to come out solvent in this ambitious plan. There are so many promises to digest from Pres. Barack Obama and his self-avowed cognoscentis. Tempers rise. Frustration and confusion take over.

What Can be Done?

Reining on healthcare expenses can start with limiting bureaucracy and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. Electronic records will bring savings. Personal healthcare accounts and aavings for expected medical needs must be encouraged. Give the people medical choice (not the single public payer which give the government too much control) to allow market forces to work with competing companies.

Implement tort reform in mediicine to discourage frivolous lawsuits that jack-up the overhead expenses of health professionals. Disease prevention must be emphasized to avoid expensive treatment when people get sick. Limit government intrusion on the freedom of doctors to treat their patients.

Palin as Victim of Media bias

Amazing! Sarah Palin whom the arrogant liberals and the biased media have demonized, cajoled, underestimated and labeled as dumbed now stands in the forefront of “activism." In her straightforward way, the victim of hate and scorn helps make the public aware of the other side of Obama’s healthcare proposal. She asks people to weigh on crucial issues that our health system, comprising a 1/6th of the US economy.

Sarah may be more informed than some of her political counterparts. Many lawmakers and their constituents don’t know the intricacies of the healthcare bill which comes in more than a 1,000 pages. Majority of lawmakers don’t know what is in the book. They haven’t read it. But Obama wants it approved in a snap of a hand, just like the $787 billion bailout that is hyped as the panacea of America’s financial problems. In bated breath, America is waiting with trepidation. (Photo Credit: infacinatorin; healthcare4every1) =0=

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Labels: death panels, debate, euthanasia, Health, healthcare reform, Medicare, Medicine, moral values, Sarah Palin, universal healthcare

Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, 90, defender of the unborn & the dying

12/13/2008 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

America’s champion of the unborn, Cardinal Avery Dulles of the Society of Jesus died at the age of 90 on Friday, December 12, 2008 in the infirmary of Fordham University in New York where he served as professor for 20 years.

A former disbeliever of God and convert to Catholicism, he served the Navy before he was ordained as a Jesuit in 1956. Fr. Dulles was appointed in the College of Cardinals by the late John Paul II in 2001. Considered by many as the dean of American Catholic theologians, the humble Jesus follower had strong opinion on abortion and euthanasia:

“Many politicians, like much of the American public, seem to be unaware that abortion and euthanasia are serious violations of the inalienable right to life. These are not just 'Church' issues but are governed by the natural law of God, which is binding upon all human beings. The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights, since a person deprived of life has no other rights.” Photo Credit: AP/ Massimo Sambucetti) =0=

REQUIESCAT IN PACE

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Labels: abortion, Cardinal Avery Dulles, Catholic, death, euthanasia, Jesuits, Obituary, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Society of Jesus, Totie Mesia

UP Ibalon Bicol

Death & cost of terminal care are still taboo among many patients

Sen. Sarah Palin stirs the healthcare debate with her warning of the “death panel”

Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, 90, defender of the unborn & the dying

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