Fear Itself

If, like so many Americans who are regular Fox "Scared and Unbalanced" News watchers, you are afraid of the government's plan to institute a "Death Panel" who will decide the fate of your loved ones, you can rest easy. It turns out that is not a feature of the proposed health care reform. Even though such clever pundits as former Alaskan governor Quitty McQuitterson would like you to believe that the health care legislation bill promotes euthanasia, it's not true. Even if the person in question is incredibly ignorant.
And so it goes this summer. The days are growing shorter again right along with our attention spans. Upon closer inspection, a provision in the House bill written by Representative Earl Blumenauer from Oregon, would allow Medicare to pay doctors for voluntary counseling sessions that address end-of-life issues. It's more a "living-will" kind of thing, not a "Soylent Green" kind of thing. The legislation would block funds for counseling that presents suicide or assisted suicide as an option.
So what is all this hollering about? The government already requires hospitals to ask adult patients if they have a living will, or "advance directive." If the patient doesn't have one, and wants one, the hospital has to provide assistance. This mandate on hospitals was instituted in 1992, under President George H.W. Bush, a well-known socialist. The National Right to Life Committee opposes the provision as written. "I'm not aware of 'death panels' in the bill," said David O'Steen, executive director of The National Right to Life Committee. "I'm not aware of anything that says you will be hauled before a government bureaucrat. But we are concerned. It doesn't take a lot to push a vulnerable person, perhaps unwittingly, to give up their right to life-sustaining treatment." Gee Dave, how do you expect to get on "Fox and Friends" with rational discussion like that?