This is what was excoriated as "death panels". How did my father's party become so hateful and cynical?
2
comments:
Anonymous
said...
I'm not sure what concerns me more.
1. The fear groups who call this a death panel. 2. The fact that a Gov't organization thinks they need to tell a doctor what conversation to have with a patient and when to have it. 3. That we might actually have to tell a Doctor when and what to say to a patient.
I, on principle, disagree with any mandate driven by Gov't. The beauracrats will make a mess of this and lawyers will file suits like crazy and make all the money. Doctors will pay more for malpractice and the patients will suffer in the end. Then, maybe, we will all look for the death panels.
As you know, this is not easy. We went through this with my father in law as you did with your Dad. Ultimately, the patient, doctor and family need to be included and make the decision that is correct for them.
My impression was that the original legislation just allowed the doctor to be paid for the consultation, not that it was mandated. On the other hand, when Dad died, the doctors didn't do it, so the current system failed. Human nature is to avoid having difficult conversations like "your Mom is dying and you need to plan for it" and doctors are human. Whether it's a mandate or merely shifting of the physician culture, we need to do something.
The fear group (and let's not kid ourselves, it was the Republican party) killed legislation that would have improved peoples lives. They did it for partisan benefits. And they did it by intentionally misrepresenting the legislation.
Posts
2 comments:
I'm not sure what concerns me more.
1. The fear groups who call this a death panel.
2. The fact that a Gov't organization thinks they need to tell a doctor what conversation to have with a patient and when to have it.
3. That we might actually have to tell a Doctor when and what to say to a patient.
I, on principle, disagree with any mandate driven by Gov't. The beauracrats will make a mess of this and lawyers will file suits like crazy and make all the money. Doctors will pay more for malpractice and the patients will suffer in the end. Then, maybe, we will all look for the death panels.
As you know, this is not easy. We went through this with my father in law as you did with your Dad. Ultimately, the patient, doctor and family need to be included and make the decision that is correct for them.
J.B.
My impression was that the original legislation just allowed the doctor to be paid for the consultation, not that it was mandated. On the other hand, when Dad died, the doctors didn't do it, so the current system failed. Human nature is to avoid having difficult conversations like "your Mom is dying and you need to plan for it" and doctors are human. Whether it's a mandate or merely shifting of the physician culture, we need to do something.
The fear group (and let's not kid ourselves, it was the Republican party) killed legislation that would have improved peoples lives. They did it for partisan benefits. And they did it by intentionally misrepresenting the legislation.
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