I'm 57 years old, have pretty good health insurance, and have had two relatives die of cancer.
In one of those cases, the relative was constantly checked by a hospice nurse who came and made sure he was comfortable and we were doing all right. In the other, the relative's cancer had spread so badly that there was nothing the doctors could do but be sure he was comfortable in the hours before he died.
With that in mind, I'm angered and incensed by attempts by Republicans, their allied talk show hosts, and members of the religious right to deceive and scare folks against the health insurance reform proposal President Obama and Democrats in Congress are advancing.
Putting it mildly, the attacks are dishonest, despicable, and should not have been given the dignity and credence a Washington Post reporter and others in the mainstream media have given them.
Here's what the
Washington Post is reporting about the Republican's latest scare tactics:
A campaign on conservative talk radio, fueled by President Obama's calls to control exorbitant medical bills, has sparked fear among senior citizens that the health-care bill moving through Congress will lead to end-of-life "rationing" and even "euthanasia."
The controversy stems from a proposal to pay physicians who counsel elderly or terminally ill patients about what medical interventions they would prefer near the end of life and how to prepare instructions such as living wills. Under the plan, Medicare would reimburse doctors for one session every five years to confer with a patient about his or her wishes and how to ensure those preferences are followed. The counseling sessions would be voluntary.
The Washington Post piece also quoted right-wing nut case Randall Terry of Operation Rescue fame as calling the legislation an attempt to "kill Granny."
If Terry, his Republican pals, and the Washington Post scribe thought I'd be gullible to such poppycock, they are badly mistaken, to put it mildly.
The descriptions being presented by right-wing talk radio hosts as reported by the Post AREN'T euthanasia or even end-of-life rationing. At best, they are insults to families of those who have been confronted with what to do when a loved one has to deal with a terminal condition such as cancer or even ALS (better known as Lou Gehrig's disease).
What's being talked about here is NOT what the misleaders on the right are projecting. It's what's known as "hospice."
Here's a definition of what hospice care is:
Care designed to give supportive care to people in the final phase of a terminal illness and focus on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. The goal is to enable patients to be comfortable and free of pain, so that they live each day as fully as possible. Aggressive methods of pain control may be used. Hospice programs generally are home-based, but they sometimes provide services away from home -- in freestanding facilities, in nursing homes, or within hospitals. The philosophy of hospice is to provide support for the patient's emotional, social, and spiritual needs as well as medical symptoms as part of treating the whole person.
Hospice programs generally use a multidisciplinary team approach, including the services of a nurse, doctor, social worker and clergy in providing care. Additional services provided include drugs to control pain and manage other symptoms; physical, occupational, and speech therapy; medical supplies and equipment; medical social services; dietary and other counseling; continuous home care at times of crisis; and bereavement services. Although hospice care does not aim for cure of the terminal illness, it does treat potentially curable conditions such as pneumonia and bladder infections, with brief hospital stays if necessary. Hospice programs also offer respite care workers, people who are usually trained volunteers, who take over the patient's care so that the family or other primary caregivers can leave the house for a few hours. Volunteer care is part of hospice philosophy.
The word "hospice" comes from the Latin "hospitium" meaning guesthouse. It was originally described a place of shelter for weary and sick travelers returning from religious pilgrimages. During the 1960's, Dr. Cicely Saunders began the modern hospice movement by establishing St. Christopher's Hospice near London. St. Christopher's organized a team approach to professional caregiving, and was the first program to use modern pain management techniques to compassionately care for the dying. The first hospice in the United States was established in New Haven, Connecticut in 1974. Today more than 3,000 hospice programs across the country offer comprehensive hospice care. Most insurance plans in the US include hospice as a covered benefit.
This is not anywhere close to what the Republicans and their allies are claiming about the sort of thing being advanced in this legislation. Furthermore, they are insults to folks like me who had relatives and even a co-worker go through some sort of hospice care before death.
Instead of giving these scare tactics credibility, those in the media should understand that what's being referred to is NOT euthanasia or "granny killing." It's called "hospice," and it's been most valuable to those like myself who have seen the help such services have provided for patients and their families in guiding them through the crisis of impending losses of loved ones.
I'm having no part of these lying Republican scare tactics, and those who give them any legitimacy should be boycotted.
