Comments on: While Lobbyists Lament Rationing, Patients Sometimes Want It

By: docbets

docbets — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:30:12 +0000

My mother, weak in the head long before she died of whatever it is people with Parkinson's actually die of, kept at me to make her an appointment for her annual GYN exam and tests. When I pressed her, she acknowledged that if she had cancer, she would not want treatment for it, as she was on the way out, anyway, and it would cost the government a lot of money.

Rationing.

She forgot how she had deteriorated, though, so still asked me to schedule that appointment. I delayed doing it and avoided an outright refusal because I knew which was her right mind, and which was not.

When she was close to dying, a nurse at the nursing home tried to persuade me to request the doctor prescribe an antibiotic. She said she was sure my mother could live longer because all she had was a little infection. (As though she hadn't watched her almost deliberately take to her bed, stop eating, sleep many hours a day and stop speaking altogether.)

I suggested the nurse ask the doctor instead of me and she said he would only tell her my mother was dying anyway. Of course, I agreed, and told her it was my responsibility to do as my mother wished, which was to be looked after and not forced to live longer for no reason.

That was rationing.

The nurse was whacked, and lucky I didn't report her outrageous behavior.

By: docbets

docbets — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:30:12 +0000

By: hardaway

hardaway — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:41:07 +0000

As a person who has to think about things like this, I have Advance Directives, a Medical Power of Attorney, a Do Not Resuscitate order, and grandchildren. I am also the widow of a physician who saw people die every day, and refused extraordinary measures as a result. Not saying everyone would choose death over extraordinary measures, but if you have ever done research on terminal illness, you would realize that what people fear most isn't death, it's suffering. And I'm not saying it's up to the government to decide these questions. But it's up to the government to decide rationally how to spend YOUR tax dollar.

By: Karoli

Karoli — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:33:39 +0000

Oh, the elitist charge is so hollow coming from the group that thinks health care should only be available to those who have the zillions of dollars to pay for it. You can call me elitist when you show me a viable solution to a 21,000/year health insurance cost, plus a 3,192.00 cost for generic medication not covered under the formulary list, and $35.00/visit for the doctor.

The fact is that health care is available only to the part of this country that is elite. For the rest of us, we get to scrape to get the basics and pray we don't get really sick. So don't toss the term 'elite' in my face.

As for Grandma, she WANTED to die without tubes and life-prolonging measures, so she wrote a living will saying exactly that. Your argument is a straw-man, partisan scare tactic intended to distract from genuine debate into meaningless rhetoric. But hey, it's a free country, have at it.

By: DjacK

DjacK — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:31:24 +0000

What happens if we implement government based rationing, and then grandma doesn't want to just die like a good progressive? What if grandma or their family wants treatment so they can play with those grandkids for longer than just a couple of weeks? You are making a pretty amazingly judgmental statement when you say the following:

“…often the patient doesn’t even want the extraordinary measures, or doesn’t know he or she is receiving them. It’s the family that “tries anything” and authorizes the medical staff to use extreme measures. “

You are quite elitist if you believe that your views should be forced upon all Americans. How about I tell you this: How dare you!? It should not be up to a government bureaucracy to decide who gets treatment and who gets a pain pill, it should be up to a family, their doctor, and their patient.