Control is the end goal. It always was and always will be for big government thugs. What could go wrong with the government deciding how much you’re worth treating. Perfect. Doesn’t this follow in a direct manner from President Obama’s accusation that doctors routinely rip tonsils out of children uneccesarily for profit.
Remember, death panels are a figment of Sarah Palin’s imagination.
HT The Blaze
April 1, 2011 at 2:38 am
Why is healthcare so costly? Easy. Insane insurance. You want to make health care cheaper. Tort reform. But the day Congress touches that one will be the day Satan ice skates to work.
Death panels are already a reality in places like the Netherlands (euthanasia is often a nice euphemism for "too expensive"). Fortunately for the congressmen, they will be exempted when they retire.
April 1, 2011 at 5:55 pm
"A Random Friar" — You hit the nail on the head. Even if tort reform doesn't solve everything wrong with health care costs shouldn't discussing it at least be on the table? And yet no one on either side of the isle even puts it out there. I would rather try little solutions like that and see how they work rather than one, large government-run "solution."
April 1, 2011 at 6:27 pm
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/110401
Catholic nurse recounts hospice horror, says Doctor euthanized Priest.
April 1, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Tort reform, yes. But, also, the government adds tremendously to the costs of healthcare with ever increasing bureaucratic requirements. I am a nurse and for ever minute I spend with a patient, I spend 2 or 3 doing paperwork and that's just the nurse. There are a dozen different layers of bureaucracy for every healthcare action. Wages are always the biggest portion of costs for eveything. When there are more people pushing paper than doing the actual work, it is no wonder that costs are extreme.
My favorite part of the video was when McDermot was complaining that doctors control what is done for medical treatment. Yeah, it will be so much better when some one sitting at a desk, looking at financial figures, controls medical treatment instead of someone who spent 12-16 years of study and practice. I know I'd rather have a BS in social work make decisions about my health rather than my cardiologist or oncologist. /sarc
April 1, 2011 at 7:38 pm
Sorry for a second post but I just followed the link anonymous posted. If true, the story about the priest is horrifying, but I have to say, I am a hospice nurse and I can only speak for my agency but we do not murder any one, ever!
The pharmacology would take too long to go into but her stories of fatal doses of morphine, may not be exactly as the article presents. A dose that provides a level of pain relief which allows one person to function normally, may be a dose that would kill a different person instantly. Morphine doses are intensely individualized according to amount of pain experienced and level of tolerance developed.
I don't question that there may be unethical hospices out there. But there are also many that are truly caring, compassionate and acting in accordance with the teachings of the Church.
April 2, 2011 at 4:00 am
Wow – that video is scary! I am a physician and I must have Alzheimers because I can't remember ever setting costs. Unfortunately the government does that and insurance companies follow. For many services we don't even come out even. And if I have ever ordered a test that could have possibly waited – it is only for fear of being sued! So healthcare reform – tort reform – but not more government control.