DOCTOR'S ORDERS

Euthanasia advocates authored part of Obamacare

'Self determined dying' compared to 'women's reproductive health'

Posted: August 13, 2009
11:15 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Part of the controversial Obamacare proposal pending in Congress that discusses "end-of-life" counseling and medical procedures that could be rationed based on the age of the patient and other factors was written by suicide advocates who argue openly for the "right" to death, according to reports.

The sources for the Obamacare provisions have been documented on a blog for Family Research Council Action and discussed by prominent pro-life columnist Jill Stanek.

"Come again that promotion of euthanasia isn't part of Section 1233?" Stanek wrote in her new explanation of the dangers of Obamacare. "Kudos to FRC's The Cloakroom …for drawing attention to the fact that the two authors of Section 1233 are major proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide."

The authors include an Oregon congressman who has argued for assisted suicide before federal courts and an organization that openly boasts it helps "thousands of clients each year by ... guiding their search for a peaceful, humane death...."

On the FRC Action website, the criticism of the bill explained it has "been getting some heat" over its criticism of the plan.

"Today comes (a) smoking gun … with the group Compassion & Choices coming out defending the questionable rationing portions of the bill and admitting THEY ACTUALLY WROTE THE LANGUAGE!" FRC Action said.

Stanek took up the explanation:

"The group Compassion & Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society, also says it had a hand in crafting Section 1233, writing July 27: 'Compassion & Choices has worked tirelessly with supportive members of Congress to include in proposed reform legislation a provision requiring Medicare to cover patient consultation with their doctors about end-of-life choice (section 1233 of House Bill 3200),'" she wrote.

"Compassion & Choices calls itself part of the 'aid-in-dying movement,'" she continued, quoting from the organization's description of itself:

... An organization dedicated to care of terminally ill patients, including those seeking a hastened death....

Compassion & Choices... improves care and expands choice at the end of life....

Our professional staff and trained volunteers help thousands of clients each year by... guiding their search for a peaceful, humane death....

We offer information on self-determined dying...
The second party claiming authorship of some of the controversial parts of the plan is Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who wrote about his state's "Death with Dignity" law that allows doctors to give patients fatal doses of medication:

"The amicus brief I have filed with other members of the delegation supports the (appellate) court's decision to uphold Oregon's Death with Dignity law. In 1994, Oregon overwhelmingly approved physician-assisted suicide in a statewide vote. … Former U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft repeatedly attempted to undermine the Oregon law using various methods. Each time the judge ruled in favor of the Oregon law. I am pleased that Attorney General Gonzalez' attempt to overturn the will of the people has been no more successful than his predecessor's."

While physician assisted suicide is a contentious issue, it is an issue handled at the state level and the attorney general should not be permitted to deprive the citizens of Oregon and the nation the opportunity to make end of life decisions."
Blumenauer has condemned criticism of Obamacare's provisions.

"The provision included in H.R. 3200 simply allows Medicare to pay for a conversation between patients and their doctors if the patient wishes to speak about his or her preferences and values," the congressman said. "The new Medicare benefit would allow doctors to be compensated for these conversations every five years, and more frequently if a patient has a life-limiting illness or health status changes."

He said without such "discussions," "families are left struggling to make decisions in the midst of turmoil."

Compassion and Choices also condemned criticism of the bill.

Citing its work on the language of the bill, it said, "Anti-choice extremists and their allies in Congress have begun attacking this critical provision, saying it will 'promote euthanasia' and that it's part of a cynical plan to deny health care to the elderly and terminally ill."

On Stanek's blog, participants shared her alarm.

"What's conspicuously absent is a provision that the patient consents to orders written after the counseling session. Or that the orders be written by the patient's primary care physician," wrote one.

"'Self determined dying' sounds as innocent and good for us as 'women's reproductive health,'" said another. "Have to dress it up to sell it."

"Frankly, the death culture has strongly permeated our nation, especially among the liberal elite," wrote a third. "Many of them will either deny, make fun of or outright oppose the pro-life position."

Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, has had his organization analyze the plan, and confirmed it contains health care rationing, a national health ID card complete with government access to personal bank accounts, government decisions on what health care benefits are available and mandatory taxpayer support for abortion.

Staver condemned the health plan as worse than China's mandatory one-child policy.

The Liberty Counsel analysis said under Section 1308, the government will dictate marriage and family therapy as well as mental health services, including the definitions of those treatments, and under Section 1401, a Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research would be set up, creating a bureaucracy through which federal employees could determine whether any treatment is "comparatively effective" for any individual based on the cost, likely success and probably the years left in life.

It also, according to Staver, "covers abortions, transsexual surgeries, encourages counseling as to how many children you should have, whether you should increase the interval between children."

The Liberty Counsel analysis also pointed out the government would be allowed to ration health care procedures, prevent "judicial review" of its decision, tell doctors what income they can have, impose new taxes for anyone not having an "acceptable" coverage, regulate whether seniors can have wheelchairs, penalize hospitals or doctors whose patients require "readmission," prevent the expansion of hospitals and set up procedures for home visits by health care analysts.

Under Section 440, Liberty Counsel said, the government "will design and implement Home Visitation Program for families with young kids and families that expect children." And Section 194 provides for a program that has the government "coming into your house and teaching/telling you how to parent," LC said.

Petition Obama and Congress

WND has introduced a new petition: Let the White House and Congress know exactly what you think of socialized medicine in the U.S.A.!

Here's the petition wording:

PETITION DEMANDING THAT THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS STOP TRYING TO FORCE SOCIALIZED MEDICINE ON AMERICA

To: The President of the United States, The Congress of the United States

Whereas, wherever government-run health care, or socialized medicine, has been adopted it has led to severe rationing – which means outright denial – of life-saving medical treatment, particularly to the elderly and very ill (for example, British seniors, under their government-run system, are routinely denied treatment for cancer, heart disease and other deadly illnesses);

Whereas, Obama's "special adviser for health policy," Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel, is a longtime advocate of "age-weighted medical rationing" – meaning, the older you are, the less care you get, just like the British system;

Whereas, Barack Obama, Barney Frank and other top federal officials have explicitly and publicly stated their ultimate goal is a "single-payer" health care system – that is, completely socialized, with no private insurance – despite their claims now to the contrary;

Whereas, despite repeated assurances by Obama that "if you're happy with your current insurance or doctor, you can keep it under my plan," his plan would inevitably and intentionally drive private insurance out of business, leaving only the government to oversee Americans' health care and approve their treatment;

Whereas, as columnist Charlotte Allen explained in the Los Angeles Times, "In looking for a way to fund healthcare, Obama has set his eye on the oldest and sickest. … About 30 percent of Medicare spending – nearly $100 billion annually – goes to care for patients during their last year of life. What if there were no 'last year of life,' the president seems to be asking. ... [W]hy not save billions of dollars by killing off our own unproductive oldsters and terminal patients, or – since we aren't likely to do that outright in this, the 21st century – why not simply ensure that they die faster by denying them costly medical care? The savings could then subsidize care for the younger and healthier";

Whereas, Obama himself admitted during a June town hall event televised by ABC News that one way to cut medical costs would be to stop expensive procedures on people about to die, saying: "Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller";

Whereas, the government's own nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says Obamacare will increase the government's already obscene level of deficit spending by hundreds of billions of dollars;

Whereas, a federal government takeover of the entire health care delivery system is in flagrant violation of the U.S. Constitution:

We, the undersigned, assert our rights as citizens of the United States in demanding that the Obama administration and Congress stop referring to normal, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens who oppose government's attempted takeover of medical care as a "mob"; that it cease and desist using Chicago thug political tactics in an attempt to intimidate citizens from exercising their First Amendment free speech right; and most of all, that it abandon its plan to utterly destroy America's health care system, which is the envy of the world, and to replace it with a system that has failed miserably in every country in which it has been adopted.

If you agree with the above and are outraged at Obama's Big Brother-style intimidation approach to achieving his long-time goal of socialized medicine, don't wait for some snitch to turn you in. Be bold. Be courageous. Be an American. Sign this petition and let Obama know you oppose his diabolical plan to become doctor-in-chief.

As soon as the petition gains its first 25,000 names, WND will forward the petition to the White House and Congress, and each time another 25,000 sign, they'll be forwarded too.

This is not a time to cower in fear, but to let your government know in overwhelming numbers that you oppose what will, unquestionably, be the destruction of the best health care system in the entire world.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106812