To the Editor:
As a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, which is to be fully implemented in 2014, “death panels” are starting to take shape.
In a recorded interview with Mark Levin, Jeff, a neurosurgeon, described during meeting with other colleagues and a spokesman from the Health and Human Services department in Washington, D.C., what it will mean for his profession.
“If someone over 70 years old has a bleed on the brain in the middle of the night, I have to wait for a panel in Washington to tell me whether I can operate. Without special permission to operate, the new prescription for a bleed on the brain for people over 70 years of age will be ‘comfort care’,” Jeff said.
Such decisions will not be determined by a doctor’s evaluation of whether surgery would provide the patient with more years of high quality life; if you’re over 70, it will be a death sentence. By the way, during the meeting, the term for patients was “units.”
If the government feels the need to reduce the health budget further, they will chage the definition of a “long term life” from 70 years to 65 years of age. We have seen this occur in Social Security when the age to draw full benefits was increased from 65 to 70 years of age.
The concept of “Affordable Health Care” did not mean more affordable for American citizens, but more affordable for the government.
Randy Miller
Carrollton, OH
<<Back>> |
