Malcolm Cutchins: People deserve own choice for health care
Columnist
Published: July 31, 2009
Updated: August 27, 2009
A major concern about the current health care issue is who makes the decisions about care or no-care, and upon what do they base that decision.
Professor Peter Singer (an ethicist) was quoted in the New York Times about the matter explaining “why we must ration health care.” He goes on to describe the “death of (one person) is more tragic than the death of (a quite different person), and this should be reflected in our priorities.”
Barack Obama has noted that more of our older citizens should consider “hospice as an option” or just “pain pills” in the future. It is a serious matter whether that would be a personal decision or one forced upon the citizen. There are many stupid things one could do in life. Granting the power to a government bureaucrat (or committee) to decide late-of-life health care decisions (even whose life is worth living) would be near the top of the list.
Obama’s right hand man, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, has a brother (Ezekiel) that has spoken to this issue, i.e. “not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.” He claimed they are “prevented from being or becoming participating citizens.” Of this, Chuck Colson has written, “I’m sorry, but this is the same logic the Nazis used to exterminate the physically and mentally handicapped.” Who knows the potential of individuals, even as the aging process takes place? Tom Watson came within one putt of winning the British Open at 59, just nine months after hip replacement surgery. Prof. Donnell published “Beams, Plates, and Shells” at 81.
Readers may recall my column last year describing Dr. DeBakey’s work on all kinds of heart surgery improvements. He continued his practice into his 90s and died at 99. In his 75-year medical career, DeBakey’s major developments included the blood roller-pump, the Dacron graft used in artery repair, and many of the techniques of coronary by-pass surgery. The roller-pump ultimately made the heart-lung machine feasible and paved the way for open-heart surgery. He made the original Dacron patch on his wife’s sewing machine.
The patch /graft is most commonly used today to fix blocked carotid arteries in the neck to prevent strokes.
Probably celebrities like Watson, Bobby Bowden (80) and Joe Paterno (82) wouldn’t have any trouble being approved for elder care. But who knows? If the medical decisions are taken out of the hand of one’s personal doctor, anything can happen, especially in the case of decisions made by those with warped world views.
There are numerous people in our own communities who are still quite active and productive in their later years. Many more are expected to do the same. A “national” decision on their health needs (or denial of meeting them) is completely inappropriate.
I’ve written it before and it bears repeating: Do readers think that it’s smart to have a plan that would put citizens under one government-run plan, but leave Congress (and the president) under a different plan?
Dr. Malcolm Cutchins is an emeritus professor of engineering of Auburn University and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.
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Thanks to all the posters who took the time to read my columns and post comments.
Captain Plaid tries to give the appearance of being reasonable, but if you go to his blog, he has considerable ad hominem material against me. I hope other posters will pressure him to remove that material. This was posted already but now missing ?
Perhaps reading what Professor Singer wrote in the Gray Lady wasn’t what Dr. Cutchins intended but snaps to him for sending at least one person to the work. For those interested, try http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19healthcare-t.html
Dr. Cutchins failed to reference either of Ezekiel Emanuel’s two Doctorates from Harvard. He’s an oncologist/bioethicist. Likewise, reading the recent cerebral piece he co-authored might not be what Dr. Cutchins wanted but it may be found at http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/PIIS0140673609601379.pdf
I recall a question to President Obama at the ABC event from a Jane Sturm that may be where the “take a pill” line flows. He replied, “... at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what? Maybe this isn’t going to help. Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.“ He also said, “... [T]hose decisions are already being made in one way or another. If they’re not being made under Medicare and Medicaid, they’re being made by private insurers. … We’re not going to solve every single one of these very difficult decisions at end of life, and ultimately that’s going to be between physicians and patients. … [I]f we’ve got experts ...and they are advising doctors across the board that the pacemaker may ultimately save money, then we potentially could have done that faster. .... The point is, we want to use science, we want doctors and—and medical experts to be making decisions that all too often right now are driven by skewed policies, by out-dated means of reimbursement, or by insurance companies….“
I’m not sure about “hospice as an option” being that controversial. I surely appreciated the work a hospice did with my father a decade ago and wish something like that had been around for my mother thirty years ago.
Perhaps Doc heard talk show host Laura Ingraham (Her version of movement conservatism misrepresentations, fear mongering, divisiveness, and self-righteousness is heard on Mike Hubbard’s WANI 1400 six days a week!) on the issue? President Obama merely offered that turning to a hospice program was a legitimate option. Ms. Ingraham claimed the President was telling us “Just die already, just die!“ and then claimed he was asking us to “Embrace death!“
Citing Charles Colson of Watergate/Pentagon Papers infamy as any moral authority suggests Dr. Cutchins is at least willing to forgive and forget. However, his stoking fear that there will be “a plan that would put citizens under one government-run plan” and especially that a bureaucrat or committee, especially “those with warped world views”, would seek to cull certain of our citizens suggests something else.
Excellent column!
If you cannot afford private insurance,well that plan is best for them.With the closing of VETERAN HOSPITALS, around the country those hospitals could be used for people that cannot afford to pay.We are paying for them anyway.I like the way people take one point and make an argument out of it.Twisting the facts to prove a point.But, out of ALL the opinions posted…NOW ONE KNOWS THE ANSWER. I was always told,“to know what you are talking about before you comment on something.Solutions….please
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