The Doctor will see you now

Here's B-Daddy on end-of-life counseling:

The left is on the defensive over federal funding to incentive doctors to counsel patients to forgo aggressive end of life treatment, aka "death panels." I am not arguing that doctors shouldn't have a discussion about end of life treatment and patients make their wishes known ahead of time rather than in extremis. Good planning is good planning. But here is why I object to the regulations:

Yes. We're teases. Go here for the rest.


We don't think anyone denies that having the "sit down" with the doctor to map-out what you would like done in end-of-life scenarios is a good thing.


However, as Dr. Donald Berwick, HMFIC of Medicare and Medicaid services comes barging into the room...

"Traditional medical ethics, based on the doctor-patient dyad must be reformulated...The primary function of regulation in health care, especially as it affects the quality of medical care, is to constrain decentralized individualized decision making."

How does that inspire any confidence? How does that convince anyone that this law that was fashioned in such a haphazard and slap-dash fashion is truly concerned with the quality-of-life of the individual rather than bowing before the new statist god of controlling costs?

Good lord, they've become budget hawks!


Beers with Demo new follower update: Karsten Ray is in the house. Welcome, Karsten!