A Patient's View of HR3200

I recently learned that I need to have more surgery. This will be my second operation this year and my sixth in the past five years. I can’t help but wonder what my life would have been like if we had Obama’s health care plan. Although at 51 I am not quite a senior, I would, however, fall into the chronically ill category. Under Speaker Pelosi’s health plan they would definitely want to send somebody to speak to me and my family about the cost of these expensive surgeries and how I am using up medical resources. Considering how much I have already been through, during their “counseling” I would probably be one of the people who would be urged to just be given pain meds and basically put out to pasture with no further costly care given. No surprise that I am selfishly glad my medical problems are occurring now, before any supposedly new and improved plan is implemented!

Yet it has occurred to me that in all the debates about end of life counseling I have yet to hear anyone mention how your perspective and reasoning changes when you are ill or injured. For example, I am a political junkie who loves to keep up on what is happening in Washington and then to write about it in my blog. And yet since I learned that I have blood clots in my lower aorta which has already nearly destroyed my right leg I no longer care very much about what is happening elsewhere and I have opted out of the politics and discussions whirling around about the health care bill. In fact, I was very surprised to realize just how long it has been since my last blog. That really shows how caught up I am in my own personal drama and ignoring the rest of the world.

I think I am typical in that the world narrows when you are ill. All your focus and energy are inward and you simply are unaware of anything else. So I wonder, how would I react if a stranger, a government official, were to council me about end of life decisions right now? How many people who are ill and weak and tired will simply agree to give up when that is presented as a viable choice in the end of life discussions? I know that I was in so much agony this spring before my last surgery that I am not sure what I would have agreed to in order to stop the pain. While we are in the throws of pain or caught up in an illness or simply physically run down we do think and act differently.

Now try to factor in having someone from the government step into the lives of people who are in pain or ill. They say it will be voluntary but when you are that ill you are in no condition to request this so I don’t doubt that others, including the hospital social worker, might call them in for you or even the panel might stop by as a matter of routine to walk through the hospital. Sure you could tell them to go but you simply don’t care and frequently aren’t totally aware of the surroundings around you.

In April I recall being rushed to the hospital and sitting in the waiting room but after that I have no memory for the next six days other than occasional glimpses of what was going on. I was told I talked and interacted with others but I have no memory of this. So just imagine if an official should happen to stop by or even be called by a family member, who knows what I might have said or which choice I might have agreed to but whatever it was I wouldn’t have had any memory of it later on. And by the time someone tells me what I did, it might be too late.

Even if you are alert, it is still a time when confusion reigns as you grapple with what is wrong with you, what the doctor will do, what is the outcome, how you will cope when you get back home, if you will still have a job, who’s taking care of your family, etc. To add to the confusion is the government expert who would present you with five different choices, including end of life services. This last choice would not only take away your pain but would also allow you to avoid all this hassle and confusion you’re encountering right now and yet end of life is probably not something a person would choose if they were in their right mind.

I thought I read that this end of life counseling was going to be discarded from the health plan. But I just heard Obama’s Saturday radio address. He started off by saying he wanted to debunk the health care myths which are spread by those who would benefit the most. Then a minute or so into his speech he says that death panels are not true and not in the plan. Obama is correct in that the phrase “death panel” is not in the plan but there is a section outlining end of life counseling. So once again he is being a lawyer and specifically calibrating his words to confuse the public.

Obama is also correct when he says that those who have the most to gain are fighting the health plan. For it is every day people like you and me who are protesting this outrageous government take-over of our health care because we know we have the most to lose if it is implemented. And if you think hearing about this is tough, just try to listen to this garbage when you are sick, ill, injured or hurt and require help from the health care system. You want your health care system to make you better, to allow you to get the tests you need, to see doctors who can help you and undergo the operations to make you better. The last thing you need is to have some government stranger butt into your life to tell you that one of your choices is to give up and die.