Heads Up America: Death Panel Alert!
Kansas City is home to the Center for Practical Bioethics, but it has national influence on end-of-life issues, e.g. their work with former Sen. John Danforth resulted in the Patient Self-Determination Act which forced every health care provider in America to offer all patients living wills. The living will/advanced directive the Center produces and pushes here has refusal of artificially provided nutrition and hydration as the default, unless it is crossed out and initialed. Their group was recently hailed as the reason Kansas City’s end-of-life costs are “significantly” cheaper than other cities around the nation.
Knowing that, and sensing their involvement in the end-of-life issues in national health care reform legislation, we attended a talk by their CEO, Myra Christopher on October 1st at the Kansas City Rotary Club, entitled “End of Life as a Component of Health Care Reform: In or Out”.
We transcribed it from audio and sent it to the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics which is the end-of-life arm of the National Right to Life Committee, our national affiliate.
As a result, the Powell Center blog which is known as THE PLACE to keep track of end-of- life and rationing issues in the health care reform bills, posted the following item below on their blog yesterday! They quote Christopher lamenting money spent on what she calls “futile” care, and her admission that Senator Rockefeller intends to put back end-of-life provisions that were taken out of the health care bills at the “11th hour.”
Myra Christopher was appointed as a citizen member of the Kansas Board of Healing Arts last year by our former Governor, and current HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. Christopher was also a citizen member of Planned Parenthood’s advisory council here in 2006
Pat yourselves on the back KFL supporters. We have the experience,opportunity and connections to be able to do what are sometimes very important things like this, because of YOUR support!
Click Powell Center blog posting: SENATE VOTE LIKELY ON FUNDING MEDICARE DOCTORS TO TALK WITH SENIOR CITIZENS ABOUT REJECTING TREATMENT
