Is Euthanasia Included in National ‘Health Care’ Reform?
Does 'Health Care Reform' also require that anyone on Social Security undergo a mandatory counseling session every five years?
Betsy McCaughey is a patient advocate who was interviewed Monday morning by former Senator Fred Thompson. In that interview she claimed that 'Health Care Reform' would require that anyone on Social Security undergo a mandatory counseling session every five years.
PrintWASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – It seems that wherever you look or listen these days you find President Obama talking up his plan for “Health care Reform.” What is clear is that he wants Congress to pass this legislation quickly and present it to him for immediate signature. What is also clear is that anyone who opposes it is now being demonized.
For example, his comments outside of Children's National Medical Center Monday painted the dire picture of “children being denied health care when they have pre-existing conditions.” He reminded all who viewed his comments (covered on all the major networks) that “we are a country that always chooses a harder right over an easier wrong.” I guess he meant to imply that those who question this plan are simply wrong, no matter their reason.
Oh really Mr. President? Many of us who oppose the current plan do so because the killing of children in the first home of the whole human race, their mother’s womb, is considered “health care” under this proposal. Abortion is not health care, it will never be health care; it is the killing of innocent children. The taking of the lives of our first neighbors is always and everywhere wrong.
Mr. President, how does calling abortion a “health care service” possibly line up with your claimed concern for children’s health? What about the health of those children whose lives will be taken through procured abortions which, under this plan, would now multiply by being paid for through taxpayer dollars?
Now, it seems that this serious concern we all have for protecting human life and this "Health Care" legislation as it currently exists may actually be an even more deadly matter. By the time I had had my second cup of coffee this morning I received the ninth E-Mail passing on a claim that this plan is fatally infected with the ideology of the culture of death at both ends of life.
Betsy McCaughey is a patient advocate, the founder of the “Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths” and a former lieutenant governor of New York. She was interviewed Monday morning by former Senator Fred Thompson. In that interview she claimed that this same “Health Care Reform” would require that anyone on Social Security undergo a mandatory counseling session every five years.
After receiving that ninth E-mail on this matter, I actually listened to the entire interview. Frankly, it was deeply disturbing. Her further claim is that this mandatory counseling would include a discussion of what are euphemistically called “end of life” options.As a pro-life lawyer of several decades, I know what that phrase entails.
A quick search of Dr. McCaughey on the internet revealed a flurry of attacks on her claims that this National Health Reform encourages euthanasia. However, it was interesting that none of the attackers refuted her specific claims as they related to the legislation and her references to page numbers in the voluminous bill. They all sought to destroy her credibility through the use of guilt by association tactics.
Therefore, the question still remains on the table. Will this National “Health Care” Plan encourage our elderly to take their own lives rather than somehow become a “drain” on the rest of us? Will it withhold medical care from them based upon a bureaucrat’s decision regarding so called “quality of life” issues? Will it encourage the rationing of medical services? Will it counsel the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration in order to expedite their death? In short, is Euthanasia included in this National ‘Health Care’ Reform?
The more I have looked at the proposals the more it seems not only possible, but probable. After all, when the foundational understanding of the dignity of every human person is removed from our approach to health care in the spring of life, with the acceptance of the killing of innocent children in the womb being considered as a “health service”, it is profanely consistent to see the same approach applied in the winter of life.
I want to be proven wrong on this. I want to hear that euthanasia is rejected in the National Health Care proposal. I hope that the E mails I received and the interview I heard concern a fear not founded in reality or an overreaction. I invite responses which will refute the claims of Dr. McCaughey. However, I thought it too important not to bring this urgent matter to the attention of our readers.
In the words of the Encyclical letter, the “Gospel of Life”: “Abortion and euthanasia are … crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. …In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to "take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it".
This Thursday, major pro-life leaders will holding a webcast entitled “Stop the Abortion Mandate.” Information on the webcast can be obtained at http://www.stoptheabortionmandate.com/ I encourage participation in this important event. The pace at which this proposal is being pushed by the President and the recent example of voluminous bills being passed which were not even read, demands a serious review of every aspect of this proposed legislation.
Pray for our Nation. Be prepared to do all you can to stop any effort to use what is called National Health Care Reform to promote and fund the taking of innocent human life at any age or stage.
For example, his comments outside of Children's National Medical Center Monday painted the dire picture of “children being denied health care when they have pre-existing conditions.” He reminded all who viewed his comments (covered on all the major networks) that “we are a country that always chooses a harder right over an easier wrong.” I guess he meant to imply that those who question this plan are simply wrong, no matter their reason.
Oh really Mr. President? Many of us who oppose the current plan do so because the killing of children in the first home of the whole human race, their mother’s womb, is considered “health care” under this proposal. Abortion is not health care, it will never be health care; it is the killing of innocent children. The taking of the lives of our first neighbors is always and everywhere wrong.
Mr. President, how does calling abortion a “health care service” possibly line up with your claimed concern for children’s health? What about the health of those children whose lives will be taken through procured abortions which, under this plan, would now multiply by being paid for through taxpayer dollars?
Now, it seems that this serious concern we all have for protecting human life and this "Health Care" legislation as it currently exists may actually be an even more deadly matter. By the time I had had my second cup of coffee this morning I received the ninth E-Mail passing on a claim that this plan is fatally infected with the ideology of the culture of death at both ends of life.
Betsy McCaughey is a patient advocate, the founder of the “Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths” and a former lieutenant governor of New York. She was interviewed Monday morning by former Senator Fred Thompson. In that interview she claimed that this same “Health Care Reform” would require that anyone on Social Security undergo a mandatory counseling session every five years.
After receiving that ninth E-mail on this matter, I actually listened to the entire interview. Frankly, it was deeply disturbing. Her further claim is that this mandatory counseling would include a discussion of what are euphemistically called “end of life” options.As a pro-life lawyer of several decades, I know what that phrase entails.
A quick search of Dr. McCaughey on the internet revealed a flurry of attacks on her claims that this National Health Reform encourages euthanasia. However, it was interesting that none of the attackers refuted her specific claims as they related to the legislation and her references to page numbers in the voluminous bill. They all sought to destroy her credibility through the use of guilt by association tactics.
Therefore, the question still remains on the table. Will this National “Health Care” Plan encourage our elderly to take their own lives rather than somehow become a “drain” on the rest of us? Will it withhold medical care from them based upon a bureaucrat’s decision regarding so called “quality of life” issues? Will it encourage the rationing of medical services? Will it counsel the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration in order to expedite their death? In short, is Euthanasia included in this National ‘Health Care’ Reform?
The more I have looked at the proposals the more it seems not only possible, but probable. After all, when the foundational understanding of the dignity of every human person is removed from our approach to health care in the spring of life, with the acceptance of the killing of innocent children in the womb being considered as a “health service”, it is profanely consistent to see the same approach applied in the winter of life.
I want to be proven wrong on this. I want to hear that euthanasia is rejected in the National Health Care proposal. I hope that the E mails I received and the interview I heard concern a fear not founded in reality or an overreaction. I invite responses which will refute the claims of Dr. McCaughey. However, I thought it too important not to bring this urgent matter to the attention of our readers.
In the words of the Encyclical letter, the “Gospel of Life”: “Abortion and euthanasia are … crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. …In the case of an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it is therefore never licit to obey it, or to "take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or vote for it".
This Thursday, major pro-life leaders will holding a webcast entitled “Stop the Abortion Mandate.” Information on the webcast can be obtained at http://www.stoptheabortionmandate.com/ I encourage participation in this important event. The pace at which this proposal is being pushed by the President and the recent example of voluminous bills being passed which were not even read, demands a serious review of every aspect of this proposed legislation.
Pray for our Nation. Be prepared to do all you can to stop any effort to use what is called National Health Care Reform to promote and fund the taking of innocent human life at any age or stage.
- - -
Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
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Linda, Thank you for your sane approach to this topic.
Even though I want national health care reform, this new detail has very sinister consequences. To believe that counseling is the only step that will be taken is to ignore history. What always starts out as a great idea with the government is usually followed by an evil that we can not put back in the bottle.
Why is it that people refuse to see the truth even when it is presented right to there face? Read his reform, you will find that our president believes he has the power to offer a choice to die.
This entire opinion piece is simply wrong and intended to mislead people to refuse to support medical care reform. Right now, the insurance industry denies care or delays payment in order to make huge profits. Care is rationed by whether the patient has money or not. And this bill will undo that, making decent care available to all. Every person will eventually die, and most of us have wishes about how that happens. I hope that I can be in my own bed, not in a hospital unconscious and tied to tubes that are trying to extend my life for another 2 hours. I want to be able to say that to my doctor and have my doctor adhere to my wishes, rather than to have the GOP right wing pass a law demanding that the doctor do what they think is right. That's what the passage in HR 3200 is all about--PAYING FOR the right of a patient to consult and set up end-of-life instructions, rather than having patients DO THAT NOW WITHOUT MEDICARE PAYING FOR IT. This entire brouhaha about euthanasia is an intentionally misleadingly wrong statement about the bill in order to try to push it offtrack. Why Catholics should be catering to Big Insurance is beyond me, but that is what you are doing in this editorial.
There really is no such thing as a "credible news resource" anymore. All of the major media outlets are owned by interests that control every aspect of what is broadcast. I have been in the broadcast industry for many years in different capacities and this is a fact. The only thing that a media source can do is point you in a direcition. The best advice is to look at the actual bill itself and devine your conclusions based on facts at hand. ABC, CBS, NBC, Rueters, AP et. al will only advertise and promote what is in the best interest of the owners of the above mentioned companies. A small number of individuals and organizations stand to make a great deal of money out of the proposed healthcare plan and by all indications the plan itself will be devastating across the board to anyone other than those who are engineering it.
To Mr Helton
There are many, many sources which confirm the dangers. Here is only one
"Obamacare and YOUR mandatory end-of-life consultation"
From the Bioethics Defense Fund
This very reputable organization encourages you to educate yourself:
READ pages 424-434 of the Obama Administration's Health Care Bill (H.R. 3200) and to be vigilant about this language making its way into compromise bills.
H.R. 3200 seems to give the government power to require "advance care planning consultations" for Medicare recipients to discuss future end-of-life decisions; (pp. 424-434). This consultation may result in "actionable medical orders" for future medical situations that can not be anticipated at the time the orders were written.
The House version of the Obama Health Care Plan provides:
The term "requirement" on page 428, line 22 supports the interpretation that such consultations are mandatory;
Such an interpretation of this vague and overbroad bill would require that the consultation take place every 5 years or more frequently if there is a "significant change in the health condition of the individual"; (p. 428, lines 17-25)
That consultation by an undesignated physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant "may include the formulation of an order regarding life sustaining treatment"; (p. 429, lines 1-3)
"Order regarding life sustaining treatment" is defined as an "actionable medical order" that "is in a form that stays with the individual and [is] followed by health care professionals and providers across the continuum of care." (p. 429, line 4-16);
The order may indicate treatment ranging from "full treatment to an indication to limit some or all or specified interventions" including "the use of antibiotics" and "the use of artifically administered nutrition and hydration." (p. 430, lines 4-17)
What the bill does NOT say:
The wording of the bill does not provide that the individual must consent to the "actionable medical order regarding life sustaining treatment."
The bill does not clarify whether the end of life counseling is optional for the provider or the patient.
The bill is also silent on whether the physician or other health professional writing the order will be your personal health care provider.
SUMMARY: This broad and imprecise bill is wide open to be interpreted as mandating "advanced care planning consultations" -- giving the government unprecedented power in shaping who makes the decisions regarding your personal healthcare decisions after the age of 65.
Raising the issues now is the only life affirming and prudent thing to do.
All I see in your piece is a bunuch of stuff you heard i a chain E-mail. According to the news, I know of nothing that contains euthanasia in this bill. If you want to argue against affordable healthcare for all Americans, get some facts from credible news sources before you do so
I really dont like saying this but I hope this isnt the beginning of genetic cleansing going on?
This is really scary. Is this Part II of what the Euthanasia group want as a perfect world?
Im wondering why the powers that be are so afraid of adult stem cell research and I also want to know why they are so afraid of the Catholic Church?
Its quite obvious the Catholic Church stands in the way of the evil and darkness being done for the so called sake of humanity?
I hope we have a better way in the future and I hope its inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ. THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.
Im for science but not an unethical science.
Ive read 1984 and remember some of it.
If anyone gets the chance take a look at the movie with Charleton Hestong and Edward G. Robinson (ironically his last picture.) Its called "Soylent Green", Im not saying this is whats going to happen but this is a scary picture to some degree even though its dated etc.
Maybe somewhat interesting in light of the debate going on.
God Bless.
Greg,
When you speak of devaluing human life, think about the homeless people that you pass on the street. Do you see them as God's children? Do you see them at all?
When bombs are dropped in a war, do you see the people on the ground as God's children?
When you read about someone abusing the welfare system, do you see him as one of God's children?
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being too ready to condemn someone else. The Pharisees had the good sense to be ashamed of themselves and NOT throw the first stone.