Yet more ridiculous rumors about health care

[passerine]

Disclaimer: I haven't read all of the health care bill. However, I doubt very many people have. I just want to debunk some of the obvious nonsense that is going around.


First of all, advanced care directives do not, in ANY universe, equal "mandatory euthanasia counseling for senior citizens!" This one is so off-base that I don't even know where to BEGIN. I guess I can begin by saying that euthanasia is euthanasia, and last I knew it was still generally illegal to deliberately kill human beings for such a purpose or even to aid a suicide attempt. However, removing someone with essentially no brain function from life support is NOT euthanasia. Comfort care and hospice programs are NOT euthanasia. Following a DNR order is NOT euthanasia. And besides, advanced care directives are about making sure that people make the decisions about what happens when they're incapacitated BEFORE IT HAPPENS - whatever that decision is. That means you don't have to sign any DNR order, you can pursue active treatment rather than comfort care to the bitter end, and you can request to be kept ON life support machines even if you're in a persistent vegetative state. If that's what you want, go for it.

Next, the nonsense about how the UK is allegedly refusing to perform heart surgery on anyone over age 59. Plenty of people from the UK have come forward to debunk this one, yet it persists. WHY?

And also that thing about "accepting the conditions that come with age" is referring to WRINKLES, not to HEART DISEASE. Talk about taking statements out of context.

Comments

[holyschist]

I am rabid about advanced care directives, positively rabid. They save your family from having to guess what you wanted, and they save you from your family putting their beliefs and wishes above yours. And I really need to make one, because one is never too young to be hit by a bus. After my dad--who had one, thank god, and one that allowed for the possibility of permanent mental incapacitation combined with a potentially treatable fatal illness (although by the time it was caught, treatment would only have bought another six months to a year of declining mental status)--I definitely want to have one in place.

I think part of the problem is that some people believe people shouldn't be able to decide in advance to refuse treatment, because they can't imagine wanting to refuse treatment themselves.

[passerine]

I think part of the problem is that some people believe people shouldn't be able to decide in advance to refuse treatment, because they can't imagine wanting to refuse treatment themselves.

Yes, I think that has a lot to do with it, most likely. Or they don't want to consider the possibility of fates some consider worse than death.

[dechant]

People are generally stupid about health care. This is an unfortunate fact. They are probably a lot stupider when it comes to poking their noses in their neighbor's health care for the simple reason that holyschist pointed out -- they can't see beyond their own reasoning long enough to grasp anyone else's.

If this means I have to write my advanced care directive well in advance of anything happening, crud, give me the pen. I don't want to be stuck in this world if there's a better one coming.

And no, the UK's not in the habit of killing off its OAPs by refusing them heart surgery. *facepalm* I think Beloved would've told me by now if things were that dire under the NHS...