Living Wills v. "Death Panels": Today's Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

I have a very caring, impassioned Twitter pal who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, one who I've actually had the pleasure to spend some time with. He wanted to share his feelings about recent events, and I am more than happy to oblige. I've posted two other Special Comments by him here and here, and both got great reviews.

His latest rant concerns the teadeather insanity regarding "end of life" issues, brought to you by Death Panel Barbie, Chuck Grassley, Dickle Me Armey, et al. Take it away, 42bkdodgr:

In past comments I talked about hate and fear in America. What I want to talk about is the fear being generated by the GOP in relation to Health Care Reform Bill; in particular as it pertains to “end of life” advance care planning.

Everyone likes to have quality of life when in good health, then why shouldn’t a person be able to decide for a quality of life they wish to have at the end-of-life. Having end-of-life counseling with your physician to discuss procedures that may be available to you for various types of illness, at a time when you may be unable to speak for yourself, is an important issue to be addressed. A living will provides for your end-of-life wishes and lifts the burden off your family to make such life and death decisions at an emotional time.

The proposed House of Representative Health Care Reform Bill has nothing in it about “a death panel” or “when to pull the plug on grandma”; it’s purely fear tactics.

I wonder if they ever lived through a period of seeing a loved one on a respirator, and knowing that even if they come off the respirator they will not have any quality of life. Do they want to see a loved one on a respirator for weeks on end, who is unable to communicate and has no awareness of their condition, but from the grimaces on their relatives face, you know they are experiencing agony and pain. Why would they want you to see a loved one in such a condition? Is this how they you want to remember a loved one for the rest of your life?

One of the more difficult decisions a family member has to make about a loved, if there is no living will, after considering the options given them by the attending physician, is how to end a loved one’s life. It is so heart wrenching that at times a feeling of guilt permanents one’s soul. If you haven’t been through it, it is hard to understand how it can affect family harmony. It can pit a parent against the children or siblings fighting with one another. No good can ever come from such a situation.

Having a living will is a step toward in letting a loved one die with dignity and it is not a step toward euthanasia. The politicians know this, but are more interested in scaring their constituents and trying to kill health care reform than doing what is best for the country. So why is the GOP against Americans having end-of-life counseling about the choices that may be available to them in considering the quality to one’s end of life?

I believe the first question to be asked of any Republican appearing on television to discuss healthcare reform is whether they have a living will. If they answer yes, the next question should be why they have one and why would they deny or attempt to scare their constituents from getting a living will through end of life counseling. It will be time for them put up or shut up on the issue of end-of-life counseling.

Well done and thank you, 42bkdodgr, you're on a roll.