Mandatory End of Life Consultations
The Bioethics Defense Fund is an organization whose mission is to provide innovative and practical solutions that address the human rights violations involved in abortion, human cloning and embryo research, and end-of-life decisions.
The Fund sent out the following email on July 29 encouraging readers to educate themselves with the provisions of the current Obama health plan regarding euthanasia.
H.R. 3200 gives the government power to require mandatory "advance care planning consultations" for Medicaid recipients to discuss future end-of-life decisions; (pp. 424-434). This mandated consultation may result in actionable medical orders for future medical situations that can not be anticipated at the time the orders were written. Read it for yourself at the link below:
The House version of the Obama health care plan provides:
• Mandatory "advance care planning consultations" for Medicaid recipients to discuss future end-of-life decisions; (pp. 424-434)
• Such mandated consultations must 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)
• During that consultation, 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 artificially 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 is also silent on whether the physician or other health professional writing the order will be your personal health care provider.
SUMMARY: This bill's government mandated "advanced care planning consultations" would give the government unprecedented power in shaping who makes the decisions regarding your personal healthcare decisions after the age of 65.
To read these provisions of the bill for yourself click here.
Bioethics Defense Fund
Human Rights from Beginning to End
www.BDFund.org
