ktlight
21st July 2011, 09:41
FYI:
In recent years, particularly since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), there seems to have been an increase in the amount of commentary espousing the rationing of healthcare for the elderly, chronically ill, and the handicapped. Ever since the allegation (correct as it was) that the Obama health plan contained rationing and “death panels,” there has been a strange flurry of both denial and simultaneous support of the concept of health care rationing for some of the most vulnerable members of society.
With this in mind, the recent editorial by David Brooks that was published in the New York Times, titled Death and Budgets, should come as no surprise. In this article, Brooks argues that it is pointless to spend as much money as we currently do on individuals who will only benefit from a few months of life extension. He also asserts that the sick and the old have an obligation to the living; what has been deemed by others as a “duty to die.” Brooks even goes so far as to suggest the ridiculous idea that the current budget crisis is the result of old people who receive health care services in the last few months of their lives.
While some may laugh at the last sentence, Brooks actually states, “This fiscal crisis is about many things, but one of them is our inability to face death – our willingness to spend our nation into bankruptcy to extend life for a few more sickly months.”
Brooks writes that it is unfortunate that medical science has not progressed to the point where we “live longer, healthier lives and then die quickly” and laments the fact that most of the “achievements” of our system come in the form of methods to “marginally extend the lives of the very sick.”
Brooks also states, “Others disagree with this pessimistic view of medical progress. But that phrase, ‘marginally extend the lives of the very sick,’ should ring in the ears. Many of our budget problems spring from our quest to do just that.”
Brooks then goes on to cite some very alarming statistics, at least in the way in which they are presented to the reader. He writes, “The fiscal implications are all around. A large share of our health care spending is devoted to ill patients in the last phases of life. This sort of spending is growing fast. Americans spent $91 billion caring for Alzheimer’s patients in 2005. By 2015, according to Callahan and Nuland, the cost of Alzheimer’s will rise to $189 billion and by 2050 it is projected to rise to $1 trillion annually – double what Medicare costs right now.”
Barely able to contain his disappointment, Brooks continues, “Obviously, we are never going to cut off Alzheimer’s patients and leave them out on a hillside. We are never coercively going to give up on the old and the ailing. But it is hard to see us reducing health care inflation seriously unless people and their families are willing to do what Clendinen is doing – confront death and their obligations to the living.”
Yet, as cold-hearted and asinine as Brook’s theories may sound to some, the fact is that a great many academics, intellectuals, doctors, politicians, and even average citizens share his sentiment. At least, they share his sentiment when the sentiment is being applied to others.
Indeed, the mainstream media has been pumping steady propaganda in this regard, in an ultimate attempt to convince the American (and European) public to accept the denial of care to the elderly, sick, and handicapped in a population reduction and eugenics scheme that is very similar to the eugenics policies enacted in Hitler’s early Germany and early 20th century America. If one can convince the population that there are those who deserve a chance at life less than others; or, even more so, that those “less-deserving” individuals are actively reducing the quality of life for everyone else, then they will often easily look the other way while the undesirables are removed.
It has happened before, and it is happening now. Unfortunately, in our current society, which is vastly egocentric, it seems that less and less propaganda is required in order to convince the general public that their own fellow humans are dragging them down simply by virtue of their being alive. Especially when the last remaining scraps of an imploding economy are being fought over.
There is no shortage of articles being published that espouse the idea that the elderly have a duty to die, or that the sick and infirm are a drain on society. Consider the now famous article published by Newsweek, entitled The Case for Killing Granny, or this one published in the Daily Record: Leading Doctor: Should NHS Spend Millions Keeping Alive Terminally Ill Patients for Few Weeks? Or this USA Today article that posits whether it is really worth it to incur end-of-life health care costs at all.
Consider, also, these statements made by Virginia Ironside regarding her opinion on what should be done to sick children.
Many of these comments seem eerily reminiscent of those made back in the open eugenics phase of the early 20th century.
source to read more
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/07/nyt-brooks-promotes-eugenics-death.html
In recent years, particularly since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), there seems to have been an increase in the amount of commentary espousing the rationing of healthcare for the elderly, chronically ill, and the handicapped. Ever since the allegation (correct as it was) that the Obama health plan contained rationing and “death panels,” there has been a strange flurry of both denial and simultaneous support of the concept of health care rationing for some of the most vulnerable members of society.
With this in mind, the recent editorial by David Brooks that was published in the New York Times, titled Death and Budgets, should come as no surprise. In this article, Brooks argues that it is pointless to spend as much money as we currently do on individuals who will only benefit from a few months of life extension. He also asserts that the sick and the old have an obligation to the living; what has been deemed by others as a “duty to die.” Brooks even goes so far as to suggest the ridiculous idea that the current budget crisis is the result of old people who receive health care services in the last few months of their lives.
While some may laugh at the last sentence, Brooks actually states, “This fiscal crisis is about many things, but one of them is our inability to face death – our willingness to spend our nation into bankruptcy to extend life for a few more sickly months.”
Brooks writes that it is unfortunate that medical science has not progressed to the point where we “live longer, healthier lives and then die quickly” and laments the fact that most of the “achievements” of our system come in the form of methods to “marginally extend the lives of the very sick.”
Brooks also states, “Others disagree with this pessimistic view of medical progress. But that phrase, ‘marginally extend the lives of the very sick,’ should ring in the ears. Many of our budget problems spring from our quest to do just that.”
Brooks then goes on to cite some very alarming statistics, at least in the way in which they are presented to the reader. He writes, “The fiscal implications are all around. A large share of our health care spending is devoted to ill patients in the last phases of life. This sort of spending is growing fast. Americans spent $91 billion caring for Alzheimer’s patients in 2005. By 2015, according to Callahan and Nuland, the cost of Alzheimer’s will rise to $189 billion and by 2050 it is projected to rise to $1 trillion annually – double what Medicare costs right now.”
Barely able to contain his disappointment, Brooks continues, “Obviously, we are never going to cut off Alzheimer’s patients and leave them out on a hillside. We are never coercively going to give up on the old and the ailing. But it is hard to see us reducing health care inflation seriously unless people and their families are willing to do what Clendinen is doing – confront death and their obligations to the living.”
Yet, as cold-hearted and asinine as Brook’s theories may sound to some, the fact is that a great many academics, intellectuals, doctors, politicians, and even average citizens share his sentiment. At least, they share his sentiment when the sentiment is being applied to others.
Indeed, the mainstream media has been pumping steady propaganda in this regard, in an ultimate attempt to convince the American (and European) public to accept the denial of care to the elderly, sick, and handicapped in a population reduction and eugenics scheme that is very similar to the eugenics policies enacted in Hitler’s early Germany and early 20th century America. If one can convince the population that there are those who deserve a chance at life less than others; or, even more so, that those “less-deserving” individuals are actively reducing the quality of life for everyone else, then they will often easily look the other way while the undesirables are removed.
It has happened before, and it is happening now. Unfortunately, in our current society, which is vastly egocentric, it seems that less and less propaganda is required in order to convince the general public that their own fellow humans are dragging them down simply by virtue of their being alive. Especially when the last remaining scraps of an imploding economy are being fought over.
There is no shortage of articles being published that espouse the idea that the elderly have a duty to die, or that the sick and infirm are a drain on society. Consider the now famous article published by Newsweek, entitled The Case for Killing Granny, or this one published in the Daily Record: Leading Doctor: Should NHS Spend Millions Keeping Alive Terminally Ill Patients for Few Weeks? Or this USA Today article that posits whether it is really worth it to incur end-of-life health care costs at all.
Consider, also, these statements made by Virginia Ironside regarding her opinion on what should be done to sick children.
Many of these comments seem eerily reminiscent of those made back in the open eugenics phase of the early 20th century.
source to read more
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/07/nyt-brooks-promotes-eugenics-death.html