Quality of life in this country is definitely a serious issue and not just as it relates to end of life care. Last week Oprah had a really good show where she highlighted how people live in different countries. It made me reminisce about past travels, pull out my Rosetta Stone catalog, and begin to think about making some serious choices. I find it comforting knowing that are places where the government makes decisions with their citizens in mind.

Some things are seriously broken here and they’ll never be fixed as long as there are those who hide behind arrogance and a false illusion of greatness. You can put a knock-off pump next a Jimmy Choo and keep telling yourself the knock-off is of better quality, but that doesn’t make it true. The first step in making serious changes is acknowledging the wrong. Some people need to give themselves permission to admit that there are countries that have gotten it right. It doesn’t make you unAmerican. It makes you intelligent.

The other thing that is sad when families are hit with the decision-making process because there was no pre-planning, it can rip a family apart when disputes arise about what IS to be done.

A final thought: “Control your own destiny or someone else will.”–Jack Welsh

Very complex issues irrespective of any health care legislation and we don’t talk about them because people don’t like to think about death. I would prefer to live out my final days in the North carolina high country watching the leaves change. I don’t want to die in a nursing home.

As for Daschle’s brain-child– it is separate from the “reform” bills. Funding has been set aside for it from the Stimuilus Billalready passed.

Aminah Hanan, your points are well taken. More pre-planning re: medical directives, powers of attorney, wills and the like.

ADMIN, thanks again for the link to iVillage.

In this country we really do ourselves a disservice by not embracing the aging process and realizing that we all have an expiration date that can’t be avoided. Forever young is figurative, no literal. So yes modern medicine can be manipulated to keep a shell of a person alive, but what about quality of life? Some of us really have a warped perception about quality of life also, but that’s another issue.

I am so pleased that in Illinois attention is finally being paid to the quality of care that is being given to the elderly in nursing homes, because that is where a big chunk of taxpayer dollars, around the country, is being flushed down the toilet.

Just ask yourself who would you put your money on? A 96 year old with end stage Alzheimers that suffered a crippling stroke, 5 years ago, and is now being fed through a tube for the low cost of $3000 to 5000+ a month. Or a 30 year old suffering from cancer that’s been given a year to live unless they receive a treatment that’s been denied because it’s considered “experimental” by an insurance company.

There won’t be “death” panels per se, they will just set treatment guidelines that will not recommend certain procedures for older patients. However, I shall have my “I’m old but I ain’t ready to die” fund built up so I can just pay cash for my treatment. They already have “treatment guidelines” in the insurance industry, just ask your PCP, you just aren’t aware they use them unless you get really sick and need aggressive care.

SO both of you are half way right. No one will be personally sentenced to death, they’ll just be denied treatment based on a number of factors including age. Happens all the time under the current system, just type in “treatment guidelines” into Google

On another note, I think I’ll ask the First Lady a question about end of life care because we as a nation really do need to have this discussion. I was listening on NPR last week and they said something like 80% of the health care costs you accrue in life occur in your last 6 months of life. I’ve told my family to just let me go and spend the insurance money on a trip around the world. They can sprinkle my ashes in each port of call. But if my parents wanted to continue to receive treatment, I’d sell everything I owned to get it for them.

My last comment on this subject is for A. Darton. Language that could be construed as leading to “death panels” was stripped from one of the Senate’s bills in Aug. Can’t say if it appears anywhere else.

But, also, if you’re interested, google Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effective Research, Tom Daschle.

Have a great weekend, ladies!

The editors of this site have NO OPINION as to the quality of effectiveness of any of the pending health insurance legislation.