Anyone Who Lives In Washington And Has

Patients Who Are Being Kept Alive By Technology And Want To End Their Lives Already Have A Recognized Constitutional Right To Stop Any And All Medical Interventions, From Respirators To Antibiotics. They Do Not Need Physician-assisted Suicide Or Euthanasia.

We All Focus On Health Care And Diabetes And Heart Disease But There's All Sorts Of Things Like The Simple Fact That, You Know, Heavier People, Transportation Is More, So There's More Spent On Gasoline, More On Jet Fuel, People Have Had To Change The Size Of Doorways, The Size Of Chairs On Airplanes And At Sports Stadiums, So There's A Lot Of Hidden Costs As Well To The Increasing Girth Of Americans.

Vague Promises Of Savings From Cutting Waste, Enhancing Prevention And Wellness, Installing Electronic Medical Records And Improving Quality Are Merely ‘lipstick’ Cost Control, More For Show And Public Relations Than For True Change... Savings Will Require Changing How Doctors Think About Their Patients: Doctors Take The Hippocratic Oath Too Seriously, “as An Imperative To Do Everything For The Patient Regardless Of The Cost Or Effects On Others.

Services Provided To Individuals Who Are Irreversibly Prevented From Being Or Becoming Participating Citizens Are Not Basic And Should Not Be Guaranteed. An Obvious Example Is Not Guaranteeing Health Services To Patients With Dementia.

The Situation Around Terri Schiavo Was A Deeply Held Conflict Over What To Do If Someone Isn't Going To Return To Consciousness Or Competence. Who Will Decide? Even There, Where We Had Settled Legal Rules, We Still Had Disagreement. We're Torn About These Things.