It's "nuts", that is what the jounior senator from Georgia said about Palin's stand on educating Medicare patients on end-of-life care. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/08/is_the_government_going_to_eut.html The Republican lawmaker, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), made the comments in an interview with Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein Monday. His remarks may underscore how far Palin has strayed from the Republican base. Isakson co-sponsored a measure a measure in 2007 aimed at educating Medicare patients about their options for end-of-life care. âIs this bill going to euthanize my grandmother?â Klein asked Isakson, referring to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palinâs comments that Democratsâ healthcare proposal would create âdeath panels.â âWhat are we talking about here?â âIn the health-care debate mark-up, one of the things I talked about was that the most money spent on anyone is spent usually in the last 60 days of life and thatâs because an individual is not in a capacity to make decisions for themselves,â Isakson said. âSo rather than getting into a situation where the government makes those decisions, if everyone had an end-of-life directive or what we call in Georgia âdurable power of attorney,â you could instruct at a time of sound mind and body what you want to happen in an event where you were in difficult circumstances where youâre unable to make those decisions.â âHow did this become a question of euthanasia?â Klein asked. âI have no idea,â the senator replied. âI understand â and you have to check this out â I just had a phone call where someone said Sarah Palinâs web site had talked about the House bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanized. How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts.Youâre putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I donât know how that got so mixed up.â The senator noted that all fifty states â including Palinâs Alaska â have some power of attorney or end-of-life directives aimed at protecting guardians from having to make life-or-death decisions. âAll 50 states now have either durable powers of attorney or end-of-life directives and itâs to protect children or a spouse from being put into a situation where they have to make a terrible decision as well as physicians from being put into a position where they have to practice defensive medicine because of the trial lawyers,â Isakson said.
Perhaps Isakson shouldn't confuse what he was trying to do, eg have medicare emphasize end of life directives, with what obama clearly wants to do, which is get the government's nose under the tent regarding what is allowable end of life care. It is blindingly obvious that obama-care will have to ration treatment to get the resources to give free care to 20 million illegals and another 40 or 50 million ACORN members. He can't raise taxes high enough to get the money, so it will have to come from denying care to seniors. It's not like they are going to be voting for him anyway, so why spend money on them.