SENIORS WANT HEALTH CARE-NOT “SPARTA CARE”
“Whether to save one 20 year old who might live another 60 years or three 70 year olds who could live only 10 years is unclear. We recommend the complete lives system-that prioritizes younger people for the greater good.”
This ominous prognosis for America’s seniors in the British Medical Journal January, 2009 was co written by the distinguished bio ethicist, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD and PhD. Doctor Emanuel is special advisor for health policy to the White House Office of Management and Budget; his brother is Rahm Emanuel, President Barak Obama's Chief of Staff. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School and PhD in political philosophy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Prioritizing younger people “for the greater good” is instinctive; In 650 BC the Spartans left ailing seniors (and weak infants) on hillsides to die; as did primitive nomads. America's Founders understood this primal instinct; they declared the right to life is “unalienable for all men.” Today many health care and government leaders do not believe unalienable means "that which cannot be taken," nor that–"all men"-includes aged, disabled and terminally ill.
Seniors expect government to fix what’s wrong and protect what’s right. They instinctively question a 2000 page law that includes "Advance Consultation for End of Life Service, (Section 1233.) and a federal “Center for Comparative Effectiveness” to determine treatment based on cost and age.(Sect.1181)
Seniors will remind health care leaders and government officials what the Founding Fathers told King George in 1776 –“the right to life is inalienable.” They also will remind the AMA: "PRIMUM NON NOCERE." -FIRST DO NO HARM
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