| | I like some of what he put in this column, but not his cheap shot at Sarah Palin where he said, "Let's see if we can have a reasoned discussion about end-of-life counseling. We might start by asking Sarah Palin to leave the room. I've got nothing against her. She's a remarkable political talent. But there are no "death panels" in the Democratic health care bills, and to say that there are is to debase the debate."
Now, look at his ending paragraph, which comes after discussing the end of life counseling: "It's not an outrage. It's surely not a death panel. But it is subtle pressure applied by society through your doctor. And when you include it in a health care reform whose major objective is to bend the cost curve downward, you have to be a fool or a knave to deny that it's intended to gently point you in a certain direction, toward the corner of the sick room where stands a ghostly figure, scythe in hand, offering release."
But it is NOT being applied by "society," it is applied by government. And then he admits that it sends us in the direction of bringing more death to the sick room.
And Krauthammer misses the point in another way. Remember that Palin was talking about people's lives being valued differently - that her Down's syndrome child wouldn't be valued as highly as another child.
If Congress enacts universal health care coverage, there will be no way to avoid rationed care. Rationing will result in deaths. Those who die will be decided by rules created by a government panel - take a look at Obama's health care czar, Rohm Emanual's brother, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel - he is known for his "Complete Lives System" where lives are weighted in value by age, disability, etc. And Obama himself has talked about 80% of costs being from old people and this was in the context of bending the cost curve of health down.
Sarah Palin was right on this issue - and extraordinary effective. She did more to damage the far left's orgasmic revelry of socialized medicine - with one short sentence on her face book page - than almost anything anyone else has done. She spoke and the senate dropped the death counseling section from their proposed bill.
I'm disappointed that Krauthammer felt it necessary to encumber his opposition to ObamaCare with an inaccurate dig at Palin.
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Except for the demented orphan, the living will is quite beside the point. The one time it really is essential is if you think your fractious family will be only too happy to hasten your demise to get your money. That's what the law is good at -- protecting you from murder and theft. But that is a far cry from assuring a peaceful and willed death, which is what most people imagine living wills are about.
