End-of-Life Care: Weighing Ethics and Rationing Resources

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/03/24/End-of-Life_Care_A_Debate

A panel of experts discusses the ethics and practicality of rationing care to patients who are close to death. Bioethicist Arthur Caplan argues that spending money on elderly invalids diverts funds from other important areas, while attorney Ken Connor contends that rationing care devalues human life.

-----

Rising budget deficits have become a principal concern of the American people in recent months, and are already a cause célèbre for politicians in both parties ahead of this year's midterm elections.

Yet the current round of healthcare negotiations has largely sidestepped one of the most costly elements in health spending: end-of-life patient care. - Miller Center of Public Affairs

Arthur Caplan serves as the Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and the Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is the author or editor of twenty-five books and over 500 papers in refereed journals of medicine, science, philosophy, bioethics and health policy. His most recent book is Smart Mice Not So Smart People (2006).

Ken Connor is Chairman of The Center for a Just Society, and a board certified civil trial attorney affiliated with the law firm of Marks Balette & Giessel, P.C., which represents victims of nursing home abuse and neglect. He served as President of the Family Research Council from 2000 to 2003. Connor was the lead attorney representing Gov. Jeb Bush in defense of Terri's Law, the legislation named for Terri Schiavo. Connor is the author of Sinful Silence: When Christians Neglect Their Civic Duty (2004).

Ira Byock is Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Professor at Dartmouth Medical School. He is a past president (1997) of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He served previously as Director for Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care (1996-2006), a national grant program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Byock is the author of numerous books and articles on the ethics and practice of hospice, palliative and end-of-life care, including Dying Well (1997) and The Four Things That Matter Most (2004).

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• dying
• patients
• obama
• Alzheimer's
• disease
• nursing
• homes
• death
• panels
• medical
• rights
• elder
• health
• care
• medicare
• medicaid
• fora.tv
• foratv
• fora
• tv
• miller
• center
• of
• public
• affairs

[lisaseeman]

You value quality of life over life.

Who gave you that right to decide for others the value of their life.

[ananiasacts]

@goog2k, mostly likely because almost all brain dead people vote republican.

[SearchForSanta]

"the american people want" lmao, oh yes he sound very reputable

[funkalunatic]

My god, what a shit video.

[Redfingers]

Every man who stands in opposition to suicide should be killed.

[ananiasacts]

@christheferal, I didn't want to prejudice your impression of the Venus Project by discussing it earlier, but I have been aware of it for some time and have had discussion with people about it. If you're interested.

[tempemonkey2323]

I think these guys are realizing the door they are about to walk through and are starting to get scared....

[ananiasacts]

@christheferal, Your exactly right. It does motivate a reduction of CO2, but not because of any regulations, but because it includes impact in the costing of products. But it really isn't an intention of the scheme at all. Just one of a whole long slew of unexpected fringe benefits, the most significant of which might be a whole new way to prevent human rights abuses. The more I examine this idea, and the more carefully I work out the effects it will have economically, the better it looks.

[christheferal]

@ananiasacts I'm going to The Venus Project tour, so I'll ask them what they think of such an idea, if it'd work.

[christheferal]

@ananiasacts What I meant when I was talking about measurement is that with newer technology that we're not implementing due to monetary restrictions, we're emitting more CO2 than we need to. In such a world where you'd have a certain amount of CO2 that you were allowed to emit, there's no monetary restriction and people would be motivated to optimise the technology.

Actually, come to think of it, it sounds like it'd give motivation to enhance the technology.

[ananiasacts]

@christheferal, we are already using a network of satellites to measure CO2 levels. We know how much is produced, where it is produced, and can practically watch it diffuse into the environment in real time. That's what makes it an easy measurement. The only other measurement we need to make is how many people there are to divide it among. The scheme has a huge number of very beneficial side effects that aren't obvious, for example, it allows us to easily tax the underground economy.