Barney Frank on MSNBC: "I think it's time for us to say that if people at the end of their lives want to simply say, okay, this is it, this is not a meaningful existence. I'm not talking about assisted suicide, I'm talking about the Schiavo case sort of situation where you don't force care on people who don't want it, and guardians don't want them to have it. we spend an awful lot of medicaid on the end of life. and this is not death panels, this is not the government telling you don't get anymore. this is the government not telling you, you have to get this medical care whether you want it or not." (Hat Tip: NDY)
Rep. Frank is right. The system is structured to systematically force care on people who do not want it. All the legal safeguards lean one way: to prevent erroneous withdrawal/withholding. Few or no safeguards are directed at preventing erroneous continuation of treatment.
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