Dr. Emanuel is the brother of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
How can anyone deny the trend to rationing care and "death panels"? For Dr. Emanuel, the Hypocratic Oath and physicians who put their patients first is part of the problem. And check out the "reaper curve" diagram. The problem is medical spending on older people (we thought that's when most people needed medical care!)?
Emanuel claims his thinking on these issues has evolved, but most of the quotes are from the past 18 months; so his thinking must have evolved in the past three weeks ...
Betsy McCaughey: Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel Wants Health-Care Rationing - WSJ.com
... As he wrote in the Feb. 27, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA): "Vague promises of savings from cutting waste, enhancing prevention and wellness, installing electronic medical records and improving quality of care are merely 'lipstick' cost control, more for show and public relations than for true change."
True reform, he argues, must include redefining doctors' ethical obligations. In the June 18, 2008, issue of JAMA, Dr. Emanuel blames the Hippocratic Oath for the "overuse" of medical care: "Medical school education and post graduate education emphasize thoroughness," he writes. "This culture is further reinforced by a unique understanding of professional obligations, specifically the Hippocratic Oath's admonition to 'use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment' as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of cost or effect on others."
In numerous writings, Dr. Emanuel chastises physicians for thinking only about their own patient's needs. He describes it as an intractable problem: "Patients were to receive whatever services they needed, regardless of its cost. Reasoning based on cost has been strenuously resisted; it violated the Hippocratic Oath, was associated with rationing, and derided as putting a price on life. . . . Indeed, many physicians were willing to lie to get patients what they needed from insurance companies that were trying to hold down costs." (JAMA, May 16, 2007).
And it gets worse. Hit the link above for the whole article.
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