Death Panels and Obamacare

Prior to the passage of what is commonly called Obamacare, there were people who knew their history, who were warning of death panels.  People who knew that there would have to be limitations and curtailment of services, if there was to be a one party payer system. Since people were not actually allowed to read the bill before it was passed into law, the claims of death panels were dismissed by many.  The term was taken to mean an extreme, fringe conspiracy concept, coming from fringe conspiracy theorists.

The death panels will actually be simple standard protocols on the front lines.  Healthcare providers will not need to seek the determination of a board of people dedicated to the task of metering out services.  The Board has provided a point system for healthcare providers to rate their patients by asking generalized statistical questions. 

Points are awarded in various categories. If you are outside of that covered area, you will be sent home with some advice, maybe some treatment, but not called back for the expensive tests that could better target the proper treatment for your particular situation and you will never even know.   If you fall into the bell curve of expedience, you will receive the required tests and procedures that, according to some statistical data, will be appropriate. 

Appropriate for whom, you ask?  Appropriate for the general healthcare fund to pay for.  There will be some room for subjective commentary.  Such things as the will to live, the level of family support that would lead one to believe you can beat the disease and the understanding of process and progress.  All things considered, I think this will frustrate smart doctors, who would like to think outside of the confines of the strict parameters that appear to be in some regulations.

Fewer people will provide care.  Fewer people will be able to pay for care.  Fewer people will receive care.  There will be fewer people. I know of at least one doctor who has left the practice after carefully examining Obamacare.

It stands to reason that in the 20,ooo plus pages of regulations that have come to be since the law

passed, the many lawyers needed just to confirm compliance for companies has already caused some companies to lay off workers.  The exorbitant price of compliance requires reallocation of funds.  In order to stay in business, companies have to make sure they can compensate for the regulatory compliance costs they will incur. 

There are many new taxes that accompany the law as well.  The new taxes may have put some companies out of business already.  A very important part of running a business is projecting costs.  When small businesses look ahead at the new taxes with the help of their lawyers and accountants there are some significant considerations to be made. Businesses are working people too. The goal is to make a profit.  This is a good thing; providing a beneficial service or goods to willing consumers is mutually beneficial.  If they cannot make a profit, then business is doomed.  The consumer then has to find another source of that service or of those goods. 

The decline in business profit, in turn, reduces the amount of transactions available.  Those transactions are the very life blood of any economy.  Fewer mutually beneficial transactions deplete the general economy.  The fall of the nation is not too far behind.  The reduction in the actual population and the reduction of mutually beneficial transactions will be death to the USA.

Think, Think, Think!

Think About What You are Thinking About

Have you ever gotten so sidetracked with anxiety or frustration, so bogged down that you were ineffective at work or school?  There are times when a lie someone sold or an injustice against me or someone else that just keeps me up at night.  For years, I would remain exhausted from sleepless nights and full, but unproductive days.

Did you know that you can decide to think on purpose?  I am not talking about turning the TV on or tuning the radio for a momentary distraction.  I mean that you can really tell your brain what to think.  It’s true.  You can train your brain to think the best, almost automatically.  It takes a while.  You will need to practice, you have to work at it, but it can be done.

You just need to fine the tools that work best for you.  At first, you will most likely need to speak out loud to yourself to interrupt the thoughts.  If the clerk at the store is exceptionally rude, you are thinking, “What a B*&%#.”  You can actually think, “She must be having a really bad time. I hope she feels better soon.”  At first you might say nothing to them, but tell yourself that it was their own business and shrug it off. When you get really good at it, you might be able to be instantly compassionate and say, “I hope you have a great day” or “I hope your evening gets better” or “God bless you”.  When you smile and are kind, good chemicals are released in your brain and you create a positive feedback loop.

Conversely, when you dwell on your pain or frustrations, adverse chemicals are released in the brain which can cause all kinds of problems.  Headaches and stomach aches are just the beginning.  If you are already suffering from aches and pains, it can be difficult to keep yourself on track, but you can do it.  Remember that laughter is good, like a medicine and that brain chemicals operate by feedback.

Keep thinking about what you are thinking about. Set your mind on things that are good for you, that will build you up and that stir your imagination of peace and prosperity. Don’t allow anger to cloud your judgment.   

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  Words from the Bible: Philippians chapter 4, verse 8.

What Do You Know?

Everyone has their own experiences.  Even when numerous people are present at the same event, if one were to ask them to explain what happened, there would be variations in the story.  I often explain it to children and youth by sitting or standing face to face.  I will ask them what they see, tell them what I see and even though we are in the same room, there are usually few similarities.  Then, if we add emotional components to the discussion, we could be in for some very different stories.

People are unique.  We internalize and contemplate, we imagine and compare, we project and relate. We are complicated and multifaceted.  People are tri-part beings: body, soul and spirit. Adam and Eve were originally created in the image of God.  They walked with God in the cool of the morning and it was good. 

Meanwhile, in Heaven, Lucifer was performing his duties as the worship director.  He saw that God loved mankind and treated them differently.  He also decided that he didn’t want to direct the worship to God, but that he would be like God, lift his own throne above that of God’s and be like the Most High. 

That didn’t work out though. God threw him out of Heaven and cast him to earth, where he enticed Eve to take a real good look at the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  She saw t it was good for food, enjoyable and would make one wise. So, she took it, ate it and gave it to her husband. God had to drive Adam and Eve out of the garden, so they wouldn’t eat from the Tree of Life and live in that sinful state forever, stripped of the glory God had given them.

Their sin was not believing God.  He told them not to eat of one tree and they did. By doing so, they abdicated dominion of the earth to Lucifer, the devil. God changed his name to Satan, because he had taken on the form of a serpent in the garden.  He then made clothing for Adam and Eve, using skin from an animal. This was the first death recorded in the Bible. It is so sad that the innocent died for the disobedience of another.

Many people today have no education about God and His Word, the Bible.  The Bible is the progressive revelation of the relationship of a creator, God with all of His creation, including me and you.  It is history and teaching and documenting of His interactions, His thoughts and people’s responses and results.  There are 66 books, 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament. Some of what is written hasn’t happened yet, some has, but there are a good many “ifs” in the Bible. 

God did not create robots.  He created people, unique individuals with perspectives, talents, gifts and free will.  So, He is not in control of us, we are in control of ourselves.  We choose what we will do, just as Adam and Eve did.

God’s Word tells us that He wants all people to be with Him forever.  He knows that will not be the case, but He would like for every person to have the opportunity to accept His offer of eternity with Him.  He went so far as to pay the price.  You see, we are born in the image of Adam and Eve, we have sin, a condition that separates us from God.  So, Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, died a horrific, excruciating and humiliating death.  He was the innocent who died for our disobedience. 

To be only begotten means that He was not born of Adam.  The Holy Spirit of God overshadowed Mary.  A Father’s genetic material is said to determine the child’s blood type.  So Jesus’ blood type is from God.  He was the only person, ever, to have perfect, sinless blood.  He was fully God and fully man. So only He could crush the grip of sin for us.  Have you heard this before? If so, what will you choose?

A Blank Page

In the debate of nature versus nurture, I have heard it said that there is a “blank slate” theory that basically espouses that humans are born like a blank slate, of no more intelligence or personality than that of a slab of grey rock. This theory continues to pronounce that people are the sum of their exposure and specific environmental conditioning.

This is so true of a blank page before a writer.  The imagination of a writer brought to the page can become a wonderland.  As a reader sharing in the experience, you may be transported to a pleasant, sunny day stroll in a gently rolling glen, along a path of plush green grass, groomed at the edges with shades of pink, red and purple posies interspersed within silky, variegated, light green foliage, surrounded by huge, twisted oak trees, the bark gray and the ridges and scars tell an intriguing story as their trunks reach generously into the atmosphere, offering just enough shade to keep the path from getting scorched by the bright sun.  As you walk, drinking in the supreme peace, enjoying the brilliantly blue sky, a gentle spring breeze, carrying the sweet smell of honeysuckle, you take a deep cleansing breath and floating gently to the earth, the tiny flowers of cherry blossoms since faded, occasionally trickle down your arm or along your neckline like that sensual caress of a loving companion assuring you that you are not alone.

Conversely, a writer can take you to a dark place; a place of despair and utter hopelessness.  A basement prison devoid of windows, full of old tools and dirty wooden shelves stuffed with broken pieces of appliances, lamp parts and dishes covered over in gray-brown cobwebs. In a corner there are shackles where a young girl is held chained to the wall.  She sits in her own filth on a towel the size of a pillowcase.  Its blue color is barely visible among the blood stains and fecal matter.  She is twelve.  Her clothes have been taken away and she is cold, so cold she hardly shivers at all anymore. The stench of blood, excrement and the musty, moldy stone foundation cause her to breathe in shallow breaths, exacerbating her mental torment.  She has been in this state for more than a month and has had just enough nourishment to keep her alive.  Although, she doesn’t feel alive, she is existing and exhausted.  She is almost broken, almost ready to be put up for sale.  She has been humiliated beyond imagination, beaten, urinated and defecated on and in by numerous men all at once and photos were taken in order to show her what evidence they had against her to show her family and friends. She has been told that no one wants her now, no one will ever be able to see anything but these pictures when they look at her. They have convinced her, almost. She is almost ready.

Do you see how a writer can change the page? People are not blank slates, however.  At what point they develop consciousness, personality, and the ability to interpret their surroundings and when people think with logic or emotion is really unclear. If you have been in the company of a newborn for any length of time and have had the opportunity to compare more than one person of this age, you may or may not be able to definitively state your position on how fully their personality has developed, but can you deny that they are people?  Ultrasound images and video have record children in the womb, as young as twelve weeks, reacting to noises and various stimuli. Geneticists, biologists and normal, thinking people agree a new human being is created at conception.  There are labels and terms for all stages of life, but these are just stages along the continuum of life.  

The criteria for personhood is subjective to many people.  To me it is simple.  The criteria for protection under the law should be simple too.  A person, a human being of any age, gender, race, ability and/or disability should enjoy the protection of law.  What say you?

The Prolifestyle

Abortion is so evil.  It is a quiet, secret murder of tiny, helpless people and the stigma induced quiet wounding of parents.  All the while, robbing the world of our greatest treasure, abortion destroys people.   This pales in comparison to the fact that our Creator has called heaven and earth as witnesses against us, that He set before us life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore, we are told, choose life, that both you and your descendants might live.  Life is connected to blessing and death to cursing.

Euthanasia is another quietly executed form of murder.  In the name of dignity, people are put to death to spare them or their family or caregivers the discomfort of protracted illness.  When it comes to relieving pain and allowing someone to slip away into eternity, the line can sometimes be fuzzy.  Suffice to say, for me, as a nurse the ability to relieve suffering is a tremendous blessing.  In our time intractable pain is very rare.  We have lots of choices for pain relief, both physical and emotional pain. Intentionally ending someone’s life is unacceptable.

There are occasions when a person is unable to take nutrition on their own.  New babies must be fed.  Some disabilities require interventional feeding. This is different than an elderly person who may have a natural shutdown and comfortably enter rest.  Bottle feeding or tube feeding are only different ways of feeding a person who cannot eat by themselves.  I believe we have a responsibility to do what we can to provide nutrition.  Natural death will occur regardless of nutrition in most cases, if age or disease has progressed to the point of shutting down one’s body.  It can be complicated, but I believe it is morally unacceptable to starve and dehydrate people death.

First, do no harm.  Whenever it is within our power to provide comfort and support, we should.  It takes resources to do that.  It takes money and in some cases housing to provide for a scared, pregnant teen for example.  To rescue those drawn toward the death, to hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter takes resources.  Even standing at the abortion clinic with educational pamphlets takes resources.  Taking time out of work, gas to drive there, to print the papers or purchase professionally produced pamphlets, then if they are able to turn away, providing a place to go and meet the real needs they have can be very costly.

As president of NH Right to Life, I poured my heart and soul and my resources into the effort for three years.  I began to really sense the overwhelming magnitude of the problem.  I felt like I had been involved in a massive train wreck. I was trying to help people and bandage their wounds, direct others and rally people, but there weren’t enough resources.  I thought that if I found a replacement that I could go into real estate investing, make some money and then return better equipped. I was wrong.

Maybe it’s a calling that only trusting God can provide for.  As our family works to get out of debt and provide for our family, my husband and I realize that we can be prolife and not just do prolife things.  Sometimes, being prolife means taking care of our family and saying, “No.” to events, petitions, fundraisers and other prolife activities.  Thank God for social media, where we can share our views with others.  I also thank Him for opportunities to send money to help people, to go to events, present speeches, write letters and to do interviews.  I had the great privilege of speaking with Ellen Kolb this morning.  She writes a blog from here in New Hampshire called Leaven for the Loaf.  leavenfortheloaf.com She writes about lots of prolife issues, from parental rights to political viewpoints.  Her perspective is fresh and inviting.  I hope you’ll check it out.

Meanwhile, we work.  Together we can change the culture of death to a culture of life, one heart at a time.

What will you do?