Ms. Francine Johnson, seventy-nine year-old widow, answers the summons from the State Department of Health and walks calmly into the imposing building.
Francine: Hello, I have an appointment of some kind to discuss my health care options.
Secretary: Yes, they have been expecting you. Go right through those doors. Then into the office first one on your left.
Francine steps around the desk and sees the double doors with a sign over them that reads “Life Panels.” She finds the office and steps in. A well-dressed, smiling, middle-aged man greets her.
Bureaucrat: “Ms. Johnson! So nice to see you. Come in, come in. Make yourself comfortable. Would you like some coffee?”
Francine: “Yes that would be nice.” The bureaucrat pours her a large cup of black coffee.
Bureaucrat: “Ok, let’s get to it. We’re here to discuss your health situation. Tell me, how is your back doing?”
“Well, um, it’s been okay I guess.”
“But you have chronic pain in your lower back, do you not? I see your doctor’s reports right here about them. You’ve been seeing him at least once every few weeks, correct?”
“You know all that about me? Yes, it is true that I have some chronic pain in my back. But it’s being managed fine with stretching and physical therapy, ice, and some pain medications.”
“Glad to hear it, glad to hear it. But that’s just the thing. You see, the computer flagged an alert that your back pain has now exceeded the Lippold Threshold, making you a prime candidate for our ultimate healthcare solution. By our figures, you are practically incapacitated already.”
“How on earth can a machine know what kind of pain I’m feeling and whether it is debilitating or not? And what is this ‘ultimate healthcare’ you’re talking about?”
“Ms. Johnson, it’s really quite simple. While you may be putting a brave face on it in front of me, the fact is that the government’s portion of your Medicare costs have been steadily increasing over the past two years. This has triggered our finely tuned algorithms to flag your healthcare as reaching an unbearable level of chronic pain, and thus you have qualified for ultimate healthcare. It’s really quite a good thing for you.”
“But what is it?”
“Ultimate healthcare? Why, the end to all your pain, the end to your worries and your burden upon your family. In a word, euthanization.”
“Euthanization! You mean you want to kill me?”
“Whoa now, wait a minute. No one talks about ‘killing’ in here. We are in the business of life in this department. Whole life. Planned life. Useful and productive life. No one is talking about killing you, merely ending your pain and easing the burden of your life. I notice you’re wearing a cross: are you religious, Ms. Johnson?”
“Yes, I am a Christian.”
“Okay, that’s great, just great for you. And do you, or do you not, believe that when this earthly life ends you will have a better life in Heaven?”
“Yes I do believe that, with all my heart.”
“You see! That’s wonderful. So not only do you leave this world, with all its pain and troubles, but you will also be entering a new and much more wonderful life, one without any pain. How is this bad?”
“Well for one thing, I’d like Jesus to be in charge of when I die, not the government.”
“That’s a nice sentiment, but c’mon: we know the reality is that God often works through people, does He not? Of course He does! So here He is working through us, using us as His instruments, if you will. And through our studies–highly scientific ones by the way, vetted by the very best medical researchers–we have determined that you are ready for that next life.”
“But I’m not ready for it! I still have a lot of life in me. I still have wisdom to share with my children and grandchildren, love to give them, a garden to tend and nurture, and friends to help.”
“That’s all great. Don’t get me wrong; it really is. I mean, those, uh, intangibles are good things, no one doubts that. But, well, they don’t pay the bills, if you know what I mean. Fact is, based on the Schwartz-Scarpelli charts, you’ve exceeded your Mean Useful Life Quotient by several months already. So, I hate to say this but, you can’t argue with the numbers. It’s all there in black and white.”
“To hell with your numbers! What is our country coming to? That we have Death Panels spitting out computerized execution orders for people like me who have lived good lives and have a lot of life still in them. You know what, I choose to opt out of this program!”
“Ah, hmmm. Well, you don’t quite comprehend things yet, no. First off, I take issue with the pejorative title “death panels.” We are in the life business, as I already mentioned, and I take offense at the implication that we are about death. While death is the result of our ultimate healthcare option, it is all in the service of life you see.”
“I don’t care what you call yourself. I quit this program as of now.”
“Not so fast! Ms. Johnson, do you recall several years ago when you were opted into the program? Course you do, course you do. As you know, you were automatically opted into the program–and I might add, did not seem to object to the benefits we offered!–but once in, there is no opting out. You see, there is simply no process for that. We have no forms that would even make such a thing possible, and nothing happens without the appropriate forms.”
“I am not owned by you or by this government. I will find a way to pay my own medical bills.”
“Dear Ms. Johnson. Don’t you know that the government is the only thing that we all belong to? There is no way to un-belong to the government. You belong, you are opted in, and you stay that way, until you reach the time for your ultimate healthcare, which is lovingly and gently administered, by the way. How can you pay your bills, anyway? All the doctors belong to the State Health Preferred Provider Program, and they could not treat you even if you had money to pay them. They, too, belong to the government. The government takes care of you.”
“Young man, I am done listening to you and your baloney. And I say, to hell with your government and your ultimate healthcare solution. I am leaving now and will be at my house, clinging to my guns–of which I have several–and my religion. And if you try to come and get me, you will find out whether I am incapacitated or not. Good-bye.”
Ms. Francine Johnson, widower, picked up her purse and walked out of the office, through the doors marked “Life Panels,” out of the sterile building, and into the bright sunshine. The bureaucrat stared at her empty chair for a moment, then made a small note in her file: “Status: Uncooperative. Action: Armed Persuasion, Level II requested.”
Here’s what happens when you want to “opt out”:
It’s really coming.
Govt. workers will know you only as a number and as a liability. And there will pressures to save money because there won’t ever be enough to go around. Look at Greece.
It going to get pretty bad. On all fronts.
Thanks be to God that we have a Savior.
The least they could do is give you a pretty crystal in your palm that turns red when you qualify for ultimate health care. While they’re at it, they could put you in a pretty white robe, parade you into an anti-gravity chamber where you float gracefully into the sky for a few minutes before they ceremoniously blow you up.
If I’d known Obamacare involved throwing people out of blimps, I would have been much more supportive.
Its horrifying…….I’m scared to death. I’m on meds alone to keep me alive. Without them I die in 3 weeks…..They are $100 a month and I’m only 33.
I’m hot headed and I will probably die at gunpoint by these animals!
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I am disappointed to see you circulating this scare tactic scenario.
Yes, health care is a scarce and limited resource. We cannot provide every individual with all that science affords us. But you are misled if you think that rationing is not done today. Rationing is done now by ability to pay. Rationing is done by insurance companies refusing to cover procedures. Doctors today will, in certain considered situations, compassionately withhold or delay available treatments to allow a patient to peacefully pass on rather than keep them alive through invasive, aggressive procedures. This is done with full knowledge and consent of family members. It happens. Within our current system.
Look at Canada and Great Britain. They have socialized health care which should be models for our politicians to explore. The people love their system. There are no “death panels”.
I understand the objection to the HHS “abortion mandate”. But that issue should not be confused with socialized health care. The individual above with specific and expensive health needs has more to fear from a market based system than from a socialized system.
George,
Thanks for your sharp reply. In fact, I am aware of what is done today, at least insofar as that disturbing things happen. A close relative of mine is a doctor and has worked with various (so-called) palliative care departments. Decisions of life and death are quietly made and executed on (pun intended). And *sometimes* they are done with full consent and knowledge of family members and *sometimes* not.
And whether compassionate or not is dependent on each patient and situation. Fact is that there are legitimate reasons to not do procedures, or to withhold food, etc. However, I believe often these decisions are made wrongly, based on false and misguided principles, rather than sound ones. The Catholic Church has a tremendously powerful set of principles and guidelines on these issues.
This post isn’t about socialized health care, per se, but about the false and evil principles of utilitarianism that many in our nation believe in, and how those principles will be applied to people in the future, if we do not change things.
Devin,
Utilitarianism is false and evil, we are in agreement on that. I read your post in the context of the current political climate in which dualistic thinking (black/white, red/blue) largely prevails. I fell prey to that dualism by portraying palliative care as always compassionate.
I reacted to your suggestion of ‘death panels’ because that scenario is a common canard used to discredit socialized health care. Yes, it could happen. But today’s market based health care has its own costs in respect to human dignity.
Talking today with my daughter (who lives in Britain), she was aghast that her brother had not gotten medical care for an ugly injury he incurred at work. The reason was financial, and he self-treated the injury. All indications suggest recovery, although it looks gross now. Choices, choices! Health care is a complex issue. Simple arguments, used carelessly, can do disservice to our future. May our health system always respect the image of God in every man and every woman.
George,
Balanced and wise words. Thanks my friend. And my post did include barbs at the Democrats, so it is understandable how you read it as partisan.
Just an FYI–You did not scare me.
I was scared way before I read this blog post. I agree with you!