Doctors of Death

I found a two year old article on National Review Online with the sub-headline 'Kaiser(/Permanente) solicits its doctors to kill'. It is a very enlightening article in the light of the Terri Schiavo plight. I am glad that we are not members of Kaiser. Here is the start of the article:

When liberals ask me why they should oppose physician-assisted suicide, I always reply, "I can summarize a big reason in just three letters: HMO."

That always raises an eyebrow. Liberals hate HMOs.

Then I ask, "Do you know how much it costs for the drugs used in an assisted suicide?" They usually shake their heads, no. Answering my own question, I say, "About forty bucks," adding, "Since HMOs make money by cutting costs, and it could cost $40,000 (or more) to provide suicidal patients with proper care so that they don't want assisted suicide, the economic force of gravity is obvious." More often than not, my liberal interlocutor will say, "Gee, I never thought about that before," and agree that the HMO factor is a very serious problem confronting the assisted-suicide movement.

continue reading the article here.