Palliative is now pro-active

Don't miss this very disturbing article at Junk Food Science about end-of-life care, palliative care, government health insurance, and new legislation in California which requires caregivers to encourage patients to end their lives when a cure isn't possible.

"As similar distortion of the meaning of palliative care was also seen in a very troubling editorial that appeared in the August issue of the American Journal of Nursing, suggesting that nurses can and should help terminally ill patients hasten their dying. It was authored by Judith Schwarz, Ph.D., RN, who is the clinical coordinator for the northeast branch of the assisted suicide advocacy group, the Hemlock Society, now calling itself Compassion & Choices in the Northeast. She is also the contributing editor for ethical issues for the American Journal of Nursing. Her editorial was republished online by the Nursing Center."

Like abortion, the wording of the California bill is couched in "choice" terms. "Compassion & Choices" is the new, improved and laundered name of the Hemlock Society, the pro-suicide group, and it was the sponsor of the California bill. It's a long article, I can't summarize, so go there and read it. Judith Schwarz, whose opinion piece is in the AJN is having a workshop on 9/11 in NYC. How tacky is that? In her photo she looks like an older Nurse Ratched.