Third Day..Third Phone Call,,Third E mail....Still no answer from Obama Camp

[lisainmilo]

For the last 3 consecutive days, I have emailed and called the Obama campaign and I am still awaiting clarification for the following statement.

“There is going to be responsibilities for citizens, that we got to make some difficult choices in terms of end of life care, and you know , you know, the the 20 % for the patients with 80% of the cost., you know. We got to figure out how we manage the chronically ill more effectively.”

Senator Obama has left this statement wide open for interpretation. I have asked the Obama camp if he is pro-euthanasia (and for clarification).




14 minutes into his interview with Reno Gazette Journal, listen to his interview. If you are interested in what he actually said about the republican party this occurs about 20 minutes into the interview.

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/VIDEO/80115026



AS SOON AS I GET AN ANSWER I WILL POST.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. You believe Obama is pro-euthanasia?

Oh. My. God. :wow:

Now I've seen everything. DU has officially gone off the deep end with this shit.

[DURHAM D]

2. I assumed it is part of his generational war.

I took from that - when the boomers get old and sick we need to put them down.

[Adelante]

10. Oh, come on

What a fucking stupid thing to say.

[Occam Bandage]

13. No, I think we should go with it. "Obama - If cancer doesn't kill the elderly, he will!"

[sufrommich]

24. lol!!! nt

[DURHAM D]

20. And you are just brilliant.

Reagan was to AIDS as Obama is to old people.

REAGAN/AIDS = OBAMA/SENIOR CITIZENS

[Adelante]

26. An outright lie

And I am a senior citizen.

[sufrommich]

27. I sincerely hope you meant that as sarcasm. I'm no Obama

supporter,but I feel pretty safe that he has no intention of killing off old people.


SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!





Edit for spelling.

[Occam Bandage]

28. "Obama '08: A Valiant Fist Against the Plague of the Elderly."

[sufrommich]

29. Stop it,you're killing me! nt

[LisaM]

23. LOLOL

I know you didn't mean it seriously, but it did make me laugh.

[Windy]

3. Whoa, I'm sorry but you are a loon. n/t

[MNDemNY]

6. How does the poster type with those webbed feet, or do they use their wings?

[Occam Bandage]

18. They had better type quickly. The Boorackgie Man is just around the corner, KCl drip in hand.

[MNDemNY]

4. How dare you ask for specifics! Shame on you.

Don't you understand that this race is all about personality and hope? Blasphemer! Suck it up and get back in line! HOPE TO CHANGE!!!!

[grantcart]

5. having helped to care for my 93 year old mother

every day has hard choices and none of them are about euthanasia.

The simple question of what constitutes "heroic" action to continue life, which many say they don't want, becomes difficult to actually interpret. The statement "we got to figure out how we manage the chronically ill more effectively" establishes that its not about euthanasia so you can stop your day count.

[rodeodance]

8. My dad died in a Hospice. they are my answer for me.

[Adelante]

35. I had visiting hospice workers for my mother

God bless them all.

[Buzz Clik]

7. Did it occur to you he was talking simply about the management of pain?

[Occam Bandage]

11. Of course he wasn't referring to management of chronic pain. He was expressing a desire to kill.

His campaign of Muslimic Terrorism will start in our nursing homes.

[Occam Bandage]

9. Why do you need clarification? Obama is clearly in favor of murdering the elderly,

most likely with his own hands.

[DUyellow]

12. duh!

[grantcart]

14. I dont think they are going to get it you have to go in more

over the top :toast:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

17. The gay ones first. 'Cuz we know how much he hates them.

This place has officially gone insane with the Obama hatred.

[lisainmilo]

15. Because....

we got to make some difficult choices in terms of end of life care, concerns me. When I get an answer, I will post it, until I get an answer, the door is wide open for interpretation.

[Connie_Corleone]

16. Obama wants to kill my Grandma!

:cry:

He'll probably run her over with a reindeer, no doubt.

[Adelante]

19. If you don't think end of life care and chronic care needs attention

I hate to think of what it will be like for you if you have parents still living and in the future have to care for them as they die. It's not a picnic. You have to make the hard choices all over again every single day. I would be thrilled to have a president who worries about 1/5 of the money invested going to the patient's care and 4/5 to the health care industry.

[hedgehog]

21. Oddly enough, one of the most common statements about end of life care

is "I don't want to be hooked up to a lot of tubes and machines."

Here's the problem: how do we know when heroic care is going to return a person to health, and when it merely prolongs dying? If someone is dying from Alzheimer's or cancer, do we resuscitate if they have a heart attack? If they are dying from Alzheimer's, do we insert a stomach tube when they stop eating? If an alert, relatively active 80 year old gets pneumonia, should the treatment be different and more or less aggressive than if someone who is bed bound with end stage Alzheimer's gets pneumonia?

[DURHAM D]

31. Plan ahead - these are personal decisions.

These are not decisions to be made by the government or a presidential candidate.

My parents are 86 and 92. They have had in place for many years a half dozen documents that indicate their desire to have nothing done at end of life - including no feed tube. The documents they signed are brutal and just reading them is heart breaking as they are very specific but my parents took responsibility and made their own courageous choices.

Taking inspiration from them I have had my own documents drafted by an attorney and I am reviewing them this week.

[Occam Bandage]

33. When we're talking about allocation of public financing, those are decisions to be made

by the government. Our health-care funding is limited. Do we therefore support extraordinarily expensive and low-yield EoL care, or do we support high-yield preventative and early-life care, and to what extent for both?

[DURHAM D]

37. I agree that allocation of public funding is very important.

My parents also agree with that idea - that is why they have taken matters into their own hands. And frankly, most of that generation has done the same.

The problem is the medical profession. Every week my siblings, myself and my parents have to get in between some Doctor (or clinic) that wants to run some tests or do some procedures that are unnecessary but for which they can be paid. It has been a battle for over twenty five years. Sadly, a lot of seniors don't have the strength to fight the "professionals".

[Occam Bandage]

40. The problem is somewhat more complex than that, IMO.

*Patients, who are insured, do not worry about cost, and the placebo-addicted tend to want unnecessary pills or procedures.
*Doctors, fearing malpractice suits, practice defensive medicine, with little regard to cost.
*Doctors and patients both prefer expensive brand-name drugs to generics, simply because of advertising.
*Insurance companies worry about cost unethically; they oppose all costs, valid or not.
*Suppliers (pharma, equip. manufacturers) encourage all costs--especially unnecessary ones--as that is their entire purpose.
*Hospitals, seeing financial benefit, encourage most costs, including unnecessary procedures.

If a candidate looks to streamline certain aspects of this system, I don't think the first response should be "I bet he wants to kill everyone."

[DURHAM D]

41. I agree with all of your points.

I was just trying to keep it simple.

I think all of the candidates want to correct certain aspects of the payout side of the equation.
It does need a major overhaul.

[rox63]

22. That's like asking someone when they stopped beating their wife

It's a loaded question, full of bias from the get-go.

[Flabbergasted]

25. So if you have x amount of dollars and you have to choose between spending

$100,000 for a terminally ill patient to get a liver transplant or give 500 children basic care, what do you do? Is that a difficult decision?


There are some difficult decisions to make concerning how to govern.

[zanne]

30. I'm sure they'll talk to you....

Are you actually asking to talk to somebody? When I worked at the Obama HQ in NH, we make it a point to call people back if they had questions and to send them fact sheets. Are you hostile on the phone? There must be a good reason for them not getting back to you. Are you asking snarky questions? Come on--if you're part of the opposing campaign, it's pretty easy to tell.

[lisainmilo]

36. The people answering the phone have been very understanding of my concerns

The have been very understanding and nice. Today I was asked if I recieved any confirmation that my e mails were recieved and I told them I had. They seemed to understand why I was asking the question and yesterday the woman I spoke to said "It was a fair request". All of them have been super nice.

[lisainmilo]

38. I too have been nice with my concerns n/t

[Bluebear]

32. Pipe down, just close your eyes and hope for change

:silly:

[pgh_dem]

34. "We got to"...is there a reason you typed it this way?

I listened to the interview to hear the larger context for the question, and was struck by the fact that he clearly says "We've got to" in both instances where you, in quotes, have changed it to "We got to". You were so thorough as to type "you know" as many times as he said it, but somehow missed the contraction. It's a funny coincidence, I suppose, that the omission of that "'ve", gives a reader a very different impression of the speaker's tone.

Maybe you can still edit the quote to accurately reflect what Sen Obama said, and proceed from there? It seems picky, but could be helpful in eliciting a thoughtful discussion, with other DUers and with the Obama campaign through email.

[nancyharris]

39. I suggest to you that he means exactly what he said.

"We got to make some difficult choices in terms of end of life care." Most individuals and families are faced with a series of "end of life" decisions including the value and effect of certain medical procedures, the extent of medication and hospice care as opposed to hospital care. These , as I am sure you know, are painfully difficult choices made by individuals and families. I think Obama understands this and thinks it is important for the government to make as many choices as possible available to individuals and families especially those whose choices are now limited because of a lack of money.

[HeraldSquare212]

42. Hillary's position?

YOu may wish to check with her, too - she seems to include end-of-life care among the causes of out of control health care costs.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=1789


Now, how have our costs spiraled out of control like this? Well, about 30% of the rise in health care spending is linked to the doubling of obesity among adults over the past 20 years. In other words, if our obesity levels had remained at 1990 levels, we would be spending 10% less on health care today -- a savings of $220 billion. About two-thirds of the rise in health care spending is associated with a rise in the prevalence of treatable disease - like diabetes, asthma and heart disease. 75% of all health care spending -- roughly $1.5 trillion -- is associated with the 4 to 5 percent of patients who have multiple chronic illnesses and require ongoing medical management over a period of years, or even decades. And 10-12% of the total health care budget is spent on end of life care.

[Barack_America]

43. You need to inform yourself regarding euthanasia in this country...

And who decides what is and is not legal in this country

(Here's a hint, they're not politicians and they wear robes)

Maybe if you were actually informed about euthanasia people might be more willing to discuss this matter with you.


As for me, I'm done. I provide you with links, yet you do not read them. I provide you with facts, yet you do not listen.

IMO, you are asking this question only to stir shit up.

[sniffa]

44. Obama's looking to top the Clinton body count.

Be afraid, very afraid. :scared: