The Military's Death Panel

by

       Zeno Potas

      They said they would never happen, but my niece is dead. We were told they would never exist, yet one sentenced my niece to die. I am speaking of the "Death Panel", the group of people who decide who gets the health care and who does not. Who will live and who will die. This one made a call, a huge mistake, but then, it was too late.

      My nephew was in the military. It was the first area where the Affordable Care Act was introduced. His wife was pregnant and delivered a healthy baby. After she got home there were problems. She was not doing well. In the military you go with the government doctors. While under their care for a number of months, she slowly deteriorated. They didn't seem to be helping her so the couple went to get a second opinion outside of the military. Private care was very expensive, too much for a soldier to afford, so it was back to the military doctors.

      One day, six months after the birth of her child, she was found unconscious on the floor of her bedroom. She had internal bleeding and had slipped into a coma. After examination my the military doctors her case was referred to the panel for them to make a decision on her care. Their verdict - unlikely to recover, maintain for now, talk to the family about terminating her life support. Further surgery was ruled out as "low chance of recovery". She had been sentenced to death!

      The family struggled with the decision to terminate. At the very least it was incompetence on the part of the military doctors. In the private section it could be called malpractice. Then a call came in, she was waking up! The family rushed to the hospital. She lay there, semi-comatose and doctors were rushing to get the authorization to take her to surgery. She passed before it came.

      There is no doubt in the family's mind that her death was unnecessary. The fact is that the panel decided not to help her, to withhold and ration treatment for another, was the cause of her death. In doing this they also were able to cover up the incompetence of the doctors that treated her. They are the"Death Panel", the ones who decide who lives and who dies. My niece was one of the first casualties of the ACA. One of the first deaths caused by, what is called, Obamacare. She was one of the first to die, but I guarantee she was not going to be the last.