Hospice Patients Alliance Q&A

Do you support physician-assisted suicide?

I support a terminally ill patient's right to die with dignity. If there is absolutely no quality of life for an individual who is suffering from the pain and agony associated with measures taken to extend their life despite the fact that their illness is terminal, if that patient should choose not go on with treatment and put an end to their needless suffering, I see no problem with allowing them access to resources to reach that end. Let there be no misunderstanding however that the decision should be that of the patient and no one else.

How do you plan to protect the elderly if health care is to be financed through cuts in Medicare?

That is a complicated question and I do not have the answer to it. Suffice it to say that the costs of Medicare are tied directly to the costs of healthcare in general. I think that our government owes it not only to the elderly but to all Americans to do everything it can to put into place policies that will bring down the costs of healthcare such as removing anti-trust exemptions that insurance companies have been abusing for years, passing legislation requiring that all health insurance companies operate as non profit corporations, mutual companies or cooperatives to ensure premiums are used to pay for treatment and not pad the pockets of executives or inflate share prices--I think that health insurance should NOT be a publicly traded commodity. I think the federal government should do all that it is constitutionally permitted to in order to make sure that people can be treated for their illnesses and not be financially crippled for it.

Do you favor restricting access to health care for the elderly that they presently enjoy?

Absolutely NOT.

Would you vote to change the current healthcare law to better protect terminally ill patients and the elderly?

I find this question to be somewhat vague. Protect them from what exactly?

How do you plan to protect them?

Again, if I knew what I am supposed to protect them from, I could more easily answer the question.

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I've been answering a lot of questions from a lot of people and organizations. When it comes to questions from organization that have a specific political agenda, I find a number of their questions to be leading, biased and even manipulative. I do my best to answer them all honestly but I won't allow myself to be manipulated into answering vague questions that often serve ambiguous agendas and clandestine interests. -JLP