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January 4, 2011
What You Need to Know About Berwick's "Orwellian Wellness Visit"
Topics: Political News and commentariesIn their rush to defend Donald Berwick's Orwellian dead of night inclusion of advanced directive and end of life planning into what is called the Annual "Wellness Visit" ... Democrats have claimed it's purely voluntary and that Medicare already covers advanced directive discussions.
However, as Robert M. Goldberg points out at The American Spectator, the inclusion of the advanced directive and end of life planning is not voluntary, only the patient's discussion is. Doctors are required to bring it up year after year. And noting that Medicare added the discussion of advance directives to the initial physical exam begs the question: why every year?:
[...] In Berwick's Orwellian world a wellness visit includes end of life care planning but not depression screening based on "the evidence" (as Jeffrey B. English, M.D., points out - the science doesn't exist and their is no evidence). It insists on advance directives but ignores the fact that seniors are living longer than ever with fewer disabilities and should be encouraged to keep doing so. Instead the deranged definition of wellness -- and its rapid dissemination through our health records and the Web -- is all the medical information we need to know.Read it all ...
Related: Obamacare: A Straw House Built On A Weak Foundation
Posted by Richard at January 4, 2011 11:45 AM
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