Eight Health-Care Lobbyists for each Congressman?

Hi, guys -

Just thought you might want to know . . . last year there were eight healthcare lobbyists for every Congressman/woman. And, no, it wasn't insurance companies that were the most heavily represented. It was trade, advocacy and professional organizations!! Wonder what that's all about?? How about Dunkin' Donuts lobbying against a tax on soda which would have helped fund health care reform? How about the fact that more hospitals funded lobbyists than insurance companies? How about the fact that the number of health care lobbyists in 2009 more than doubled - starting in the first quarter at 1,400 and ending the final quarter with almost 3,700! Gee whiz . . . no wonder it's a mess . . . instead of a representational government, we have a lobby-irrational government . . . in the lobby, for the lobby, by the lobby . . .

http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/1953/

Just thought you might be interested.

Carol

Massachusetts Considering End-of-Life Legislation

Hi, guys -

It has been of interest to me that the topics we have tackled as members of Harvard's Community Ethics Committee have tracked pretty consistently with what is going on "out in the world" as reflected by the press. When we reviewed organ donation on cardiac death, there were NYTimes articles on that very topic. When we talked about CPR and whether it is an advisable treatment option in every situation of cardiac arrest, lo and behold, articles appeared in the press discussing that very topic!! And now, simultaneously with our wrestling with the topic of Palliative Sedation, the Massachusetts legislature is taking up end-of-life decision-making!! I thought you might want to know!! Here's an NECN piece on it that aired Monday -

http://www.necn.com/02/22/10/Right-to-die-battle-on-Beacon-Hill/landing_newengland.html?blockID=184909&feedID=4215

What do you think??

Best -

Carol

Euthanasia in the NYTimes: BBC Host Admits Killing Ailing Partner

What do you think about this article?

BBC Host Admits Killing Ailing Partner
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/world/europe/18britain.html?scp=1&sq=Ray%20Gosling&st=cse
 
By SARAH LYALL

"The confession has put Ray Gosling, who has made hundreds of documentaries for radio and television, in the center of a furious long-running debate about euthanasia in Britain. ... Ray Gosling was arrested after he said on television that he had smothered his partner, who was ill with AIDS, long ago."