Have You Heard of PCHETA? It's the death hastening "palliative care" bill. (Part 1)

PCHETA (Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (S. 2243, previously introduced in the House in 2019 as H.R. 647), is the death peddlers kill bill. We need to oppose it!

Why?

Palliative care used to be patient focused -- to help patients with chronic or terminal illnesses live as fully as possible until natural death. Often, patients assisted with palliative remedies from their primary physicians lived comfortably and fruitfully for years. They were encouraged to enjoy their families, have a positive outlook, and continue to participate in activities as much as they could. It wasn't about using every possible extraordinary means to prolong life, but to treat illnesses and offer pain relief when necessary.

Several decades ago that goal shifted. The "new" palliative care approach appeared on the scene with the primary objective having changed from caring for the patient to caring about the budget bottom line, i.e., save money! If a patient has a chronic illness, don't focus on treating the illness, but on convincing the patient to refuse treatment and just die already, the sooner the better.

That's where we are today and, unfortunately, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is supporting it! [Read Bishop Michael Burbidge's July 12th letter to Congress supporting it. He writes as Chairman of the bishops' pro-life activities.]

PCHETA includes millions of dollars to promote the "new" palliative care which is all about convincing patients to refuse care.

Let's get specific. What's wrong with palliative care? Nothing, of course, if its goal is to care for the patient. But what happens when the goal becomes caring for the budget? That's where palliative care has been going for the last few decades. What began as keeping Grandma and Gramps comfortable and active as they suffered chronic illness, but weren't terminal, has become a move of channeling them into Hospice as early as possible, long before before they are terminal and then pushing them over the cliff. 

Back in 2015 I organized a meeting on End of Life Care which looked at many of the issues expanding the death culture from abortion to euthanasia. This was my introductory talk which put the issues in context and described the upcoming presentations from our expert panel.

(You can check out all the videos here.) Among the issues examined were the changes in palliative care which now encourages sick and dying patients to sign advanced directives refusing care and hastening death. Stephanie Block, an expert on community organizing tactics, explained how the churches were being sucked into becoming pawns in death dealing. The USCCB letter illustrates how successful the movement has been! 

The new palliative care approach is often called the "third path" to euthanasia. Active euthanasia (directly killing the patient) promoted by Compassion and Choices (originally the Hemlock Society) is the first path. Pro-euthanasia groups continue to be primary supporters of so-called palliative care. For example, Compassion and Choices and the Hospice Action Network, both proponents of euthanasia and "assisted dying," promote PCHETA and are likely recipients of federal money. The bill funnels massive amounts of tax dollars into the movement to hasten death by training physicians, nurses, social workers, etc. to get on board with the death/saving money agenda.

The second path is more nuanced euthanasia often implemented by withdrawing food and water and letting the patient die of dehydration. That's what happened to Terri Schiavo. But she was by no means an isolated case. This has become more and more common and I have friends who experienced it with loved ones when they had no power to stop it. PCHETA represents the third path and involves an entire team whose job is to convince patients to refuse life-giving care and choose what hastens death even when they are not terminal. I described it in my introduction at the end of life meeting. 

PCHETA is what is often called trojan horse legislation. In other words, it uses benign language that sounds compassionate, but the bill actually has a nefarious goal. PCHETA was first introduced in 2018 but was withdrawn due to opposition. Then COVID put it on hold. But now its back and the primary goal is saving money not helping patients. In 2018, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons wrote to Senators warning them about the dangers of the bill:

...it is improper to dedicate $100 million in additional taxpayer dollars to persuade patients to forgo treatment that might prolong life...[perpetuating] a culture of hastening death at the expense of increasing patient access to life-saving or potentially curative treatment.

For example: Medicare payment arrangements, like Accountable Care Organizations, “have a strong incentive to adopt advance care planning for long-term success,” explains a prominent health industry consulting firm. Participants in Medicare’s “Patient Centered Medical Homes” are also required to maintain advance directives.

In addition, in 2016 Medicare began paying physicians (and “non-physician practitioners”) for “end-of-life counseling.” Medicare paid out $43 million in 2016 and $70 million in 2017, to convince seniors to forgo treatment that might prolong life.... 

Another problematic aspect of H.R. 1676 / S. 693 is that it appears to support increased intervention in the patient-physician relationship by outsiders whose interests might not be aligned with a goal of prioritizing patient care. Furthermore, “palliative” care should not be a whole separate specialty. All physicians should be skilled in relieving symptoms in all patients, not just dying ones, and provisions in this bill would exacerbate fragmentation that is harmful to patient care.

We also summarily object to “retraining” physicians to violate the Hippocratic tradition of “do no harm.” Such a policy is indefensible on its face. No taxpayer dollars should be allocated for this unsound purpose.

Five years later, the dangers continue. The Personhood Alliance points out that PCHETA confuses the terms hospice and palliative care:

Palliative care is oriented toward people with chronic conditions, while hospice is geared toward people who are dying. Inappropriately connecting the two pushes patients down a path toward death long before they become terminal.

It's all about the money! The Alliance goes on to say:

It is well documented that hospices are using palliative care as a “loss leader” to enroll more patients into hospice earlier. In other words, palliative care is sold below cost to attract more patients, who will later be enrolled into hospice, the most profitable Medicare benefit. Those enrolled prematurely create even more profit because they need less care.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) reports that hospices are enrolling patients who are not terminally ill without their knowledge or under false pretenses. They also stated people were inadequately informed that their care had switched to hospice.

It is reported that hospice and palliative care companies have approached the heads of health care systems and proposed that through their expert symptom care, they will keep people out of the hospital. So they are expected to do just that—keep people out of the hospital. The most cost effective way to do this is to get patients to sign an advanced directive saying they prefer to stay out of the hospital. These directives typically are not conditional on the patient’s ability to recover. So when a person needs hospitalization, instead they are “made comfortable”—which often leads to death.

When my mother-in-law was dying back in the late 90s, the visiting nurse asked the family if they wanted pneumonia treated? Of course, they said yes. Things have deteriorated to the point where the family is often sidestepped with the palliative care team making the decisions on their own. 

It's important to know who's behind the transition in palliative care to hasten the deaths of many who could survive and live many more years comfortably and happily. I'll address that more specifically in a further post.

There are certainly people of good will working in the palliative care movement, but it is becoming more and more difficult for them to resist the pressure of the euthanasia proponents. When they pressure you to sign an advanced directive, refuse their document. Dr. Paul Byrne offers one that can help truly protect you. Go here to read it and I recommend signing it and putting it in your medical records. Make sure you assign your power of attorney to someone who will truly protect you from those eager to send you prematurely to the grave.

Fight PCHETA! Contact your senators and oppose it! 

[TO BE CONTINUED.....]