ELDER LAW-I

DON'T SIGN HEALTH PROXY BEFORE READING THIS
THE LEGAL PROFESSION AS MRS. BUDINSKY

PART ONE: HISTORY DOCTORS, LAWYERS AND FAMILY

Our firm takes the same tongue-in-cheek attitude toward the euphemisms of the Elder Law trade as it does toward the Matrimonial Bar. Lawyers and doctors and American Medical Association get drunk on their own words.

Euphemism: A word that sounds better than what it means. Like, "lady I think your husband just had an incident with 10 wheeler."

DOCTORS DROPPED HIPPOCRATIC OATH TO DROP YOU

A similar fate befell Kater's landmark social history of the Nazi party first published in 1983 under the title The Nazi Party. In that work Kater documented for the first time the fact that of all occupational groups in Germany doctors had the largest membership in the Nazi party and that they joined early. Almost 50% of German physicians belonged to the Nazi party. Kater's book on the Nazi party has yet to be published in German translation. 17 years and we're still waiting.  

NAZI EUTHANASIA DOCTOR HEADS WORLD MEDICAL ASSN

In 1993 the world learned that a leading German doctor (and former president of the doctors' chamber) who had been a member of the SS and was linked with the Nazi euthanasia program was appointed president-elect of the World Medical Association for 1993-94. Upon exposure in the world press, Professor Sewering resigned from his position with the world body claiming that he was the victim of an international Jewish conspiracy. See Note at bottom of this page

The disabled despise the AMA with good reason

Then we have the notorious American Medical Association, a leading voice on abortion, infanticide and involuntary euthanasia with DNR [Do Not Resuscitate] notice at the patient's bedside. 

HEALTH PROXY SCAM

Doctors used to take the Hippocratic oath. Now they take the hypocritic oath. And judges are worse

if politicians jump on the bandwagon, you can be sure it isn't going anywhere.

Hospitals, lawyers and your representatives bombard "senior citizen" neighborhoods with brochures screeching: "Did you know you have more control over how you choose to die than God does?" "Just appoint someone you trust your "Health Proxy." Give your "Health Proxy" (comes from the same Latin root as the word pox) with instructions about how you want thousands of unforeseeable conditions handled if you are not momentarily unconscious. Don't worry that you won't think of every possibility. We have a list ready for you."

If a lawyer gives you a list, don't go marketing with it. You won't get what you want and you'll spend a fortune.

Remember that judges and doctors who must obey your written instructions aren't used to obeying live and kicking laymen. Why should we expect them to follow the wishes of comatose patients or a third-party? Judges and lawyers are the last professions I would pick to teach children Sunday or Hebrew school.

You read the newspapers. Then you know the widespread problem of corrupt judges and low quality of nursing home and home visit care. Some judge with a small brain who never thought about right and wrong is his life will override in five minutes what you and your friend discussed for months. God-forbid you should be a Christian or a serious Jew. He and some lawyer from the ACLU will read your instructions upside down just for spite.

To see what your health proxy is up against you might consider reading a recently released and widely hailed book A Merciful End The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America  by IAN DOWBIGGIN. Of it the Baltimore Sun reviewer writes: "A 'must read' book on the history of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.... If you wonder why 'living wills' and health care 'power of attorney' won support at the ballot box but physician-assisted suicide proposals mostly failed, this book explains all."

Think about it. What is your "health proxy", family members, friends or clergyman to do? They are strangers to courts and hospitals fighting professionals. Are they supposed to follow some barmy pro-euthanasia resident doctor on 3 AM rounds?

"Your" doctor (actually HIS resident and puppet) just worked 400 hours without a break. The doctor isn't "your" doctor in the old sense. The resident owes his whole future to sucking up to his master. The resident couldn't be your friend even if he wants to be. And his high and mighty doctors with media star-like awards they give each other a mile long don't have friends. He's the insurance company's doctor, or the court's doctor, or the government's doctor. BUT HE IS SURELY NOT YOUR DOCTOR.

Again, from A Merciful End The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America:

...Such links brought euthanasia activists into fierce conflict with Judeo-Christian institutions who worried that "the right to die" might become a "duty to die." Indeed, Dowbiggin argues that by joining a sometimes overzealous quest to maximize human freedom with a desire to "improve" society, the euthanasia movement has been dogged by the fear that mercy killing could be extended to persons with disabilities, handicapped newborns, unconscious geriatric patients, lifelong criminals, and even the poor. Justified or not, such fears have stalled the movement, as more and more Americans now prefer better end-of-life care than wholesale changes in euthanasia laws.

Exhausted residents make life and death judgments and NY Medical Society justifies. "That's how the weak get weeded out." Sounds frighteningly familiar.

HOSPITALS IGNORE LAW. NY ATTORNEY GENERAL SPITZER SILENT

That's another reform the New York State legislature promised years ago after the daughter of New York Daily News columnist Sidney Zion died because New York Hospital blundered. It's resident doctor blundered. Wouldn't you if you were deprived of sleep? New York Hospital is top-notch and very expensive. The State Department of Health promised stricter supervision under new rules. Hospitals had to allow interns and residents to do something every other human being needs in order to make good decisions--SLEEP. After years of study New York non-profit (laugh) hospitals still push residents to see what is their breaking point at the expense of the old and infirm.

Back to our sleep-deprived doctor. Before going round and round he was forced to attend a lecture by the Hemlock Society on how to get old people so depressed they'll choose to voluntarily be killed. The doctor is tired of keeping "useless" people like you alive. Hell, he's tired of looking at his girlfriend. He's in such a blur he forgets he tired of looking at the hospital administrator who is even more useless than you are. And what he thinks of the haughty head of his department isn't even printable. BUT YOUR LIFE IS NOT MEANINGLESS TO YOU OR YOU WOULDN'T HAVE READ THIS SO FAR.

Why would ethical doctors need to told not to kill their patients? It's called murder. 
What do you know about options that the insurance company just may not want to pay for?

POLITICIANS AND LAWYERS MAKE HELL OF OLD AGE
THEY SHOULD BE BANNED FROM NURSING HOMES

I understand this is unpleasant. I tell unpleasant truths. That's why I'm the world's only registered "Lon Gyland Curmudgeon." [Locals pronounce "Long Island" that way.] if you like avoiding unpleasantness go to the Wizard of Oz site. In fact go to my series on the Long Island Railroad.

It's your welfare they alone are truly interested in. Belief that? What are you a naive Democrat? A snowed Republican? They're both the same. Every alphabetical agency will send you brochures. Your local politicians will organize "discussions" in libraries about responsible planning. For what? Who plans for retirement when they're 65?

Retirement is supposed to free you from responsibilities. They can't even leave the old to pass our shrinking years drinking Guinness, which requires no refrigeration and no cooking--Guinness is a great day-shortener. If you get out of bed first thing and drink a glass, then the day doesn't begin until about twelve-thirty, when you come to again, which is nice. I try to live in a perpetual snooze.-- Quentin Crisp.

Our peons are hard at work scouring these Elder Lawyer sites for free information for you. And you'll never get annoying mail from them that way. I will. And I love it!

Obviously, you shouldn't rely on a curmudgeon like me for serious legal advise any more than you would a financial adviser if you wanted to make money. You should also seek out someone who never makes mistakes and will always work in your interest. Good luck in finding one. If you do, please let me know. I could use his services, too.

And remember the only solution to aging is not aging.

Read about Peter Singer whose family was wiped out in the Holocaust and who wants to bring it back--of course to others. And about Holland's adoption of Nazi euthanasia

Note to German Doctors highest membership Nazi Party BEFORE Hitler came to power.

Kater, M. Doctors Under Hitler, Chapel Hill; The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Press. 1989.
Kater, M. The Nazi Party: A Social Profile of Members and Leaders, 1919-1945. Cambridge; Harvard. 1983

William E. Seidelman MD, CCFP, FCFP
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
University of Toronto,
Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Toronto, Canada
St. Michae's Hospital,
Toronto, Canada .

Go to Part II of this Series

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