Disability Rights Group Charges Missouri With 'Medical Killings'

[WanderAimlessly]

Saw this article posted on another BB belong to:

D**isability Rights Group Charges Missouri With ‘Medical Killings’
**Not Dead Yet: Legislature’s Medicaid Cuts Tells Disabled Breathing and Eating Are 'Optional’
By Mary Rettig
September 15, 2005

(AgapePress) - Stephen Drake, a research analyst for the anti-euthanasia organization Not Dead Yet (NDY), says a major story affecting disabled people slipped under the media radar earlier this month. His group stands up for the rights of the disabled – including their right to receive proper nutrition – and opposes euthanasia and so-called “medical killings.”

Full Story

PF

 

[Courtneyjo]

Thank you for posting this. It is up to the people of MO to change this. I pray that they will.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

WanderAimlessly:

Saw this article posted on another BB belong toF

WanderAimlessly:

Good catch!

First they came for the disabled…

What has the Local Archbishop said about this slaughter of the sheep under his care?

I’ll make sure that the people in the ACC know and I’ll post their responses here…

Shalom, Michael

 

[Traditional_Ang]

This is my e-mail to Archbishop Hepworth:

Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate Traditional Anglican Church

Dear Archbishop Hepworth:

Your Excellency, We have a problem here you might wish to address. This will probably require a statement by you and Archbishop Louis Falk. It seems that the State of Missouri, in the rush to save money, has decided to cut off funding for life sustaining equipment for the disabled. you can read about it here:

Disability Rights Group Charges Missouri With 'Medical Killings’
headlines.agapepress.org/archive/9/afa/152005g.asp

Your Excellency, I believe that you will agree with me that what the state is doing in this situation is simply and that it is against both the most basic Christian Teaching and Morality. I believe that the history of the 20th Century demonstrates that this is a dangerous precedent that cannot be allowed to pass by without protest. This is one of the situations where we are in a position to provide the moral leadership which has not been provided thus far.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

In Christ,
Name and Ph# in Original
St Mary’s Parish
Los Angeles, CA

I will send a copy to the local ACC Bishop (State of MO) and post his response as well.

Responses may be slow in coming as the gang is in Portland, ME for a National Synod this week.

Naturally, if I can get something from the Synod…

Meanwhile, maybe I’ll send something to Priests for Life!

That’s all for after dinner!

In Christ, Michael

 

[Rosalinda]

But beginning tomorrow, Missouri Medicaid no longer will pay for them. Nor will it pay for breathing machines for people with respiratory failure; for canes,
crutches and walkers; for cushions to prevent life-threatening bed sores; or for wheelchair batteries.

These things are technically known as “optional” equipment and services under current Medicaid rules.

This is deliberate cruelty. What is “optional” about breathing? Either you breathe or you die. As for simple comfort measures like cushions to prevent bedsores, the antibiotics to treat the resulting sores will be far more costlier than a cushion but then maybe they don’t plan to pay for treating the infections either.

 

[Mom_of_one]

Is this for home care patients only, or does this apply to nursing homes and hospitals? What if you need a ventilator short term after an accident? What if you use a central line for IV food/fluids/medication?

This is crazy!!! It seems as if the choices are going to be you and/or your family can pay for it, and go broke and then you die because you can’t pay for the medical equipment, or you die becuase you don’t want your family going broke.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

[Lisa4Catholics]

Terri was used to open up these doors

 

[Guar_Fan]

Mom of one:

It seems as if the choices are going to be you and/or your family can pay for it, and go broke and then you die because you can’t pay for the medical equipment, or you die becuase you don’t want your family going broke.

The financing of the American health care system is a mess. As employers shift health insurance costs to their workers, we are gradually becoming more aware of the cost. But currently many families exhaust their insurance (or had none to begin with) and wind up impoverishing their loved ones.

In the case of Medicaid, many Americans are willing to cap funding (a slow starvation due to inflation) or even to cut spending… anything to reduce their taxes. After all, Medicaid is used by someone else.

As a country, especially in the wake of Katrina, we need to decide upon what we really value in this country.

 

[Mom_of_one]

Guar Fan:

The financing of the American health care system is a mess. As employers shift health insurance costs to their workers, we are gradually becoming more aware of the cost. But currently many families exhaust their insurance (or had none to begin with) and wind up impoverishing their loved ones.

In the case of Medicaid, many Americans are willing to cap funding (a slow starvation due to inflation) or even to cut spending… anything to reduce their taxes. After all, Medicaid is used by someone else.

As a country, especially in the wake of Katrina, we need to decide upon what we really value in this country.

**I happen to take care of the “someone else” that others think that their taxes shouldn’t have to pay for. Lots of the “someone else”, as a matter of fact. I know where you are coming from, and that is one of the reasons this story makes me so mad!!! **

 

[Traditional_Ang]

**I happen to take care of the “someone else” that others think that their taxes shouldn’t have to pay for. Lots of the “someone else”, as a matter of fact. I know where you are coming from, and that is one of the reasons this story makes me so mad!!! **

Mom of one:

I think I know what you mean. I used to teach DD Adults in a day program before my bock started giving out.

It shocked me that Medi-Cal would refuse to pay for a simple and inexpensive device to help Wheelchairs go straight on sloping pavement because of the doctrine of paying for the “least expensive medically necessary equipment”.

This insured that many people could not independently go into the community.

But what the State of Missouri is doing is orders of magnitude worse. It insures that people will either be treated in ER’s across the Stat for life-threatening emercencies, or that they’ll be allowed to die then per some “Pragmatic” Policy.

I would like to see how the state legislators would act if this policy were applied to THEIR loved ones. I don’t think they’d be so sanguine about it!

Could someone find out the name and contact information for the Catholic Bishops in Missouri? Could someone also get the info for the Governor of MO and the leaders of the State Legislature?

I think they all need to get some letters…

Meanwhile:

Pope Benedict XVI
benedictxvi@vatican.va
benedettoxvi@vatican.va

Archbishop John Hepworth - Primate TAC
plusjohn@senet.com.au

Archbishop Louis W. Falk - TAC/ACC Bishop Diocese of the Missouri Valley
BishopDMV@aol.com

Priests for Life
mail@priestsforlife.org, Priests_for_Life@xmr3.com

Dennis Prager - Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host
dennisprager@dennisprager.com

Hugh Hewitt - Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host
hhewitt@hughhewitt.com

Michael Savage - Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host
michaelsavage@paulreveresociety.com

Michael Medved - Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host
culturalcrusader@aol.com

Bill O’Reilly - TV Personality and Nat. Syn. Talk Show Host
oreilly@foxnews.com

Sean Hannity - Same as O’Reilly
hannity@foxnews.com

President George W. Bush
president@whitehouse.gov, vice.president@whitehouse.gov

The Most Reverend Gabriele Montalvo - Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
nuntius@worldnet.att.net

And Yes, I’ve included the e-mail for the TAC/ACC Bishop - He’s at a Synod this week, but there’s no reason he shouldn’t get involved.

We have our work cut out for us. Naturally, if you can recruit some help from other Threads, Forums, etc., that would improve our chances of getting the State of Missouri to remove this ghastly and inhuman law from its books.

Blessed are they who defend the weak and the powerless, Michael

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Brothers and sisters, Good MANE:

This is the reply I received from Priests for Life:

Michael,

Thank you for writing to share this information with us. Yes, this issue certainly raises questions about the importance of providing basic patient care. We appreciate you taking the time to share this with us.

God bless you, and keep up the good work!

Sincerely,

Mary Worthington
Correspondence Associate, Priests for Life
mworthington@priestsforlife.org

Please post both your letters and responses in this thread. I believe that we can make a difference and possibly help the legislators in Missouri see the wretched mistake they’ve made passing this legislation or whatever enabled the regulations.

Please don’t just be angry… Do something possitive about it!

In Christ, Michael