What the fuck is YOUR problem, sir?
We have age limits on transplants. Some panel somewhere ,sometime made the decision setting a limit. Would that qualify as a “death panel”.
Palin’s kid is already born. But parents and doctors decide if a child will be born with severe birth defects should be aborted or not. Is that a death panel?
Nobody would kill Palin’s kid. The question of whether the next Down Syndrome kid will be aborted or not. That is decided by the parents and doctors in consultation. Is that a death panel?
Good one. 
Not if Palin has her way. Neither doctors or parents will have a choice; the government will decide.
A guess: He’s been pissy ever since curlcoat out-fuckwitted him in his own UHC rant and figured he needs to do some A-level threadshitting to reclaim his coveted ‘Biggest A-hole on the Boards’ title.
What?!? I need health insurance and a doctor’s visit to tell me not to eat a bag of potato chips and drink a 12 pack of beer per day?
No, you need them to tell you to make sure the chips are the low-fat baked kind and that the 12-pack should be light beer.
Seriously, though, Americans are very fat, and it’s not because we have more abundant food than other countries (though we certainly have tastier food), it’s because there is nobody qualified enough to make us listen to tell us to get off the couch.
Especially since you’re going to do that anyway even with a doctor telling you not to?
Was that because of the cost of a transplant, or because of the relative scarcity of donor kidneys? It was my belief that organ transplants were often restricted by age and other strict conditions to make sure the organs that were available went to the people with the best chance of a long-term benefit from the organ. Obviously a 65-year-old is less likely to get 30 years out of it than a 30 year-old.
There’s lots of cites out there for kidneys being in short supply, including this from the National Kidney Foundation:
Sure. Aren’t most doctors these days using the “Don’t eat a bag of potato chips and drink a 12-pack of beer” program? I’m sure I saw a journal article about it in the NEJM recently. It works pretty great. You go in and you say “Hey, I’m fat,” and they say, “Don’t eat a bag of potato chips and drink a 12-pack of beer per day.” It’s really very effective.
In fact, I think that a large portion of medical school these days consists of identifying different brands of potato chips and beers so that doctors can more effectively implement the world-famous “Don’t eat a bag of potato chips and drink a 12-pack of beer per day” nutritional program.
But is this really a matter of education? Sure Americans are fat, but isn’t it because we make poor choices? What percentage of the chronically obese simply do not know that the food that they are eating is bad for them?
I sense the snark. 
Oh, don’t eat a bag of potato chips. I missed that part.
So you are saying using age as a point of rejection is just logical. I suppose if you were an otherwise healthy 65 year old, you might not agree if you were rejected due to age. Should a 30 year old get preference over a 40 year old? Should a 29 year old get preference over a 30 year old? It can be a slippery slope to use age.
There is a small number of people who doesn’t know that chips and beer will make them fat. There is a small number who don’t know that being fat will adversely affect their quality of life and life expectancy. There is a small number who are compulsive eaters. There is a small number of people who are simply massively predisposed to obesity due to genetics.
Taken individually, each group is quite small. Taken together, they’re two thirds of all Americans.
Whether or not we are “simply making poor choices” is irrelevant- doctors are there to improve peoples’ health. Weight management is a part of that. In any case, fat people increase your health insurance premiums and mine.
If that kidney can prolong somebody’s life by 35 years, it’s not reasonable to give it to somebody who will only live 15.
If you have fewer kidneys than people who need them, what are you going to do? Lottery? Cage fight? Do you give a kidney to a 101 year old man with lung cancer before you give it to a 20 year old because he called “heads.”
It’s easier to be against something if you aren’t looking at the situation or presenting alternatives.
You do know that “slippery slope” is a kind of fallacious thinking, right? I am surprised how many people explictly label their argument as a “slippery slope,” but at least they are acknowledging that it’s a fallacy.
Of course. Your assumption is I am defending the premise. I am merely defining it. It is hard to argue that a 80 year old is a poorer candidate than a 30 year old. But once you accept it, then you open up arguments that show it can become arbitrary. Is a 50 near old less deserving than a 49 year old. Why did Mickey Mantle get a transplant when he was a alcoholic ? Why do the rich and famous get preferential treatment?
No, but what if your problem isn’t a bag of potato chips and a 12 pack of beer? Without looking elsewhere could you tell me which has more calories and fat, Fiber One or Start Smart? Or how about a can of RedBull versus a can of Amp? Which is better for you, mozzarella or sharp cheddar? What does a serving size of mashed potatoes look like? Can you research online to find these answers? I googled Mashed Potatoes Serving Size and in the first 3 links found 3 different amounts: 1/3 to 1/2 a pound, 2/3 cup and 1 cup. What kind of exercise should you be doing for your build and your general health? If you have chronic back problems what should you be doing to alleviate them? If you stop having an egg mcmuffin in the morning for breakfast and replace that with a banana how do you handle the dramatic increase in hunger pangs between breakfast and lunch?
These are things that could all be addressed in preventative care situations. Having a nutritionist help you put together meal plans and explain serving sizes can make a world of difference, as can being able to afford to see your doctor once or twice a year instead of only when you are really, incredibly ill. Catching problems early and teaching people what they need to know so they can teach that to their children is very important and could help turn the tide on the obesity epidemic. Besides that, those people who are overweight due to hormonal and other biological reasons could actually be looked at and have their problems addressed to help them deal with their weight and other health issues if they had more than 15 minutes a year with their doctor and didn’t have to play In and Out of Network Roulette with their blood work and lab tests.
You mean like Sarah Palin’s claim that Obama’s healthcare plan involves “Death Panels”?
Or can we now start referring to anything that may or may not result in death as a “death-thing”? Like how I rode on a death-train to work today and tonight I am going to eat death-paella for dinner?