A man identifying himself as a brain surgeon has issued a warning to Americans age 70 and over that the secret plans being developed by the federal government under the Obamacare law will provide only “comfort care” for some ailments.
The stunning statements from the man who was interviewed by radio show host Mark Levin confirmed that there are, indeed, “death panels” being raised to restrict what could be live-saving or life-extending care based on the decisions of bureaucrats.
The issue of such “death panels” early on was cited by former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who said the Obamacare law’s provisions for government panels that would make decisions regarding what treatment would – or would not – be allowed amounted to exactly that.
The words prompted a firestorm of criticism by Obama supporters who said that process simply didn’t exist. Nevertheless, the fact that there will be limits on medical treatment under Obamacare is obvious, analysts have confirmed. The question is how such limits are characterized.
Now the man whose name was not released confirmed to Levin that those panels will exist.
He said shortly before the interview, in November, he had returned from a conference in Washington of an organization of neurosurgeons, and he described that there was a meeting with information presented from the government.
“Basically what the document stated, if you’re over 70 and you come into the emergency room and you’re on government supported care … you get comfort care.”
“Wait a minute,” said Levin. “What’s the source?”
“This is the Obama health care plan for advanced neurosurgical care … Yes, the Health and Human Service [Department] issued [it],” he responded.
He cited the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and another related group, which, when contacted by WND, denied that any such presentation took place, or that the man was, in fact, a physician at all.
The interview:
The AANS said in a prepared statement provided to WND that “an individual claiming to be a ‘brain surgeon’ made several statements referencing neurosurgical care on a Mark Levin radio show segment. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) reviewed this segment and found that it contained several factual inaccuracies which we wish to clarify.”
The statement continued, “The AANS and CNS are unaware of any federal government document directing that advanced neurosurgery for patients over 70 years of age will not be indicated and only supportive care treatment will be provided. Furthermore, in conducting our own due diligence, it appears that the caller who identified himself as a brain surgeon is not a neurosurgeon, nor was there any session at the recent Congress of Neurological Surgeons’ scientific meeting in Washington, D.C. at which a purported government document calling for the rationing of neurosurgical care was discussed.”
The organization said, “Neurosurgeons are committed to providing timely, compassionate, and state of the art treatment for all patients – regardless of age – who have neurosurgical conditions. As such, we have requested that this podcast be removed from Mark Levin’s website as it portrays inaccurate information which could potentially be harmful to the patients that we serve.”
Levin, however, said the denials are not convincing.
“The gentleman used a fake name on the air, so when the associations say they looked into it and could not find that he was at the conference, that is a straw man,” he told WND.
“My call screener was very comfortable that he was what he said he was and I have no basis to disparage anything he said. He knew of the conference, who knew who was holding the conference, who knew of the various meetings at the conference, and he knew the subject-matter thoroughly.”
He continued, “It seems to me the focus by the deniers should be on uncovering what HHS is up to. Have they dug into it, have they filed FOIA requests, have they interviewed numerous attendees, etc.?”
The man who called to Levin’s show said he and his colleagues found the information “disturbing, because as our population gets old the majority of our patients are over 70 who require stroke therapy, aneurysm therapy.”
He said, “They call them ethics panels or ethics committees who get together and meet and decide where the money would go for hospitals and basically for patients over 70 years of age, that advanced neurosurgical care generally is not indicated,” he said.
Levin said, “So Sarah Palin was right we’re going to have these death panels.”
He questioned whether the caller was certain about the information coming from HHS?
“Yep,” the caller said.
“When will the rest of us become aware … after the election?” Levin continued.
“Probably,” the caller said.
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