Congress passes law to give itself headlines
There is a type of law called private relief bills. These laws are passed by Congress and apply to a single person or cooperation. Using a private relief bills, Congresses can pass a law that says you personally do not have to pay taxes this year. This type of law is normally used to for Congress to intervene in a personal case such as an immigration case of importance.
Over the last 48 hours Congress has passed a private relief bill to keep a person on life support. I am not going to argue the morals of right to die or vanity of Congress getting involved in the one right to die case in the country that is getting media attention. What I will say is that if Congress really cared about this subject, why use a private relief bill instead of making a public law.
If it is life you are trying to protect life, how about fixing Medicare. They are trying to save tens of thousands of lives. The real issues in this case are personal. I pray none of the people who a hanging “stop killing” signs on court houses have to make this decision. Only because I would not wish that on anyone.
Comments
Of corse this news reminded Natalie and myself that my father could well have died a long time after he did. Technically he died of kidney failure, and there are things that could have been done, had anyone chosen to do so.
As we continue to move things from Waco to DeSoto, we still come across little scraps of paper with repeatedly underlined admonitions, often in red or blue ink, of "NO HEROIC MEASURES!!!" and "NO CPR!!!". Such were my dad's wishes, and we are grateful no one saw fit to interfere with them.
I hope the Taxpayers did not pay for the President's flight from Texas to DC expressly to sign the bill an hour after it was passed...
I know it's to my father's satisfaction that he died while his medicare was still in effect. He would have been hidiously embarassed to have had to draw on medicaide. The day before he died I had taken the paperwork home to work on, but hadn't gotten around to that yet... Another small mercey...
Posted by: Josef | March 24, 2005 03:25 PM
Another good friend went though this with her mother. Having meet your father, I can not imagine the pain of going though that.
Posted by: Me | March 24, 2005 03:53 PM