Death Panels and all that

Like Mike Doonesbury this morning, I had thought all the Death Panel furor was behind us. But if Gary Trudeau thinks it's still a current topic, and Newsweek gives it featured coverage (The Case for Killing Granny, Rethinking end-of-life care, Sept. 21, pages 36-40 and page 8), it may be useful to review it one more time for those gullible enough to believe that we old-timers are about to be shut out of the system and left to die. That's deliberate nonsense. The facts are:
Living wills (or advance medical directives) have been around for years. My own was first notarized in June 1997, and I update it as "still valid" and sign it every year or two to show that my mind hasn't changed. I make sure my own doctor and any hospital I go to has a copy.
The reason doctors and hospitals advise people to do this is so that the your personal desires are on record even if you are later found unconscious, or are unable to communicate, or have relatives telling the medical attendants to do this or do that regardless of your own stated wishes.
You may state that you want everything done to keep you alive, or want Hospice care, or want to let nature takes course, or any degree of treatment in between. It's up to you. But unless your desires are recorded while you are still conscious and of sound mind, the doctor or hospital will have nothing to go on.
My own advance directive says, in part, "If I am disabled by [for example] stroke, dementia, or cancer, I do not wish my life prolonged artificially. If there is no reasonable chance of recovery or fully conscious existence, then let my dying process take its natural course without tube or IV feeding, radical surgery, extended use of a respirator or other resuscitation measures. Relief of pain and/or routine nursing care are OK. I do not want my medical care to threaten bankruptcy of my family and heirs.
"In particular, I do not want attorneys, judges, doctors, or ethics committees quibbling about my intent or wish. What I want is to go to my Maker when my time comes, with what measure of human dignity is possible."

The difference between a "Death Panel" and a Living Will is who makes the decision - a nameless bureaucrat, or you yourself?

As a doctor, I have seen people kept alive for a few extra days while they are dying of incurable, painful cancer or other disease, and their medical costs keep building up to loss of home and all the family's funds, only to prolong the pain or keep the heart beating, but with no useful outcome. But without instructions to the contrary, doctors do what they can to keep a person alive.
President Obama's Health Plan encourages doctors to counsel patients on how to make their wishes known. It's still a matter between only you and your doctor.