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GOP relying on scare tactics in health debate POSTED: August 10, 2009 Save | Print | Email Email: "GOP relying on scare tactics in health debate" Bring on the scare tactics, fear peddlers, and outright liars on the health care debate. A consultation on a living will is now somehow a "plot" to kill senior citizens? I thank God my grandparents, father and mother-in-law all had them when illness took their lives. When it came time for final decisions about my grandfather to be made, hospice counselors still sat down with my grandma and us to make sure we understood what withholding a feeding tube (per his wishes) would mean. After 30-plus years of Parkinson's disease, my grandpa could no longer physically speak, but they still sat with all of us to go over his options, and if it was still his wish not to have a feeding tube, they would respect and carry out his wishes, the same thing if he changed his mind and wanted a feeding tube inserted. Five years later, my grandma had a massive stroke and could not physically speak. No one involved was "chomping at the bit" to "kill" my grandparents. The option to change their minds about end of life care was always on the table. A living will is simply a legal record of what procedures you are willing to be a part of. You have the option of changing your mind ... you get to have the final say. As for abortion, there has been a federal law banning federal funding for abortion since the '80s. Are Republican lawmakers ignorant of that or just disingenuous? Michele Reynolds Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn