List: Bishops against ObamaCare

The American Papist is listing the American Bishops who have made strong statements about ObamaCare and what would – from a Catholic perspective – need to be considered in any debate about health care reform.

Here is the list so far:

1. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, PA
2. & Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, NY
3. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, CO
4. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, NY
5. Bishop Walker Nickless of Sioux City, IA
6. Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo, ND
7. Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, IA
8. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, KS
9. & Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO
10. Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis, MN
11. Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, VA
12. Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston, SC
13. Bishop Richard Lennon of Cleveland, OH (PDF)
14. Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte, NC
15. & Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh, NC
16. Bishop Jerome Listecki of La Crosse, WI (PDF)
17. Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, SD (PDF)
18. Bishop Donald Trautman of Eire, PA (PDF)
19. Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh, PA
20. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, CT
21. Bishop Thomas Doran of Rockford, IL
22. Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, NJ (part II here)
23. Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock, AR
24. Bishop Robert Morlino of Madison, WI
25. Bishop Paul Coakley of Salina, KS
26. Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio, TX
27. & Bishop Oscar Cantu of San Antonio, TX
28. Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha, NE
29. Bishop Alex Sample of Marquette, MI
30. Bishop Victor Galeone of St. Augustine, FL

Obama Care: Gotta Love This Woman!

H/T: Steve Ray

Britain's "Death Panels" should be a warning to us

Once the government invades health care, it will soon be making life and death decisions for your family.
This aspect of HR 3200 was denied last Wednesday by my Congressman Joe Courtney(D-CT) who told a town hall meeting, "don't get hung up with this small piece of the legislation" (referring to the mandated annual discussion between doctors and elderly patients about end of life decisions). There was a roar of disapproval from the crowd, many quoting Sarah Palin's term "death panels". Is this hyperbole incited by right-wing fear mongers like Glenn Beck?
Far from it, read this chilling post on the National Catholic Register blog about how such death panels are far overreaching their authority in Britain and denying food and fluid to patients based on erroneous judgements that they are dying. Several doctors have written a letter to "The Daily Telegraph" expressing their concern that patients' lives are being ended.
Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.
But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warn.

As a result the scheme is causing a “national crisis” in patient care, the letter states. It has been signed palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke’s cancer centre in Guildford, and four others.
“Forecasting death is an inexact science,” they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death “without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong. “As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients.”

ObamaCare versus NobamaCare

Rob, a Catholic Canadian married to an American, our friend Alexa (the designer of this blog), gives us his unique take on Obama Care:

Being a Canadian and married to an American means having American in-laws, which means usually that once per visit, I will be asked by somebody on my wife's side of the family what I think of the Canadian Health Care system.

I used to be pretty smug about the Canadian system. Even after the time when we lived in Peterborough (1998) and found that family doctors were, uh, "rationed", and because once, in a pinch, we saw a GP in Lakefield about a bug that our son had, that one visit therefore committed us to that doctor to be our family doctor. Read the rest here.