December 26, 2011

The Danger of a New Medical Care 'Bioethics'

By Jerome Arnett, Jr. MD and John Dale Dunn, MD
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, ACA, or "Obamacare"), signed into law March 2010, in the near term creates more than 100 new health care bureaucracies, a large increase in taxes, and new government expenses of $500 billion.  Most importantly, however, it will create an incentive and penalty regime for health care institutions and professionals that will compromise traditional professional medical ethics. Embedded in PPACA is a system of mandates and incentives derivative of guidelines for efficient patient care that means some rationing.  An example most often raising objections in the public discussion of PPACA is the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a part of the bill intended to address "end of life" resource utilization, but other entities created by the PPACA, such as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), will promote care guidelines intended to reduce resource utilization or withhold care for patients based on guidelines...(Read Full Article)