A 2009 provision of the Affordable Care Act to pay doctors for end-of-life counseling never found its way into the law. Partial credit goes to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and a simple pair of words, “death panels.”  Five years ago Palin called a system in which government bureaucrats determine healthcare based on an individual’s  level of productivity in society “downright evil.” The term “death panels” is still going strong and now, according to Modern Healthcare, the refrain may have prompted a 507-page “repudiation of the controversy” by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Incredibly, the IOM’s study titled “Dying in America” not only fails to repudiate Palin’s original analysis, the lengthy report supports her assertion. “Dying in America” recommends end-of-life conversations between patient and physician beginning in childhood. From the report: All...(Read Full Post)