I watch Rachel Maddow, and recently I saw a clip called “Making Painful Decisions.” The clip below starts at 3 minutes 56 seconds and goes to the end.  Essentially it is a clip of the lawyer for Terry Schiavo’s husband speaking to the fear being drummed up against living wills by some Republicans as a way of trying to impede health care reform. Right near the end George Felos says “the only thing this bill does is say we will pay the doctor for the conversation. That’s it.”

He is, of course, refering to the conversation a dying person should have with their family and health care provider about what they want done for them and to them at the end of their lives. This conversation is what some Republicans are saying is a plot to kill the elderly. Bah. If its a plot at all, it as a plot to get people involved with their families, to talk to them, to open lines of communication, to speak to each other about the hard stuff.

The earlier segment of the clip shows that the principle opponents of the living will provision have a history of supporting exactly what they now oppose. I sure hope Mr. Felos is right when he suggests that the political downfall of some of those who used Mrs. Schiavo’s end to bring themselves political attention is something that will repeat itself with respect to some of these current conspiracy “theorists.”

It takes a mean spirited person to add to the pain and confusion that dying brings with it and that is what they are doing by trying to kill such a simple provision: help people speak to their doctors and families about what they want their death to be like.