Legal Commentary

Thinking about Ted Kennedy's health care

By Tom Kirkendall

As the Obama Adminstration begins exploring how to reform America's broken health care finance system, Kevin Pho makes an insightful observation regarding the current medical treatment of one of the leading reformers:

As we know, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy has an advanced stage brain tumor, and was recently hospitalized for a seizure.

Seizures are a common side effect of malignant brain tumors, and often controlled with a variety of anti-seizure medications. There will be times where seizures can break through medication control, leading to the frightening episode that occurred on Inauguration Day.

Family physician Doug Farrago asks some pointed questions about the stellar care that the Senator receives, observing that "he travels around with a team of physicians," and, "most patients in [Senator Kennedy's condition] usually are in hospice care."

Senator Kennedy should be commended for his efforts to bring about health care reform. But is the care he is receiving, including instant opinions and access from revered institutions like Massachusetts General Hospital and Duke University Medical Center, representative of the kind of care he's advocating for the American public?

Full post as published by Houston's Clear Thinkers on January 23, 2009 (boomark / email).