Kaplan on the end-of-life counseling provision in the health care reform bill

August 27, 2009

The University of Illinois website feature “A Minute With…” has just published an interview with Prof. Dick Kaplan on the end-of-life counseling provision in the health care reform bill. Here’s an exerpt:

“Proposed health-care reform has been sidetracked by uproar over aso-called “death panel” provision that some conservatives argue is astep toward euthanasia. But elder law expert Richard L. Kaplan saysthose end-of-life counseling services are nothing new, and havebenefits for both patients and government spending. Kaplan, a lawprofessor and member of the National Academy of Social Insurance,examines the health-care planning tool in an interview with News Bureau Business and Law Editor Jan Dennis.

What exactly is meant by “end-of-life counseling”?

image of law professor richard kaplan Fornearly 25 years, Americans in most states have been able to documentthe extent of medical interventions they would want if they haveimpaired mental capacity or are unable to communicate theirpreferences. These documents are typically called “advance directives”and come in two varieties – living wills, which state that the persondoes not want certain life-sustaining procedures if he or she has aterminal condition; and health-care proxies or powers of attorney,which designate someone to make care decisions for that person.Discussing which form is most appropriate for a specific patient andwhat it should contain is often called “end-of-life counseling.”