Ezekiel Emanuel, the top healthcare adviser at Obama's Budget Office and brother of his chief of staff has stated repeatedly that he feels that those who have dementia should not receive medical care. I have done a search, but have found that most of the documents are not available to the public, but I did find several references that might give you a place to start if you would like to research this.
Lancet Article
Medscape Today
Project Muse
He has also written a book, A Time to Die: The Place for Physician Assistance.
I have heard repeatedly in recent weeks that the changes in our health care system will allow all to keep the insurance that they currently have, and that the congress and administration want all to be insured, but does it include the elderly? It appears that senior Obama advisors do not think so.
Mr. Emanuel also is an advocate of living wills, as am I, but he wants it written into these documents that one should be denied care if they become incompetent.
Our culture used to abandon babies who were disabled, institutionalized those who were determined to be incompetent, and sterilized those whom others determined should not reproduce. The Kennedy administration worked hard to free those who had been oppressed by this system, and one of my first jobs was in an early group home for individuals with disabilities. I was proud that as a society we had recognized that all people had worth. Never did I expect that I would see an administration in my lifetime that not only would not treat the disabled with respect, but advocate euthanasia. My heart is breaking. How could this have happened? What has happened to our country that an individual with a disability no longer has the right to live?
My parents both had dementia. They would sit, not talking, just holding hands most of the day. They could not tell you where they were, the date, or the name of the president, but they still loved each other, and they brought joy to all those around them. They had worth, joy in living, and deserved medical care.
October 20, 2208 The New York Post quoted Joe Biden speaking at a fundraiser:
“Mark my words,” Biden told donors at a Seattle fund-raiser Sunday night.
“It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America.
“Watch. We’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.
“And he’s going to need help . . . to stand with him. Because it’s not going to be apparent initially; it’s not going to be apparent that we’re right.”
McCain treated Biden’s comments as a gift while stumping across Missouri yesterday.
“The next president won’t have time to get used to the office. We face many challenges here at home and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world,” McCain said. “We don’t want a president who invites ‘testing’ from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting two wars.”
McCain said it was even “more troubling” that Biden suggested supporters stick by Obama if the actions he takes are wrong or unpopular.
“Senator Obama won’t have the right response, and we know that because we’ve seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign,” he said.
In the recent history of elections all over the free world, the election of a new leader has brought an attack within months. I pray that we are spared after this election, but we should all consider who we would want to be in charge if the worst should happen.