Urban Legend: "Brain Surgeon" Confirms Obamacare Strategy To Use Death Panels For Seniors Who Require Advanced Neurological Treatment-Fiction!

TruthOrFiction.com
TD is an admirer of Mark Levin's stand against the tide of socialism in the nation and appreciate his stand for the Constitution. But we must publish the refutation of the claim made by one caller to his show. To his credit, Mr. Levin asked for the man's sources and his response was skeptical, yet as from one who thought he might have the best source available.  Hear the audio of this call.

Summary of the eRumor:  There is an audio file from a segment of the Mark Levin radio show that is circulating the Internet. It contains a conversation between Mark Levin and a caller who identified himself as Jeff from Chicago, Il and claimed to be a brain surgeon.  The caller said that he had just returned from Washington DC where he had read over a document that said that patients were referred to as "units" and anyone over the age of 70 who subscribed to government medical insurance and needed stroke therapy or treatment for an aneurism would be given "comfort care."  Comfort care does not cure or treat illness but works on relieving symptoms and improving patient comfort.  One model of comfort care is hospice for terminal patients.

The Truth:  The radio call aired on November 23, 2011 on the Mark Levin radio program but it is "factually inaccurate" according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), which posted a statement on its web site.  Click for statement. The AANS reviewed the transcript and said that the organization was "unaware of any federal government document directing that advanced neurosurgery for patients over 70 years of age will not be indicated and only supportive care treatment will be provided."  The statement also said that. "the caller who identified himself as a brain surgeon is not actually a neurosurgeon, nor was there any session at the recent Congress of Neurological Surgeons’ scientific meeting in Washington, DC at which a purported government document calling for the rationing of neurosurgical care was discussed."  By Meera at http://lifesacomicstrip.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html Snopes also calls the legend false.  So does FactCheck AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGEONS  published this press release denying the caller's claim.  We have looked for sources that would authoritatively corroborate this caller's claim and have found none as yet. The only sites that come close are those that merely quote the claims without analysis. TD Forbes calls it nonsense;  "Utter, complete and horrifying nonsense that is, understandably, scaring the wits out of the many senior citizens who are being told that any medical misfortune suffered at age 70 —or beyond— will not be met with the appropriate medical response." Health News Review; Health policy fear-mongering fraud on radio call-in show – how often does this occur on American airwaves?  "In more than 7 years of blogging about health care messages affecting the public dialogue, I don’t think I’ve ever written before about radio call-in programs.  But this one hit pretty close to home." All this being said, it in no way lessens my fear of what harm this government can and will likely do to a healthcare system run by people of the sort who now run the EPA and the DOJ.  After all, it was Democrat policies that brought on the housing crash and the recession that Obama blames on President Bush. Liberals whose philosophies cause damage to economic, military, academic and social systems can only blame themselves for the fertile intellectual soil in which these fears take root.  The Tunnel Dweller.