Rush Limbaugh: Death panel at work in VA

Rush Limbaugh: Death panel at work in VA

Radio giant blasts feds as probe expands to 19 states

By Bob Unruh

http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/rush-limbaugh-death-panel-at-work-in-va Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh on Monday blasted the Veterans Administration as a “death panel being done on purpose” as the investigation into secret waiting lists and backlogs causing unnecessary deaths expanded to 19 states.

“These people are special. These are soldiers. They’re special. They got wounded in action … defending this country on missions assigned by their commander-in-chief and other commanding officers,” Limbaugh said.

“Now we learn of these deaths by attrition, secret waiting lists, and this is the real bad thing of it. People on these lists assume that they’re being moved ahead of the line. That’s the purpose of the secret list, that they’re going to really be taken care of. Because the backlog is so jammed, the line for treatment at the VA is so long that they’ve come up with this secret list business, and the people on that list think that they’re essentially being moved to the top of the class, or the head of the line, in front of the line. And they’re just being ignored,” he said.

He said it appears the death toll, combining various reports, has passed 100 victims.

“It’s simply unconscionable. So you have to ask, the natural assumption is that nobody wants these people to die, even if you add the death panel component, nobody wants these people to die, yet they are. At the very least what we’re dealing with here is a total inability to deal with this. And at worst it’s the death panel being done on purpose.”

He said he knows some people won’t recognize the death panel aspect, “even though the evidence is pretty clear.”

“When you have government employees receiving salary bonuses for ostensibly saving money by virtue of shrinking the number of people on the list, how does that happen? How do people end up off the list and not treated? They pass away. And if you’re gonna have government employees bonused on that basis, then you would be not that far out of whack to assume there might be some death panel at work here,” he said.

“If you don’t want to go that far, at the very least, there is rampant incompetence here and inability to run the medical treatment of the Veterans Affairs system,” said Limbaugh.

He said it’s a projection of what Obamacare will be like for everyone eventually, because the government is unable to run health care.

“There are people dying. If you don’t want to believe the death panels are the reason, then you’ve gotta believe it’s incompetence. But you can’t just say, ‘Well, you know, excrement happens.’ ‘Cause you could be the excrement next time,” he said.

Listen:

He continued the conversation with a caller, who explained the failed VA system is the kind of “single-payer” system sought by many progressives.

“Sarah Palin was mocked for bringing up death panels,” the caller said. “Well, folks, this is it. You have 40 dead veterans whose cause of death is the system that they were in. It wasn’t because of just their diseases. They were caught in a system, a single-payer system that viewed them as a cost. Not as a veteran, not as a human, but as a cost.”

Listen:

Palin was mocked in 2008 for describing ethics panels and medical facility boards that would make patient decisions under Obamacare “death panels,” but even physician and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has admitted Palin was right.

Dean has pointed out health care will have to be rationed under Obamacare as decisions are made about who will receive critical care and life-saving treatments.

Doug Book of the Western Center for Journalism notes that under Obamacare, Oregon set up a Health Authority that is promoting a guideline stating “treatment with intent to prolong survival is not a covered service for patients who have progressive metastatic cancer and are not able (in the view of the physician) to be helped.”

“Palliative care is all that will be provided.”

At one point Obama even undermined his own party’s claims. In 2009, he told a daughter whose 104-year-old mother still was enjoying life five years after getting a pacemaker that her mother should have just been given a pain pill.

WND reported Bobby Schindler of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network said ethics panels and medical facility boards for some time now have been getting involved in decisions about who lives and who dies, based on their illness, needs, treatment, expenses and resources.

“They’re taking medical decisions out of the family’s hands and putting it into the hands of bean counters,” he told WND.

Howard Dean

Howard Dean was the chairman for the Democratic National Committee, and David Halperin was his speechwriter.

Note: Jennifer M. Palmieri was the national press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, an SVP for the Center for American Progress, and is the communications director, assistant to the president for the Barack Obama administration.

David Halperin was Howard Dean’s speechwriter, and an SVP for the Center for American Progress.

George Soros was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, and the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Chuck Hagel was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the deputy administrator for the U.S. Veterans Administration, and is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration.

Togo D. West Jr. is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), was the general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense, and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Eric K. Shinseki was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the Barack Obama administration.

Kenneth W. Dam a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Committee for Economic Development, and the Aspen Institute (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Donna S. Morea was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and the EVP for the CGI Group Inc.

CGI Group Inc. was the Obamacare contractor that developed Healthcare.gov web site.

Obamacare is Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative.

Barack Obama’s signature policy initiative is Obamacare, and was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

R. Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

James S. Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a director at the General Dynamics Corporation.

Lester Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a director at the General Dynamics Corporation.

Roger W. Baker was a VP at the General Dynamics Corporation, and is the assistant secretary for information & technology at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the Barack Obama administration.

Paul G. Kaminski is a director at the General Dynamics Corporation, was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and the under secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Chuck Hagel was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the deputy administrator for the U.S. Veterans Administration, and is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration.

Togo D. West Jr. is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), was the general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense, and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Eric K. Shinseki was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for the Barack Obama administration.