Absurd resistance

Regarding Charles Krauthammer's Aug. 22 column ("Let's Be Honest About the Health-Care Bill's Death Counseling"): In an attempt to sound more reasonable about the health-care bill's provision for "death counseling," Mr. Krauthammer still manages to completely miss the point. The utility of a living will is that in the event you cannot speak for yourself, your doctor and family will know what your wishes would be.

Of course if you can speak for yourself, you will be asked. Anyone who has been through this with a family member who did not have a living will and could not speak for himself or herself (i.e., Terri Schiavo) knows how much it would have helped to have that information. It doesn't mean that it makes difficult decisions easy, but it sure gives you something to go on.

And how ridiculous to suggest that your doctor will have a stake in leading to you down the path of refusing life support. As a certified registered nurse practitioner, I have had this conversation with many patients and I sincerely wanted to know what their wishes were so that I could be of the most help to them and their families if the time ever came.

Why is it that the radical right refuses to see that this tool can be used to assure that the plug won't be pulled if you don't want it to be?

MAUREEN PUSKAR
Irwin