I think the Terry Schiavo story first put end of life issues on the map. Since then, some more vocal (and perhaps less reality-based) critics of health care have re-raised the issue. What I find especially sad about the politicization of such an emotional, personal issue is that the volume of such critics tends to drown out the stories of those actually affected by such policies.
The LA Times had a great op-ed written by Martin Welsh, a family doctor, about his personal story. It was written a few months ago, but I just saw it today on digg.com and thought I'd pass it along here. Here are some short excerpts (but read the whole thing):
I am a 55-year-old retired family doctor with a large, loving family and innumerable friends and former patients whom I see often. I am an extraordinarily lucky man.
More below the fold...
Welsh continues,
For the last five years, I have also been a patient. I have ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease), a cruel neurological illness in which a normally functioning intellect becomes trapped in an increasingly weak and eventually paralyzed body. Soon, I will die from it...
...Today, I find myself facing the kind of "quality of life" issues I discussed innumerable times with my patients. Answers vary from person to person. But the fundamental question is always this: At what point is the quality of life no longer worth the emotional and physical costs of maintaining it?
Check the link out to read the whole thing. Really good look at an issue that affects all of us.