Ending End-of-Life Phobia — A Prescription for Enlightened Health Care Reform

Reform is coming to U.S. health care. A sense of urgency regarding the redesign of policies prevailed well before Barack Obama was elected president under the banner of change. A debate is now raging over a wide span of topics, including prescription plans, physician reimbursement, and solutions for the medical liability problem. But thought leaders have been remarkably reticent with respect to one aspect of the health care system: end-of-life care. Given that patients with terminal illness require a disproportionate concentration of expenditures, the silence is deafening. Sure, the summer's controversy over “death panels” provided fodder for late-night comedians, but . . .