Susan's Blog  
(Occasional comments by Susan Seitel)

December 20th, 2008

The Bush Administration, in one of those last minute controversial acts, has issued a regulation that protects health care workers who refuse to provide or participate in providing services that they believe violate their personal, moral or religious belief.

The controversial rule empowers federal health officials to cut off funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctor's office or other entity if it does not accommodate employees who exercise their "right of conscience." It would apply to more than 584,000 health care facilities.

Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, obviously thinks it's a good thing. He said "Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience."

I have my own rather strong opinion that the law is horrendous for many reasons, the main one being that when a treatment is legal, personal opinions have no business depriving you of it. But we were interested to hear what others thought, so we searched out some bloggers' opinions on the matter (all anonymous) and share them here.

"So abortion is a “health service”. I wonder if the baby agrees!"

"Thank you, God bless you, Pres. Bush!"

"Their labor services are protected if they morally object? Can they opt out of collective union bargaining? Social Security? Medicare? Those are all morally objectionable."

"Perhaps some day we will have a similar rule for paying taxes."

"You may list procedures that you have moral objections to ... but if you do not get the job, proving religious discrimination was the reason will be hard to do."

"Ok, here's a quick thought: Does this provide protection for a Muslim to refuse to treat an "infidel"? Does this protect a homosexual from treating a "breeder" or the reverse scenario? I know the intent here, however without going deeper into details, this seems like a double-edged sword. Sorry to be a wet blanket, however if they want to fight abortion, a direct confrontation might be a better approach than abstract reform."

"The right-to-refuse rule includes abortion, but Leavitt’s office said it extends to other aspects of health care where moral concerns could arise, including birth control, emergency contraception, in vitro fertilization, stem cell research or assisted suicide. Now lets say a doctor who believes in assisted suicide lets it be known in some subtle way. What if old uncle Fred knows this and insists on being taken to this doctor knowing that the doctor will not try very hard to keep him alive because it goes against his conscience? Pretty soon all the elderly who want to die will be going to this doctor who can defend his actions on moral grounds."

"Lets say that anyone who has had their picture in the paper or the court report is rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment with only minutes to live. The doctor in attendance has seen their picture in the paper or read the court report and refuses treatment on moral grounds."

"This could be a double edged sword. Imagine someone refusing to treat you because of your conservative views or because you are an evangelical Christian. There are plenty of people in health care/social services, etc that would readily deny people on those bases. Probably even report such people as “hate criminals” under an Obama administration. Scary stuff. What we can use can be used against us."

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December 9, 2008

What's new in the world of health care?

Here are a few facts we picked up this month from a variety of sources while choosing articles to digest for the Newsbrief.

More than two-thirds of Americans are currently overweight or obese, says an article in TIME (12-1-08), and 27% have blood pressure that's too high. Forty percent get no exercise. What's worse, we seem to be passing our health habits on to our kids. Experts fear this may be the first generation of American kids to have a shorter life span than their parents. The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, but we aren't getting our money's worth. We live shorter lives and have a higher infant-mortality rate than many other developed nations.

A two-year-old Web-based social network started by the company PatientsLikeMe already has 23,000 participants signed up to share their personal medical information and learn from others. They chart their medical histories in minute detail, says BusinessWeek (12-15-08), often with photos and real names attached. The hope is to hear what works and what doesn't, and speed up the pace of research. One result: drug side effects can be reported to regulators without waiting for manufacturers to fess up.

An international survey reported by Reuters finds nearly one-fifth of employees saying their work is making them ill or unhealthy. The online survey polled about 115,000 people in 33 countries in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and North America. Nearly 20% said their job was adversely affecting their health, with an additional 13% saying their work was so stressful it was making it hard for them to sleep at night. A third of employees said they had taken three or more days of sick leave in the past year (15% took leave when they weren't really sick). Employees agreed that workplace stress could be reduced by better communication between staff and management and by recognizing individual achievements.

And a press release reports that President-elect Obama's Health and Human Services Transition Team was presented with an overweight document developed by the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law. It head nearly 50 legal and policy recommendations designed to control the nation's obesity epidemic.

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December 2, 2008

A guest blog from Carol Kinsey Goman

I was still in high school when my father was fired from the San Francisco Examiner. My dad loved the newspaper business, and he especially enjoyed his job, working with the newsboys who (then) sold papers on street corners. I knew he'd be devastated by the loss.

To add to the problem, he had been employed by the Examiner for 30 years – but not consecutively. (He left school at twelve, and worked to send his younger brothers through Stanford University.) So when the newspaper eliminated its entire circulation department, my dad was not only out of work, he was out of any chance to receive a pension.

I will never forget that afternoon. I came home from school to find my father already there. Not only was he home, he was in the kitchen. In fact, my dad was at the sink, bent over, holding his head in his hands.

My heart went out to him, but as I was about to say something consoling, I noticed that the reason he was bent over the sink was that my sister was dying his grey hair brown so that he'd look younger when he went looking for a new job. Dad straightened up, grinned, and said: "Now we're going to have some fun!"

And fun we had indeed, for my father did many fascinating things, including owning the "front yard" of a traveling circus, managing a gold mine, and taking photographs for postcards. In his late sixties, he opened his last business – a carnival supply company, which he operated successfully until his death (in the middle of a work day) at the age of 80.

My mother worked alongside my father in most of his endeavors. After his death, she did what any grieving widow in her seventies would do – she took up country-western dancing. And a couple of years later, Mom married her country-western partner. (At their wedding, they wore their dancing costumes. But that, quite literally, is another story.)

Having the profound luck to be raised by these two incredibly resilient people is something for which I will always be grateful. They made dealing with the vagaries of change seem like a great adventure.

And that is what they taught me –- but not by anything they said. I don't recall my parents sharing any slogans or advice on managing change, but I DO remember exactly what they did, and the attitudes they held.

This is also how the people who live and work with you learn about change – not by what you say, but by everything you do, and how you feel about doing it.

In this season of present-giving, I'd like to remind you that one of the greatest gifts you have to offer, is to embody the change (whatever that is!) you want to see in the world.

Happy Holidays!

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., is an executive coach, author and keynote speaker who helps association, government, and business audiences thrive on change. The author of "This Isn't the Company I Joined: How to Lead in a Business Turned Upside Down," Carol's latest book is THE NONVERBAL ADVANTAGE - Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work." For more information, contact Carol by phone: 510-526-1727, email: CGoman@CKG.com, or through her websites: www.CKG.com and www.NonverbalAdvantage.com.

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