Political Quotes

“The association has reached out to members all across the country and put in very concrete terms what this means to their members. I wish to give one brief but very moving and significant example. It happens to be a woman from Oregon, the State of the ranking member of the committee. She was diagnosed with ALS in January 2014. Her disease, unfortunately, has progressed rapidly. She is now close to fully paralyzed and has very limited use of her arms and hands, requiring loved ones to be with her at all times. Her respiratory system is also affected. She is struggling with the life- or-death decision of whether to have a tracheotomy procedure and go to mechanical ventilation or to enroll in hospice and essentially prepare to die. Her preference is to continue living, as she still enjoys life. One important factor in the decision for her is that being able to communicate is a tremendous concern. While she still has some vocal ability to speak and to be understood currently, she knows that going on the vent will be the end of her spoken voice and her ability to vocalize, and she is very worried that if she decides to go on a vent and prolong her life, she may lose the ability to communicate with the outside world because of the changes in Medicare policy that prevent her from accessing email and Internet via this technology we are talking about.…”