RINGEL, RIDDING OURSELVES OF NOXIOUS “DEATH PANEL” DISCOURSE, VOICES IN BIOETHICS, VOL. 1 (2014-15) 

 

 

* 2014 Lillian Ringel, MS in Bioethics. 

 

© 2014 Lillian Ringel. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative 
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction, 
provided the original author and source are credited.  

 

Ridding Ourselves of Noxious “Death Panel” Discourse 

 

Lillian Ringel* 

 

 

Keywords: bioethics, ethics, death panel, medicare, end-of-life 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION 
 

On Friday, April 11, 2014, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), along with co-sponsors Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) 

and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), introduced the “Medicare Choices Empowerment and Protection Act" (S. 

2240), which would pay eligible Medicare beneficiaries if they create an advance directive: $75 if they create 

an A.D. online, and $50 if they create an A.D. manually.  

The bill would also create a system to store the advance directives to make them easily accessible for health 

care proxies, health care providers, and beneficiaries. Beneficiaries would be able to register their advance 

directives during their initial enrollment in Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage). 

 

 

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ANALYSIS 
 

In a press release, Sen. Coburn said the following: "Advance directives are a valuable, voluntary tool that 

offers patients the ability to protect patients’ future health care preferences or to specify someone to act on 

their behalf. This bill would encourage their adoption by Medicare beneficiaries and is intended to start a 

discussion about how best to move this policy forward. We welcome constructive comments from 

stakeholders to improve this plan and to better encourage the voluntary adoption of advance directives by 

Medicare beneficiaries that can be accessible in real-time by their physicians and hospitals." 

Sen. Coons also added: "Every American deserves the opportunity to live his or her final days with dignity," 

Senator Coons said. "Too many Americans leave their end-of-life care to chance or to the preferences of 

distraught family members. This bill will help more Americans ensure they are the ones making the choices 

about their end-of-life care, reducing confusion and empowering more Americans to spend their final days 

and hours on their own terms."  

 

CONCLUSION 
 

Though advance directives are not a panacea for end-of-life decision-making, efforts to encourage advance 

directives recognizes, at the very least, the importance of end-of-life contemplation. 

REFERENCES   
 

"Government would pay seniors to create advanced directives under Senate Bill" by Tim Mullaney 

http://www.mcknights.com/government-would-pay-seniors-to-create-advanced-directives-under-

senate-bill/article/342803/ 

"Senator advances bill to pay medicare beneficiaries to register advance directives" by Craig Klugman 

http://www.bioethics.net/2014/04/senator-advances-bill-to-pay-medicare-beneficiaries-to-register-

advance-directives/ 

 

 

http://www.mcknights.com/government-would-pay-seniors-to-create-advanced-directives-under-senate-bill/article/342803/
http://www.mcknights.com/government-would-pay-seniors-to-create-advanced-directives-under-senate-bill/article/342803/
http://www.bioethics.net/2014/04/senator-advances-bill-to-pay-medicare-beneficiaries-to-register-advance-directives/
http://www.bioethics.net/2014/04/senator-advances-bill-to-pay-medicare-beneficiaries-to-register-advance-directives/