Obama's Death Panel

The Department of Health and Human Services already has a death panel. It's called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Although he didn't use the term "death panel" Speaker Newt Gingrich mentioned it in his C-Span debate with Herman Cain, noting that the board contained no urologists or cancer specialists had recommended men should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer. The panel opined that ultrasounds and rectal exams did not save lives. Prostate cancer is second only to skin cancer as the leading cause of death among men. The panel ignored the fact that deaths from prostate cancer had declined in recent years as the result of early detection. This is the same panel that two years ago said women under the age of 50 shouldn't’t get annual mammograms—a “finding” so preposterous even the Department of Health & Human Services ran away from it. The panel did spend a good deal of time discussing the unpleasant side affects of cancer treatment as if the affects of full blown cancer were somewhat preferable. A President Gingrich would euthanize the task force and this would be a question I would like to hear asked at the next debate.