1. Informed Consent

Hello! My name is Dr. Jill Vecchio and I am a practicing physician. In 2010, with
rhetoric flying from both right and left about “Obamacare” I decided to find out
for myself what was in the law, so I, unlike the congressmen who voted for it,
read it. While reading this 2700 page monstrosity, I was amazed and alarmed at
the scope of this legislation. I kept saying to my husband: “I can’t believe what‘s
in here! I’ve never heard any of this before! People need to know what’s in this
law!” So I started to give talks on the real content of the law. I’ve spent 2 1/2 years
researching it, and I’ve done a YouTube video series on it.

Over the next several weeks we will delve into the facts of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, the signature legislation of the Obama Administration.

As a physician specializing in breast cancer, I believe strongly in the concept
of “Informed Consent”. Before I do a procedure on a patient, I review the risks
and benefits of the procedure as well as alternatives for diagnosis or treatment.
I then allow the patient to consider these options and make a decision that she
believes is right for her at the time. She may or may NOT choose to do what I’ve
recommended. She makes her decision, based her individual situation.

Years ago it was standard practice for doctors to withhold “bad news” from
patients…instead, the doctor would discuss it with family members. Patients let the
doctor determine what their treatment would be, and they accepted the outcomes
without question. Today we call that “doctors acting as God”. Now we have the
Obama Administration “acting as God”… by not giving we the people factual
information about this law and allowing us to determine our healthcare future
openly.

We all agree that the healthcare industry is sick… I propose to you that we, as
American patients, deserve to know the truth about what the Obama Administration
is doing to us as patients and citizens; what the risks of this legislation are, and what
the alternatives might be.

So let’s begin learning about what the Democrats in Congress and the White House
have decided is in our “best interest”. Let us then form our own opinions, and decide
this November whether or not we will indeed give this law our Informed Consent.

(Note: This commentary is by Dr. Jill Vecchio.)