Obama Czar Advocates Mandatory Organ Donation...

...Unless You Can Prove Otherwise

According to CNS News, Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s choice to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) wrote LAST YEAR that he favors requiring doctors to harvest the organs of deceased patients unless the patient has specifically designated otherwise.

Currently, after a patient passes, the medical staff is actually required to ask the family or other health care spokeperson(s) for permission to harvest organs for transplant. In their book, Nudge, Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler argue that government should require that organs be harvested unless you can prove otherwise.

(Requiring patient consent) could be remedied if government turned the law around and assumed that, unless people explicitly choose not to, then they want to donate their organs – a doctrine they call “presumed consent.”

Some might think it a good idea to increase the pool of available organs for transplant. However, think what could happen if you are unable to communicate when brought to the emergency room. How will you tell them not to take your liver, kidneys, heart, your skin? What if you are in a tragic accident and don't happen to have your driver's license that does not say Yes to donating; what if you die suddenly, far from home, and a family member cannot be located to advocate for you?

Oh well, you weren't using them eyes anyway. Yank them out.

Why stop there, Suss? Why not change the law to prevent people from saying No. Think of the good it would do for society. After all, gentlemen, your book's Web site tells us that we homo sapiens are incapable of making decisions on our own:

From the book's Web site (bolding in original):

Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion.

Unfortunately, we often choose poorly.

(The authors) show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society.

In other words, Sunstein beleives that you cannot make your own decisions and he wants to help you. And, what better position to help us all make better decisions than the Office of Information and Regulatory Affiars.

Among OIRA's responsibilites is the implementation of government-wide policies and standards with respect to Federal regulations and guidance documents.

So, Obama wants the government to take more (read: total) control of medical care decision-making, and the man who's job it is to advise Obama on policy is someone who thinks you make bad decisions.

Scary stuff indeed.

Yet another out-of-the-mainstream hack in the White House. Who would have thought Obama would surround himself with crackpots.