List of panels making life or death decisions

The magazine Foreign Policy published a list of panels making life or death decisions. This was to determine whether or not there were panels of individuals worldwide making life or death decisions. This followed Sarah Palin's use of the term on a recent web page that caused great controversy worldwide.

The article debunked the Palin claim completely but looked at other cases where "death panels" might be said to exist and then awarded points (out of 100 possible) for how close they came.

Death penalty: (100/100 points)

The article gave its highest award to panels associated with determining the use of the death penalty.

As of 2009, fifty-eight countries have a death penalty for certain crimes, and they have a broad range of trial, appeals, and execution decision-making processes. Both Japan and the United States have a Supreme Court which effectively acts as each nation's highest ranking death panel making the penalty determination. In the People's Republic of China, which leads the world in executions at an estimated 5,000 in 2008, death penalty decisions are made by committee. However, beginning in 2007, judicial leaders began requiring a final review of every capital case by the Supreme People's Court which cut the number of exectutions in half. Iran and Saudi Arabia have an appeals process but nevertheless execute a high proportion of their prisoners.

Physician Assisted Suicide: (30/100 points)

Programs for legal physician assisted suicide exist in parts of the USA, as well as in Switzerland Belgium and the Netherlands though the Netherlands and Switzerland do not have "death panels" to determine eligibility.

Texas "futile care" law: (25/100 points)

In Texas, the Advance Directives Act, known also as the Texas Futile Care Law, permits a board of physicians to allow a patient in their hospital to die if they determine further medical care would be futile medical care, regardless of the wishes of the patient or their family. The law does require the panel to inform the patient's family two days before it meets to make its decision, and the family has 10 days to transfer its loved one to another facility.

Extraordinary Treatment Panels: (15/100 points)

In the Britain, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence advises the National Health Service on which drugs are cost-effective, and has been accused of giving certain patients an early death sentence by not granting public funding for some cancer drugs which cost exorbitant amounts and afford only a few extra months of life. However, patients may still chose to pay out of pocket, as currently may Americans when their health insurance provider denies their claim.

An extensive appeals process by which patients and their doctors can request these treatments. The patient’s doctor submits a request to a local trust, and a panel comprised of at least one doctor reviews it. While some exceptions are granted, most are not. The patient is left with the choice of paying out-of-pocket or foregoing the treatment (which also happens in the United States, if an insurer refuses a claim). In California, health insurance companies are required by law to report all denials of claims to the Department of Managed Care, revealing 21% of all claims were rejected between 2002 and mid-2009 amounting to "real death panels in practice daily in the nation's biggest state" according to a Reuters report.

Sarah Palin's claim of "Obama's death panels": (declared false)

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's assertion, that America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 – the Obama Administration's health care reform act – would result in a "downright evil" system of "death panels", was not rated but was declared as "false". Palin's claims about the proposed law were also debunked in other media.

See also

• Euthanasia
• Healthcare rationing in the United States
• Government involvement in the Terri Schiavo case