Question: How do you judge Palin's quote? ["And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know, and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's death panel, so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their level of productivity in society, whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.] Effective strategy to oppose Democrats' plans for health care reform or unethical scaremongering?

I think her strategy was both unethical and excessive, but it was effective.

She used false, unsubstantiated statements to affect a key health issue that would have benefited a lot of patients. The bill would have allowed Medicare to pay for optional doctor's visits to discuss living wills and end of life issues with their physicians (Mason, 2016). As a member of Congress, she and her family are afforded a higher level of health insurance that is effective for life after serving 6 years. Due to her statements all references to end of life planning were deleted from the bill.

Reflect on what informs your judgment: commitment to advance care planning, analysis of facts, and/or political party loyalties?

I tend to be loyal to my political party but only if the facts support what I think is right. I believe we should all be afforded the right to discuss end of life issues and living wills and have it covered by our insurance and not have our families burdened with these decisions on their own.

Is it right for nurses to endorse health reform legislation even if the legislation is not perfect? Does this apply to the recently failed American Health Care Act?

There is no perfect legislation so there must be some compromise. I think nurses should endorse legislation if it is for the improvement of health care and in the best interest of the patients and nursing practice.