
In an effort to ease tensions over Health Care Reform, the nation's doctors and the government joined forces today by creating a Denial of Service clause into a pending bill in Congress that would allow the government, doctors, nursing assistants, hospital admittance clerks, and janitorial staff to deny health care service to hospitalized individuals if, in their estimation, a patient is seen to be progressing towards recovery in a lackluster way.
In other words, a patient would have roughly 48 hours to improve their condition or face a "denial of service" at which point any of the aforementioned individuals would be able to remove IV lines or pull the plug on any number of devices designed to keep the patient alive or in a vegetative state.
"We are no longer in the vegetable garden business," stated Mephisto County General Hospital Administrator, Dr. Carl Rogers. "We are now in the "Divesting Ourselves of the Obsolescent or DOA as we prefer to call it," he continued.
The term DOA, long used to describe individuals who were dead on arrival while being transported to a place of care will now serve a dual purpose.
The concept of DOA has not been without its critics. Frank Gulden, Director of Ground Zero Nursing Home in Latrobe, Pennsylvania had asked for a patent on the term DOA as he and directors of similar homes were planning to use it to refer to "Divesting Ourselves of the Aged," a reference to the exploding numbers of elderly making their way into the crowded, unusual smelling, and understaffed facilities. Dr. Rogers countered that "divesting " themselves (nursing homes) of the elderly by simply removing the cotter pins from their wheelchairs does not constitute a humane way to deal with their plight.
"At least we tell someone at the nurses station what we are about to do," Rogers argued.
Referred to as "Plug Plucking Parties" the names of patients who do not improve within the first 48 hours are placed into a pool. There is a drawing, usually made by a Candy Striper (young health care volunteer.) A doctor, or clerk will look at the name to determine whether the criteria for denial of service is met, at which point someone is selected (usually a person not directly associated with the hospital in a professional capacity) who will be allowed to "pluck the plug" in the hospital's jargon. The group largely consists of women, who refer to themselves as Mother Pluckers. Everyone then gathers for noshes before returning to their various duties.
When asked by Dr. Brian Pfister, Rag Box Medical Correspondent, as to what actually constituted a decision to "pluck the plug," a janitor standing by said that the procedure was really quite simple. We look at the chart like any doctor, and if the arrows aren't going up, the names go in the pool.
According to Pfister, the hospital has erred in only three cases over the last 6 months. One in which the chart was accidentally hung upside down resulting a rather hasty, but incorrect decision to terminate Mr. Oswald Geenberg, 67, who had come to the hospital to have a wart removed from his knee, and two other minor, if deadly incidents. One involved a miscalculation of the 48 hour rule when nurses failed to account for daylight savings time and failed to change their clocks. The other involved Mrs. Irma Feingeld, who met the time, age, and declining health criteria but was deemed to present a risk because she had witnessed a plug plucking incident which she felt was not "to her liking."
According to those present at her demise, one official overheard Mrs. Feingeld's last words as the IV was removed from her arm. "Pluck You!"