Sarah Palin's provocative reference to "death panels" last summer prompted paranoid fantasies about government health care and more excuses to delay the screaming need to control health costs. The Philadelphia Inquirer did what newspapers are supposed to do: It embedded itself on what some might imagine to be a death panel and wrote in great detail about what happened.
Reporter Michael Vitez spent months with a "palliative care" team at Abington Memorial Hospital and the Tole family as they agonized over what to do about 74-year-old Mary Tole, a mother, sister and grandmother who had fallen into sudden, mysterious and what seemed to be permanent dementia and decline. The family and health professionals allowed Vitez to be in the room as they made the tough decisions on whether to continue the administration of phenomenally expensive care for Mary Tole.
Yes, Vitez's presence probably subtly changed the story. The act of observing always alters what is observed, whether in quantum physics or journalism. Would people have acted differently had the reporter not been there? But the piece is an amazing, sensitive and complete picture of the terrible choices that must be made. I say "complete" because it contains what these kinds of stories almost never do -- the cost of the care. Treating Mary Tole cost Medicare and taxpayers more than $700,000. If you don't include the dollars, you haven't told the whole story.