'Death panel' scare will deny comfort

End-of-life counseling is not a death panel. In the past decade, both of my parents and my father-in-law passed away, all in the care of hospice. All three had talked with their doctors and with the hospice specialists to determine how they wanted to live the rest of their lives.

These counselors provided peace of mind and reassurance that our parents' lives would end as they wanted, painlessly and with dignity.

U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert and the others who are decrying the hysterically named "death panels" don't know what they are talking about, or perhaps even worse, are distorting the truth for political reasons. Now it appears that, thanks to the distortions we have been hearing in them, any new health care bill will deny those in their final days the comfort of counseling.

Marian Tomlinson

Glen Ellyn