Some Death Panels Do Exist

If one is truly concerned about institutional decisions that result in life and death, the below is the kind of situation where one's attention should be. Not the government, to be sure, but at one of the crown jewels of the private health care industry. And if it's happening here, it's impossible to not think it's happening all over. And therein lies the lesson.

The Motion Picture and Television Fund has announced it's closing health care for the renowned Motion Picture Home. Calling the board of directors a Death Panel might be a bit hyperbolic, to be sure. But after the first 15 residents were transferred out of the facility, five of them died within weeks -- in some cases, days.

You see, a facility like this is beyond a mere clinic, it is their home. When anyone moves from their home, it's emotionally painful. For the elderly, however, especially the most in need, those requiring long-term personal care, many in their 80s and 90s, it's a deeply traumatic experience. One bordering on life-or-death.

Since its first day, the motto of the MPTF has been "We Take Care of Our Own." Who'd have thought that this would one day sound like an order from a Mafia capo.

A little history is in order.

The Motion Picture Relief Fund was founded in 1921, by such legends as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks. It was designed to assist the neediest and became a community favorite charity. By 1941, with overflowing pride in the entertainment industry, ground was broken on its sprawling nursing home facility in Woodland Hills, California.

Courtesy of the Motion Picture and Television Fun

At the groundbreaking ceremonies, that fellow second from the right celebrating? That's Ronald Reagan. Second from the left is Shirley Temple. She later became U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He later became president of the Screen Actors Guild.

And the guy on the far left? You know on the Oscars, where they give out the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award? That's Jean Hersholt. And this is one of the main reasons. Building a health care nursing facility for the neediest was considered A Really Noble Humanitarian Thing.

They were all there celebrating that day because from that day on, people in the entertainment industry have known they always had a place that would take them in, when they had nowhere else to turn. After all, "We Take Care of Our Own." And the Motion Picture Home has done so through many economic challenges, through World War II, through the Great Depression, and survived.

But that's now changed.

"Pre-eviction" notices have been sent to residents of the Long Term Care facility. They are to be transferred where best they can, but the problem for these elderly residents is that the Home is a community and their anchor. Everyone living there has a connection to one another. At a time in their lives when such connections are dwindling, this is no small medication.

As Richard Stellar told NPR about his 92-year-old mother, Mary: before full dementia took over "she felt she was back at the movie studio where she worked as a secretary for so many years, and it made her really happy to be there."

So it was with the 79 Long Term Care residents, and the 26 residents of the Alzheimer's unit.

This was their village. It was guaranteed. "We Take Care of Our Own."

Until they were sent pre-eviction notices.

No issue is simple. Economic times are horrific. The MPTF has stated that they are facing an "annual financial deficit of $10 million for Long Term Care, and an expected increase in losses in coming years." So, it's clearly in a difficult situation.

But because no issue is simple, others have challenged many of the MPTF's assertions. This includes the Screen Actors Guild, the Teamsters, the group "Saving the Lives of Our Own" and others. (The Writers Guild is in the middle of an election, and it is certainly assumed they will be joining the concerned voices.)

Among these groups' arguments and claims:

• Residents or their families pay almost130,000 annually for beds. If this full cost can't be met, Medi-Cal pays the difference.
• Though the Long Term Care unit is designed for 195 residents, new admissions have been curtailed and only 79 people live there. That's14 million in lost revenue.
• The MPTF owns its land and the facility, and recently bought new buildings for tens of millions of dollars.
• Most charitable, non-profit, community-based health facilities run at loss. They make up the difference with fundraising and grants.
• The Fund's CEO, David Tillman, has refused all offered fundraising efforts, saying that "No amount of donations or fund raising would change their decision to close" - and the MPTF has even declined donations targeted for Long Term Care.

Without question, economic times are bad. But it would seem that a fund that made it through the Great Depression and has as its motto, "We Take Care of Our Own" would find options. After all, if one studio alone can figure out a way to spend $100 million making "Land of the Lost," you'd think that industry-wide fund could figure out how to keep open a facility for those who actually would be lost without it.

In some ways, the issue is at the heart of the demand for health care change in America. When left to private industry or charity, the requirements are overwhelming the needs. Something is deeply amiss in health care when a community of our most needy are evicted from their health care homes, whatever the reasons.

But if one is truly insistent on finding Death Panels, they're not hard to find. All you have to do is look where they actually exist.

They might exist against good intentions and better efforts, but the result is the same. They exist.

Comments

[mightforright]

Let's ask President Obama to visit the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, CA and refute his
biggest "fundraisers and donors" in Southern California, who by the way, just happen to run and control the Motion Picture Fund [ Katzenberg and company], who have deliberately chosen to throw out only, yes, only, the most handicapped, elderly and needy residents on the gorgeous 40 acre Campus. Then I'll believe he President is not for "death panels" and that he values the lives of those who are sick and old in need of care, unlike his billionaire supporters/donors who run the place. They say there is no money for long term care, but they just built a 20 million dollar "Wellness Center", with state of the art swimming pool and fitness complex, are building new health clinics as we speak to provide light weight health care to the masses in the entertainment industry that can be gotten elsewhere [and leaves you no where if you have a serious illness], and they made a decision that they will not waste resources on the elderly who need long term care; sound familiar? Wake up America, this is you - no room at the Inn if you are sick and elderly, and like the poor soles at the Motion Picture Home, thrown out like garbage with no decent place to go [despite the fortune spent on public relations by the Motion Picture Fund]!
Okay Mr. President, what do you have to say about this?

[Emerald1943]

Thank you, Mr. Elisberg, for telling us this sad story.

Death panels, indeed! You'd think that with the millions upon millions made by the industry, they could do better than this! But then, Hollywood is all about the "young and vigorous"...not the elderly, frail and invalids! Sad sign of the times!

Many of us are working as hard as we can to support the health care reform! Here's hoping changes can come quickly enough to help these people!

[singermuse]

Of course they exist! Whenever an Insurance provider denies a claim, whenever they won't allow an alternative therapy, whenever they just dump someone after years of their paying premiums, whenever they refuse to provide coverage because of a "pre-existing" condition, these are ALL potential "death panel" decisions. We need to liberate ourselves from the tyranny and enslavement to the greedy inhumane death panel insurance companies, the Big Pharma companies who price medicines out of the reach of those who need them most, the "managed care" medical business that cares more about numbers than PEOPLE. Co-ops WON'T DO IT...that's just MORE INSURANCE SLAVERY on a bigger scale because then people will be forced to buy insurance they can't afford and be penalized if they don't.
WE NEED SINGLE PAYER, and barring that, we need a STRONG PUBLIC OPTION. End of story.

[FamilyAffair]

Thank you for making the nexus and busting the myth. In an arrogant move, the MPTF made its rationing decision without engaging the people in its care, its donors or the entertainment community it serves, in discussion. No room for ethics or morality. Instead the sentence was delivered point blank - out with the infirm, the disabled and the elderly - in with profitable ventures such as clinics and upscale residential retirement communities. Where has all the charity gone, long time passing? Replaced with corporate greed. Excellent piece Mr. Elisberg.

[DeanBLegacy]

Thank you, Mr. Elisberg for your insightful and comprehensive view of the critical healthcare issue that has been playing out within the entertainment industry since last January.

The MPTF crisis resonates with increasing power for the public as we deal with the current healthcare debate. In Hollywood's Long Term Care eviction debacle we all have an opportunity to focus sharply on the mindset that is driving the future of America's healthcare system. From coast to coast people all along the political spectrum can watch as some of America's most progressive, self righteous Hollywood celebrities gut a noble charity and toss the old and infirm under the bus in favor of a system that would essentially eliminate loyalty and compassion for the aging in favor of a "what have you done for me lately" paradigm.

You'll see all the big givers at the MPTF's "The Evening Before" Emmy event on September 19 in Century City, CA. They'll give millions for new MPTF condos, smoothie bars and day-care centers while their aging peers in MPTF Long-Term Care face eviction and relocation from their homes. It's going to be a memorable party.

[LawrenceOfAcademia]

Great piece, Mr. Elisberg....how can this be happening in an industry worth tens of billions?