Liverpool Care Pathway - The Communitarian Nudge

How to subtly alter perception and influence people. The psychology of grooming...





This is a free and democratic society. In a free and democratic society, a free electorate is canvassed and expresses its free opinion at the polls. Or does it...?

This is February 24, 2009.

This is Cass Sunstein. This is Time –

Consider government standards for allowable amounts of arsenic in water, a topic Sunstein has written about. A standard set at 3 parts per billion will save more lives than a standard set at 10 parts per billion, but it will also cost more to achieve — a cost that will in turn be passed on to consumers in their water bills. If it can be shown that the more stringent standard would result in saving 10 lives per year, how much would society be willing to pay to achieve that? Ten million dollars? A hundred million? A billion? 

Making that calculation, of course, requires placing a dollar value on human life, which can mean getting into some sensitive areas. Sunstein has written in support of what some people call the "senior death discount," the statistical practice of taking into account years of life expectancy when evaluating a regulation. By that measure, for example, it would be harder to justify spending to correct an environmental hazard that posed more of a threat to the elderly than one that was more dangerous to children, who have many more years ahead of them. 

In his voluminous writings, Sunstein (who is not giving interviews before his confirmation hearings) has repeatedly defended the idea of a strong regulatory state.

It is harder to justify spending to correct an environmental hazard that poses more of a threat to the elderly than one that is more dangerous to children, who have many more years ahead of them...

This is fundamentalist Communitarian Complete Lives thinking. Readers of these pages will be very familiar with Zeke Emanuel's Complete Lives System. It was in January of that year, 2009, that Zeke had his infamous Communitarian system published in The Lancet.

Cass, the King of Nudge, long-time Obama buddie...

2009.

This is Obamacare. This is the EoLC Strategy.

Here they are, all pals together, supplying input here, across the pond and, via nudge, over on the mainland (EU)...

Cass, Don Berwick, Simon Stevens, Zeke Emanuel of the Tricky Trio Emanuel Bros.

The Sunstein groupies in the Cabinet Office BIT Team use a SMART mnemonic -

EAST -

(Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely)

They all love SMART.

The Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute quotes NICE:

"We believe that "people in the last days of life should be identified in a timely way and have their care commissioned, coordinated and delivered in accordance with their personalised care plan, including rapid access to holistic support, equipment and administration of medication". (NICE Quality Standard 13, 2011)"

Are SMART objectives used in office and in industry really an appropriate tool and properly suitable for a care setting?

Rapid access to holistic support...

Holistic...

Getting the nudge in the required direction.

That's the psychology of grooming.

Essential reading -

This Blog.