August 26, 2024 • 23 mins
After Israel-Hezbollah missile exchange, all eyes are on Iran. The latest form of medical tourism… traveling to DIE. The great battery game changer: how giant batteries are making California’s power grid stronger.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And this is KFI bill Handle here. It is a
Monday morning in August twenty six. Some of the big
stories we are covering Kamala Harris raising five hundred and
forty million dollars since launching her campaign.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
That's never been done before.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And we'll see if this honeymoon continues with Kamala Harris
and American voters, because it's already a much much tighter
race as no one is surprised. And Seattle Sea Tech
Airport had a cyber attack over the weekend. Websites, email
phone services, lots of delays for travelers.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Okay, a lot happened.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
In the Middle East over the weekend. I mean a
lot for weeks, as release have waited for a major
attack by Hesblah in retaliation for Israel's assassination of a
senior Hamas commander in ruth In Beirut Beyroot last month,
and now the fears big time of the escalation of
(01:08):
the war across the entire region. I have no idea
why Israel did that, no idea. Also with Iran, it
took out a Hamas commander while he was visiting Tehran.
So Israel, in Iran's sovereign, sovereign soil, takes out this commander.
No problem with Israel taking out these terrorists, these high
(01:31):
target terrorists in Tehran during this period. That's a little crazy.
So what ended up happening. There have been back and
forth attacks between Hesbeala and Israel, and it's sort of
tit for tad, although they're increasing. And what ended up
(01:51):
happening over the weekend is Israel launches a preemptive attack,
hitting hundreds of actually maybe even thousands of rocket launchers
that were based in southern Lebanon. Hez Blah returns fire
a barrage of rockets and drones at northern Israel, and
(02:14):
it has thousands of rockets and hundreds maybe of now
high precision missiles I mean, because well that's no joke.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
This is not Gaza. So the two attacked each other.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And both are scared, crapless of a regional war starting.
It would be devastating for both countries. And they took
a quick look at this and Iran, which of course
is into it up to its eyeballs because remember the
attack in Tehran of the assassination of that Hamas leader,
(02:56):
and that sort of pissed them off. I have no
idea why Israel would that, As I said, during these times,
it makes absolutely no sense.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
So they're about to go.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
To war, right Israel a major preemptive attack on his
blot and his Blah returning, a major rocket attack on
northern Israel.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Was there invasion? There was not.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Israel has invaded Lebanon back. I think it was two
thousand and six. There was a major incursion in that
boy that really hurt Lebanon tons and tons.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And keep in.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Mind that at this point this is not Hamas has Bellah.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Hamas doesn't care.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Hamas is prepared to have the entire of Gaza wiped
out as long as Hamas stays in power.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You've seen it. They're keeping hold.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Of less than one hundred hostages, will not let them go.
And while that is happening, Amas is watching, the rest
of the world is watching Gaza being flattened. And over
forty thousand people killed in Gaza, which about a third
it's figured out to be militants, which is fine, No
(04:15):
one cares if militants are killed. But the rest of them,
two thirds are civilians, and they're getting the brunt of this.
So Hezbollah is not Hamas Southern Lebanon is armed to
the teeth. They have the rockets, they have the military
beings to attack Israel. So now you've got everybody on edge.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Okay, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
What is happening? Well, in fact, everybody calmed down over
the weekend and declared victory. Right Hesbelah declared victory. We
were able to successfully attack Israel northern, the northern part
of Israel. Israel says we were successful because we took
out so many of the rocket launchers and they're coming back.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Tehran is saying.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
We're waiting until we get some peace. We're not going
to attack. Even though we promised to attack, they're pulling
back and saying, okay, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Negotiations continue on.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
So this thing is gone almost nuts, but it is
coming back. As of yesterday, both sides, after declaring victory.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Have calmed down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
By the way, when this war is over, because it's
the attack on Gaza. It was first October seventh, the
attack on Israel and then returned by the overwhelming force
of the Israeli army into Gaza. When this is over,
and it will end. Number one, Hamas will be in power.
Israel will never ever be able to remove Hamas from power,
(06:00):
though its headquarters are going to be tense, and it
will declare victory when the war is over. There's nothing
left of Gaza. People are living in squalor because there
are no buildings left. It will be a victory for Hamas.
I promise you they're going to declare victory.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's a mess. It is a mess, you know what.
Let's have fun now.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
A topic that I have covered and I've been in
favor of for a very long time, and that is.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Medical tourism.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But to die, Okay, I'm not talking about taking over
this show as morning drive host, which is another way
of dying. I am talking about going to die arranging
your own death. There's a story a californiahealthline dot org,
Francine Mulano. This lady who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
(06:56):
It came back after twenty years, so she tried twice
from our house in Pennsylvania to Vermont to arrange to
die straight out. I really wanted to control over how
I left this world.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And there are a lot of us.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Who want to make that same decision I would like
to decide. Now, there are rules and regulations. A matter
of fact, they're onerous, they're really, really tough, which makes
it very difficult to do this. I mean, it's in
the hundreds of people here in California where we have
a right to die, and I'll go through the regulations
(07:35):
here in California. So I'm betting that if it was easy,
there would be thousands of people who want to decide
to end their own lives.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
How many suicides are there.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And how many of them? A lot of them are
mentally ill people, granted, and a lot of them, But
how many of them just want to check out because
they are very sick and they are done with life.
Should they should not? They have that decision. The problem
is those people who are mentally ill and intervention could happen.
(08:08):
If intervention happened in a large number of cases, they
get over it very quickly. You know, it's sort of
spur of the moment. It's much like point of purchase
at the supermarket. You know, you grab that National Inquiry
just because you see it. So let's say there's a
gun at home. Usually it's guns for men and pills
(08:29):
for women, and so it's point of purchase.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Just okay, I think I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
That's the problem is where is that line? So what
they want, what the medical world wants, is very very thoughtful,
well considered a decision that is made under circumstances where
there is no.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Issue, and those are the law.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Now, there are states, much like California, that require residency
the only way you can die under medical care, and
this is the right to die. I think ours is
called the Death with Dignity Act. Is that it's limited
to residents of California. And that's what happened with Francine
(09:17):
Milano because Pennsylvania doesn't allow non citizens to come in
or non residents, and so she had to go to Vermont,
which allows non residence. And we are now considering non
resident and Vermont lifted its residency requirement. It may have
twenty twenty three after Oregon or followed by Oregon a
(09:38):
few months later, and we're looking at the possibility too.
Now I'm going to go through a few of the
problems involved in your ability to check out on your own, because,
as I said, it becomes onerous, like finding doctors that
are willing to do this to hand you the medic
(10:00):
that you have to take on your own that causes
your death. The Hippocratic oath says, cause no harm. You're
only here to help people, and helping people die is
not considered something in the medical profession would do. Now,
there are other doctors that view, and this is my view.
Death is part of life and it's just a continuation
(10:24):
of life as death comes on, and which is why
palliative care, which is why hospice is so important, because
that thinking is we're going to help you die, but
we're going to make you comfortable why you die and
that's it. Or we're going to knock you out, so
we're going to wait for you to die, or we're
going to pull the plug, but you're but pulling the
(10:47):
plug is simply removing nutrients. This is not an affirmative.
We're helping you die. That's what the right to die
is all about. And the numbers are very small. And
why are there small.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Because it's so damn difficult to do this. We start
with doctors.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
How many doctors are willing to hand someone medication and
go here, knock your socks off, go die, enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Of course, I would.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Matter of fact, I would limit my practice to that
if I were a doctor, But that's only for the
entertainment purposes. For example, in Vermont, twenty six people have
traveled to Vermont to die from May of twenty twenty
three when the law was passed through this tune in
Oregon twenty three. So it's twenty six in Vermont, twenty
(11:36):
three in Oregon. This is out of state residence coming
into the state. And so it's by the way, that's
just twenty that's just six percent.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So it's in the hundreds of people.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
But the point is it's in the hundreds of people,
that's it. And how many thousands, tens of thousands would
check out under these circumstances far less than what is required.
And by the way, dying to me is not only
something that is just part of life, it's also hugely entertaining.
It's done the right way, now, the right way. What
(12:09):
if you want to check out? What if you are done?
Do you have the ability to do it legally and
have a doctor help you to get the proper dose
of you're about to die or you will die medication?
And a lot of states have in place laws that
allow you to have a doctor give you end of
(12:29):
life medication, California being one of them. The restriction, though
it's about the change, is that California only allows residents.
So let me tell you these restrictive laws, and I
can understand it, except I think they go way too far,
and that is they want to make absolutely sure. The
law wants to make absolutely sure that you.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You're cognitive, you only have six months to live, which
I don't understand that one. Okay, so let's talk about
California and the way it works. If you want to die,
first of all, you have to be eighteen years of
age or older.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I mean, we don't want a fourteen year old making
that decision.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
You have to be a resident.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You have a terminal disease that expected to result in
death within six months. I have a problem with that
because let's say you have aos and you can't move
and you are stuck in your body and there's nothing
you can do except your mind is fine, you cannot
move a muscle, and you want to die now, can't
do it. That's not a terminal disease at least now,
(13:32):
and not six months. Make medical decisions and not be
impaired for judgment for medical decisions because of a mental disorder.
I'll buy that you can self administer the medication orally
anally had no idea that was possible before I do now,
or through an extent existing feeding tube. But you have
(13:53):
to be able to do it again. Let's go to als.
Let's go to someone who is a double amputee and
doesn't have arms.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And wants to die. Nope, can't do it. You have
to do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
You have to make three requests to your attending physician too,
orally at least forty eight hours apart one in writing
or if you can't write too bad. I mean, some of.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
This makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Some of this is kind of insane, which really limits
people to a very very small percentage. I told you
about Oregon and it had I think twenty three.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Deaths last year or the last couple of years.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Only twenty three, and the doctors are saying that's so underrepresentative.
There were probably hundreds, if not thousands, who would have
The attending physician has to explain all of life options. Hey,
here are your options if you keep going, and explain
what it means to ingest and AID in dying medication.
(15:01):
That's an interesting one. Here's the explanation of the aid
and dying medication. You're gonna die, okay, thank you. I
had no idea. The patient has to discuss the decision
with the physician without anybody else in the room.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Makes sense because they want no influence.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The physician has to confirm the terminal diagnosis six months
or less.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Even if you have a mental disorder, you might be
able to.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Do it, but you have to be evaluated by a
mental health specialist to make sure that this isn't because
of a mental disorder. So you can be crazy and
still want to die, but you can't connect the dying
with crazy. Patients are encouraged to enroll in hospice. The
patient or another designated person receives the aid and dying
(15:56):
medication and then gives it to the patient. They have
to be able to ingest it themselves. Also, when the
patient in jests, it has to occur in a private place.
You can't do it in the park. Someone else has
to be there. And this just goes on and on.
Now I didn't know this, but Kaiser Permanente.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Where I have been since i've been five years old.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And I'll tell you right now, I love Kaiser as
much grief as I give Kaiser. I've been thrilled with
a care I've gotten at Kaiser, and I will stay
with Kaiser for the rest of my life. Given my druthers,
they actually give you, they do it and here are
here are the requirements tell and give you information.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
The average time is three weeks.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Our physicians do a comprehensive review before describing the medication.
The waiting period between the first and second oral requests
forty eight hours, which is the law.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And then after.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
That second request at least three physician appointments, physician review
of the medical record, consultation with a specialist if they
can figure out.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And do know what your problem is.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
The patient has to complete the written request form with
two witnesses signatures. What if you can't write well, then
you sort of out of luck. And then additional seven
days to get the medication. And here is and this
is my favorite one. Here is Kaiser their official statement
(17:33):
on this. At Kaiser permanentity, our mission is to provide
high quality, affordable health care services or death care services.
I put that in with a human touch to all
of our members.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Here you go. You can die.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
We love you, including those faced with terminal illness. And
Kaiser gives you two choices of dying at Kaiser. One
is you can't and take advantage of the death Dying
with Dignity Act and do it according to the rules.
(18:07):
That's one hundred percent. About ninety percent effective in terms
of dying is simply going to the emergency room at Kaiser.
That's about ninety percent effective in dying. All right, we
are done.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Who I love those topics.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
And by the way, if I have a terminal illness
or I'm done, you betcha, you betcha, I am not
interested in living.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
My dad willed himself to die.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
He had always said, if I'm in a wheelchair or
I'm either a vegetable that one's easier, or I'm in
a hospital bed or a bed and i can't go
out of the can't get out of the bed, bill,
promise me, you will kill me. Promise me. And I
made that promise to him, of course, at the back
of mine, I will back of my mind saying you
(18:57):
good sick, yeah, and thank you, And at the back
of my mind looking at my dad after promising yes, yes, yes, thinking.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
If you think I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Go to prison for twenty years to help you die,
you are crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
But I didn't say that. I just said yep.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
And what happened is he had a bunch of mini
strokes and he willed himself to die. Within three weeks
he was gone, and the doctor said he would have
lasted a lot longer. He willed himself to die. All right, now,
I want to spend just a minute talking about giant batteries.
Two kinds of solar systems that happened your home system,
the kind I have and the big power system owned
(19:35):
by utilities or private companies that deal with utilities. Everybody
knows about power, battery power at home. A matter of fact,
I just had sun Lucks put in my system Love
the company, second time out and they put in battery
for the first time. Because here's what happened with batteries.
We know we produced tons of energy during the day.
(19:56):
That's easy because it's solar.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
How about a night no solar?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
And so what the batteries do is they provide electricity
because they are charged during the day and they come
out at night. And if you don't have battery at home,
then you're going onto the grid, you're paying for electricity
at the house, and electricity is not cheap.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
With a battery power at home, you don't pay.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
That's the magic of solar with battery. Now that's your
personal battery system. What a lot of people don't know about.
There's also massive battery systems that work with utilities. That
power comes in these big solar farms. And the same
thing was the problem at night. They had to produce
(20:44):
electricity and there was no way of doing it short
of a battery.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
And guess what.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
There are these big industrial battery systems, and they're going
up like crazy. For example, battery storage systems themselves, which
look like about the size of a forty foot container.
That's each battery, and sometimes there's dozens and dozens. In
twenty fifteen, there were fifty five megawatts of power. A
(21:12):
megawatt power seven hundred and fifty homes, give or take.
So twenty fifteen, there are fifty five megawatts this year.
As of right now, we're up to ten thousand of these.
Now that's pretty that's pretty impressive, that really is, and
especially now that there is Oh, just real quick, before
(21:33):
I go, have you notice that there were no blackouts
this year, hottest summer we've ever had on record.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Go back a few.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Years, remember the rolling blackouts. I remember those those flex
periods where you were asked to voluntarily cut back otherwise
you're going to have rolling blackouts. Otherwise we're going to
do brownouts, which is for a period of time you
don't have power.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
None of that this last summer. None. Why well, I'll
tell you if you go to ISO.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
The independent folks who handle the grid system in California,
the CALISO, they'll tell you there's one reason, one reason only,
and that is these giant battery storage facilities at the
utility level, and we have to be totally fossil fuel
(22:29):
free by twenty forty five. Already we're at I think
sixty one percent. I mean, we're moving faster than was
originally planned, so we're ahead. By the way, California has
more of these battery systems than any place in the
world other than China, and in terms of first up
(22:52):
priority here in southern California, Chinese restaurants have the top priority.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
So we're part of the No, it doesn't make any sense.
I know I tried there and it didn't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Go figure. I know, kind of stupid.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Can you try? And sometimes they don't work? Shop, I'm trying.
I just I'm doing the math and it's not mathing. Bro, No,
it is not math.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And this is KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And this is KFI bill Handle here. It is a
Monday morning in August twenty six. Some of the big
stories we are covering Kamala Harris raising five hundred and
forty million dollars since launching her campaign.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
That's never been done before.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
And we'll see if this honeymoon continues with Kamala Harris
and American voters, because it's already a much much tighter
race as no one is surprised. And Seattle Sea Tech
Airport had a cyber attack over the weekend. Websites, email
phone services, lots of delays for travelers.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Okay, a lot happened.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
In the Middle East over the weekend. I mean a
lot for weeks, as release have waited for a major
attack by Hesblah in retaliation for Israel's assassination of a
senior Hamas commander in ruth In Beirut Beyroot last month,
and now the fears big time of the escalation of
(01:08):
the war across the entire region. I have no idea
why Israel did that, no idea. Also with Iran, it
took out a Hamas commander while he was visiting Tehran.
So Israel, in Iran's sovereign, sovereign soil, takes out this commander.
No problem with Israel taking out these terrorists, these high
(01:31):
target terrorists in Tehran during this period. That's a little crazy.
So what ended up happening. There have been back and
forth attacks between Hesbeala and Israel, and it's sort of
tit for tad, although they're increasing. And what ended up
(01:51):
happening over the weekend is Israel launches a preemptive attack,
hitting hundreds of actually maybe even thousands of rocket launchers
that were based in southern Lebanon. Hez Blah returns fire
a barrage of rockets and drones at northern Israel, and
(02:14):
it has thousands of rockets and hundreds maybe of now
high precision missiles I mean, because well that's no joke.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
This is not Gaza. So the two attacked each other.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And both are scared, crapless of a regional war starting.
It would be devastating for both countries. And they took
a quick look at this and Iran, which of course
is into it up to its eyeballs because remember the
attack in Tehran of the assassination of that Hamas leader,
(02:56):
and that sort of pissed them off. I have no
idea why Israel would that, As I said, during these times,
it makes absolutely no sense.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
So they're about to go.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
To war, right Israel a major preemptive attack on his
blot and his Blah returning, a major rocket attack on
northern Israel.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Was there invasion? There was not.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Israel has invaded Lebanon back. I think it was two
thousand and six. There was a major incursion in that
boy that really hurt Lebanon tons and tons.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And keep in.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Mind that at this point this is not Hamas has Bellah.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Hamas doesn't care.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Hamas is prepared to have the entire of Gaza wiped
out as long as Hamas stays in power.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You've seen it. They're keeping hold.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Of less than one hundred hostages, will not let them go.
And while that is happening, Amas is watching, the rest
of the world is watching Gaza being flattened. And over
forty thousand people killed in Gaza, which about a third
it's figured out to be militants, which is fine, No
(04:15):
one cares if militants are killed. But the rest of them,
two thirds are civilians, and they're getting the brunt of this.
So Hezbollah is not Hamas Southern Lebanon is armed to
the teeth. They have the rockets, they have the military
beings to attack Israel. So now you've got everybody on edge.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Okay, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
What is happening? Well, in fact, everybody calmed down over
the weekend and declared victory. Right Hesbelah declared victory. We
were able to successfully attack Israel northern, the northern part
of Israel. Israel says we were successful because we took
out so many of the rocket launchers and they're coming back.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Tehran is saying.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
We're waiting until we get some peace. We're not going
to attack. Even though we promised to attack, they're pulling
back and saying, okay, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Negotiations continue on.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
So this thing is gone almost nuts, but it is
coming back. As of yesterday, both sides, after declaring victory.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Have calmed down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
By the way, when this war is over, because it's
the attack on Gaza. It was first October seventh, the
attack on Israel and then returned by the overwhelming force
of the Israeli army into Gaza. When this is over,
and it will end. Number one, Hamas will be in power.
Israel will never ever be able to remove Hamas from power,
(06:00):
though its headquarters are going to be tense, and it
will declare victory when the war is over. There's nothing
left of Gaza. People are living in squalor because there
are no buildings left. It will be a victory for Hamas.
I promise you they're going to declare victory.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's a mess. It is a mess, you know what.
Let's have fun now.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
A topic that I have covered and I've been in
favor of for a very long time, and that is.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Medical tourism.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
But to die, Okay, I'm not talking about taking over
this show as morning drive host, which is another way
of dying. I am talking about going to die arranging
your own death. There's a story a californiahealthline dot org,
Francine Mulano. This lady who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
(06:56):
It came back after twenty years, so she tried twice
from our house in Pennsylvania to Vermont to arrange to
die straight out. I really wanted to control over how
I left this world.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And there are a lot of us.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Who want to make that same decision I would like
to decide. Now, there are rules and regulations. A matter
of fact, they're onerous, they're really, really tough, which makes
it very difficult to do this. I mean, it's in
the hundreds of people here in California where we have
a right to die, and I'll go through the regulations
(07:35):
here in California. So I'm betting that if it was easy,
there would be thousands of people who want to decide
to end their own lives.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
How many suicides are there.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
And how many of them? A lot of them are
mentally ill people, granted, and a lot of them, But
how many of them just want to check out because
they are very sick and they are done with life.
Should they should not? They have that decision. The problem
is those people who are mentally ill and intervention could happen.
(08:08):
If intervention happened in a large number of cases, they
get over it very quickly. You know, it's sort of
spur of the moment. It's much like point of purchase
at the supermarket. You know, you grab that National Inquiry
just because you see it. So let's say there's a
gun at home. Usually it's guns for men and pills
(08:29):
for women, and so it's point of purchase.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Just okay, I think I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
That's the problem is where is that line? So what
they want, what the medical world wants, is very very thoughtful,
well considered a decision that is made under circumstances where
there is no.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Issue, and those are the law.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Now, there are states, much like California, that require residency
the only way you can die under medical care, and
this is the right to die. I think ours is
called the Death with Dignity Act. Is that it's limited
to residents of California. And that's what happened with Francine
(09:17):
Milano because Pennsylvania doesn't allow non citizens to come in
or non residents, and so she had to go to Vermont,
which allows non residence. And we are now considering non
resident and Vermont lifted its residency requirement. It may have
twenty twenty three after Oregon or followed by Oregon a
(09:38):
few months later, and we're looking at the possibility too.
Now I'm going to go through a few of the
problems involved in your ability to check out on your own, because,
as I said, it becomes onerous, like finding doctors that
are willing to do this to hand you the medic
(10:00):
that you have to take on your own that causes
your death. The Hippocratic oath says, cause no harm. You're
only here to help people, and helping people die is
not considered something in the medical profession would do. Now,
there are other doctors that view, and this is my view.
Death is part of life and it's just a continuation
(10:24):
of life as death comes on, and which is why
palliative care, which is why hospice is so important, because
that thinking is we're going to help you die, but
we're going to make you comfortable why you die and
that's it. Or we're going to knock you out, so
we're going to wait for you to die, or we're
going to pull the plug, but you're but pulling the
(10:47):
plug is simply removing nutrients. This is not an affirmative.
We're helping you die. That's what the right to die
is all about. And the numbers are very small. And
why are there small.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Because it's so damn difficult to do this. We start
with doctors.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
How many doctors are willing to hand someone medication and
go here, knock your socks off, go die, enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Of course, I would.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Matter of fact, I would limit my practice to that
if I were a doctor, But that's only for the
entertainment purposes. For example, in Vermont, twenty six people have
traveled to Vermont to die from May of twenty twenty
three when the law was passed through this tune in
Oregon twenty three. So it's twenty six in Vermont, twenty
(11:36):
three in Oregon. This is out of state residence coming
into the state. And so it's by the way, that's
just twenty that's just six percent.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So it's in the hundreds of people.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
But the point is it's in the hundreds of people,
that's it. And how many thousands, tens of thousands would
check out under these circumstances far less than what is required.
And by the way, dying to me is not only
something that is just part of life, it's also hugely entertaining.
It's done the right way, now, the right way. What
(12:09):
if you want to check out? What if you are done?
Do you have the ability to do it legally and
have a doctor help you to get the proper dose
of you're about to die or you will die medication?
And a lot of states have in place laws that
allow you to have a doctor give you end of
(12:29):
life medication, California being one of them. The restriction, though
it's about the change, is that California only allows residents.
So let me tell you these restrictive laws, and I
can understand it, except I think they go way too far,
and that is they want to make absolutely sure. The
law wants to make absolutely sure that you.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You're cognitive, you only have six months to live, which
I don't understand that one. Okay, so let's talk about
California and the way it works. If you want to die,
first of all, you have to be eighteen years of
age or older.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I mean, we don't want a fourteen year old making
that decision.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
You have to be a resident.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You have a terminal disease that expected to result in
death within six months. I have a problem with that
because let's say you have aos and you can't move
and you are stuck in your body and there's nothing
you can do except your mind is fine, you cannot
move a muscle, and you want to die now, can't
do it. That's not a terminal disease at least now,
(13:32):
and not six months. Make medical decisions and not be
impaired for judgment for medical decisions because of a mental disorder.
I'll buy that you can self administer the medication orally
anally had no idea that was possible before I do now,
or through an extent existing feeding tube. But you have
(13:53):
to be able to do it again. Let's go to als.
Let's go to someone who is a double amputee and
doesn't have arms.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And wants to die. Nope, can't do it. You have
to do it yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
You have to make three requests to your attending physician too,
orally at least forty eight hours apart one in writing
or if you can't write too bad. I mean, some of.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
This makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Some of this is kind of insane, which really limits
people to a very very small percentage. I told you
about Oregon and it had I think twenty three.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Deaths last year or the last couple of years.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Only twenty three, and the doctors are saying that's so underrepresentative.
There were probably hundreds, if not thousands, who would have
The attending physician has to explain all of life options. Hey,
here are your options if you keep going, and explain
what it means to ingest and AID in dying medication.
(15:01):
That's an interesting one. Here's the explanation of the aid
and dying medication. You're gonna die, okay, thank you. I
had no idea. The patient has to discuss the decision
with the physician without anybody else in the room.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Makes sense because they want no influence.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The physician has to confirm the terminal diagnosis six months
or less.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Even if you have a mental disorder, you might be
able to.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Do it, but you have to be evaluated by a
mental health specialist to make sure that this isn't because
of a mental disorder. So you can be crazy and
still want to die, but you can't connect the dying
with crazy. Patients are encouraged to enroll in hospice. The
patient or another designated person receives the aid and dying
(15:56):
medication and then gives it to the patient. They have
to be able to ingest it themselves. Also, when the
patient in jests, it has to occur in a private place.
You can't do it in the park. Someone else has
to be there. And this just goes on and on.
Now I didn't know this, but Kaiser Permanente.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Where I have been since i've been five years old.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And I'll tell you right now, I love Kaiser as
much grief as I give Kaiser. I've been thrilled with
a care I've gotten at Kaiser, and I will stay
with Kaiser for the rest of my life. Given my druthers,
they actually give you, they do it and here are
here are the requirements tell and give you information.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
The average time is three weeks.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Our physicians do a comprehensive review before describing the medication.
The waiting period between the first and second oral requests
forty eight hours, which is the law.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And then after.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
That second request at least three physician appointments, physician review
of the medical record, consultation with a specialist if they
can figure out.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And do know what your problem is.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
The patient has to complete the written request form with
two witnesses signatures. What if you can't write well, then
you sort of out of luck. And then additional seven
days to get the medication. And here is and this
is my favorite one. Here is Kaiser their official statement
(17:33):
on this. At Kaiser permanentity, our mission is to provide
high quality, affordable health care services or death care services.
I put that in with a human touch to all
of our members.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Here you go. You can die.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
We love you, including those faced with terminal illness. And
Kaiser gives you two choices of dying at Kaiser. One
is you can't and take advantage of the death Dying
with Dignity Act and do it according to the rules.
(18:07):
That's one hundred percent. About ninety percent effective in terms
of dying is simply going to the emergency room at Kaiser.
That's about ninety percent effective in dying. All right, we
are done.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Who I love those topics.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
And by the way, if I have a terminal illness
or I'm done, you betcha, you betcha, I am not
interested in living.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
My dad willed himself to die.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
He had always said, if I'm in a wheelchair or
I'm either a vegetable that one's easier, or I'm in
a hospital bed or a bed and i can't go
out of the can't get out of the bed, bill,
promise me, you will kill me. Promise me. And I
made that promise to him, of course, at the back
of mine, I will back of my mind saying you
(18:57):
good sick, yeah, and thank you, And at the back
of my mind looking at my dad after promising yes, yes, yes, thinking.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
If you think I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Go to prison for twenty years to help you die,
you are crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
But I didn't say that. I just said yep.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
And what happened is he had a bunch of mini
strokes and he willed himself to die. Within three weeks
he was gone, and the doctor said he would have
lasted a lot longer. He willed himself to die. All right, now,
I want to spend just a minute talking about giant batteries.
Two kinds of solar systems that happened your home system,
the kind I have and the big power system owned
(19:35):
by utilities or private companies that deal with utilities. Everybody
knows about power, battery power at home. A matter of fact,
I just had sun Lucks put in my system Love
the company, second time out and they put in battery
for the first time. Because here's what happened with batteries.
We know we produced tons of energy during the day.
(19:56):
That's easy because it's solar.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
How about a night no solar?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
And so what the batteries do is they provide electricity
because they are charged during the day and they come
out at night. And if you don't have battery at home,
then you're going onto the grid, you're paying for electricity
at the house, and electricity is not cheap.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
With a battery power at home, you don't pay.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
That's the magic of solar with battery. Now that's your
personal battery system. What a lot of people don't know about.
There's also massive battery systems that work with utilities. That
power comes in these big solar farms. And the same
thing was the problem at night. They had to produce
(20:44):
electricity and there was no way of doing it short
of a battery.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
And guess what.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
There are these big industrial battery systems, and they're going
up like crazy. For example, battery storage systems themselves, which
look like about the size of a forty foot container.
That's each battery, and sometimes there's dozens and dozens. In
twenty fifteen, there were fifty five megawatts of power. A
(21:12):
megawatt power seven hundred and fifty homes, give or take.
So twenty fifteen, there are fifty five megawatts this year.
As of right now, we're up to ten thousand of these.
Now that's pretty that's pretty impressive, that really is, and
especially now that there is Oh, just real quick, before
(21:33):
I go, have you notice that there were no blackouts
this year, hottest summer we've ever had on record.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Go back a few.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Years, remember the rolling blackouts. I remember those those flex
periods where you were asked to voluntarily cut back otherwise
you're going to have rolling blackouts. Otherwise we're going to
do brownouts, which is for a period of time you
don't have power.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
None of that this last summer. None. Why well, I'll
tell you if you go to ISO.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
The independent folks who handle the grid system in California,
the CALISO, they'll tell you there's one reason, one reason only,
and that is these giant battery storage facilities at the
utility level, and we have to be totally fossil fuel
(22:29):
free by twenty forty five. Already we're at I think
sixty one percent. I mean, we're moving faster than was
originally planned, so we're ahead. By the way, California has
more of these battery systems than any place in the
world other than China, and in terms of first up
(22:52):
priority here in southern California, Chinese restaurants have the top priority.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
So we're part of the No, it doesn't make any sense.
I know I tried there and it didn't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Go figure. I know, kind of stupid.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Can you try? And sometimes they don't work? Shop, I'm trying.
I just I'm doing the math and it's not mathing. Bro, No,
it is not math.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And this is KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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