The Death Book for Veterans

Wall Street Journal ^ | 08/18/09 | JIM TOWEY

[tsmith130]

If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

[KeyLargo]

[ImpBill]

From the article:

"If President Obama is sincere in stating that he is not trying to cut costs by pressuring the disabled to forgo critical care, one good way to show that commitment is to walk two blocks from the Oval Office and pull the plug on "Your Life, Your Choices." He should make sure in the future that VA decisions are guided by values that treat the lives of our veterans as gifts, not burdens."

Yeah right! I won't hold my breath for any Democrat and many Republican's to treat the lives of veterans as gifts.

[DallasDeb]

Extend--don't end--life!

Courtesy of Rush.

[tsmith130]

Knowing that doofus, he’d leave the oval office and turn the wrong way.

[RC2]

My God...are these people fools? Have they no heart? I just saw an item where Waxman is taking a Veterans plot of land away from them. They could build a hospital and living quarters for our Veterans that are on the street and have nothing else.

[freekitty]

The politcians are all over the news saying there is no death care. They are lying.

[Bahbah]

Thanks for posting this, tsmith.

I had just seen it and was going to post it when I saw yours. These are the guidelines that will be used by the “end of life” counselors sent to you by the government. If this isn’t a smoking gun, I don’t know what is.

[Al B.]

Sarah Palin just posted a link to this article on her facebook page.

[tsmith130]

Thank you...I’ll check it out.

[backhoe]

More here- note the Death Book has a download link to a PDF:

Obama Reinstates "Death Book" For US Veterans of War

President Bush suspended the veteran's "death books" last year.
Unfortunately, Barack Obama reinstated the practice for veterans.

Is it really worth it?

The book asks veterans to decide whether their own life would be "not worth living" under certain guilt inducing scenarios.
The Wall Street Journal reported:

If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He will quickly discover how government bureaucrats are greasing the slippery slope that can start with cost containment but quickly become a systematic denial of care.

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." (pdf) It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

"Your Life, Your Choices" presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political "push poll." For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be "not worth living."

The circumstances listed include ones common among the elderly and disabled: living in a nursing home, being in a wheelchair and not being able to "shake the blues." There is a section which provocatively asks, "Have you ever heard anyone say, 'If I'm a vegetable, pull the plug'?" There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as "I can no longer contribute to my family's well being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and that the vet's situation "causes severe emotional burden for my family."

Page 21 of the book asks: "What makes my life worth living?"



But, don't worry seniors... You have nothing to worry about with Obamacare.
Skip the surgery. Take a pain pill instead.

Posted by Gateway Pundit at 8/20/2009 11:58:00 AM Comments (29)

 

"Somebody needs to get a copy of this book and scan it in so it can be posted in its entirety online...The VA has already done that for you.
Your Life, Your Choices
This is a pdf file."

[Marty62]

are these people fools?—— YES
Have they no heart? rewrite— they have no heart

[Pride_of_the_Bluegrass]

Obama must not see these soldiers as having any dignity, imagine that.