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WASHINGTON — While Republicans are calling a Department of Veterans Affairs health planning booklet a "death book" that encourages veterans to kill themselves or forgo care, ethicists and legal and medical experts say it's a reasonable attempt to help America's veterans plan for the end of their lives. Jim Towey, the former director of President George W. Bush's White House office of faith-based initiatives, wrote in The Wall Street Journal last month that the VA's "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet encourages veterans to "hurry up and die." Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele added in a television interview that the...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The brother of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose former husband subjected her to a painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death, is speaking out against a guide the Obama administration is distributing to veterans that critics say promotes euthanasia and assisted suicide.The Department of Veterans Affairs is currently promoting a guide called "Your Life, Your Choices" that was first published in the Clinton administration.The VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care brought back a 52-page end-of-life planning document that was suspended during the Bush administration.A worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks...

The Obama administration claims that a health care takeover by government won't restrict access to care. Everybody will get more care for less money, the president has said. Of course, something has to give. One likely target for rationing will be care in the later stages of life. Bureaucratic disregard for the value of all life is insinuated in a government manual known as "the Death Book." The Death Book is a nickname given to an advice manual published by the Department of Veterans Affairs that instructs veterans "how to prepare a personalized living will." Officially titled, "Your Life, Your...

UPDATE: Earlier today, I noted that the "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet had apparently been removed from the VA site. The Department of Veterans' Affairs was kind enough to get back to me several hours after I called, in order to clarify what happened today on their website. Spokeswoman Katie Roberts informs me that although the "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet was removed this morning from the URL I had linked to, there has been no policy change by VA. The document removed this morning had simply been hosted in the wrong place all along, on a regional part of...

Here is video of Jonah Goldberg saying the Veteran's Administration's use of a booklet that urges veterans to consider "whether life is worth living" is similar to the Germans during World War II believing they had the right to "value whether life is worthy of life." The booklet is for use with veterans and urges them to consider whether they are a "financial burden on their family" and asks if they have a hard time getting over the blues. Fox News' Chris Wallace challenged the Assistant Sec. of Veteran's Affairs about the booklet yesterday. . . . . (Watch Video)

The Wall Street Journal just published a shocking editorial written by a respected University President, confirming the Obama Administration is now using VA hospitals to order doctors to pressure all military veterans to sign "pull the plug" do-not-resuscitate orders, hastening their premature deaths through mandatory "end of life" counseling. President Jim Towey of Saint Vincent's College, founder of the non-profit "Aging With Dignity" and former White House Director of faith based initiatives, wrote a blistering expose entitled "The Death Book For Veterans," revealing President Obama's new Veterans Administration (VA) directive, presumably signed by VA Secretary, General (ret.) Eric Shinseki, which...

Normally, on Sundays, I always try to watch Chris Wallace’s “Fox News Sunday” broadcast mainly because I think he’s the best when it comes to being the ideal sort of journalist for this role, which is to be studiously impartial and tough on both sides of the debate. Because of Wallace, I’m willing to attempt to harness my increasingly fragmented attention span for longer than 27 seconds, and this time I was glad I did. … Major Tammy Duckworth, a decorated Army aviator -- and true war hero -- who lost both legs and the use of her right arm...

Obama Revives VA Death Book August 21, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, folks, Obama says there aren't death panels. He pooh-poohs the notion that there aren't death panels here. The Wall Street Journal has an interesting report. "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...

Here is video of Assistant Sec. of Veteran's Affairs Tammy Duckworth on Fox News Sunday being challenged by Chris Wallace about the booklet used by the Veteran's Administration to do "end of life counseling" with elderly or ill veterans about whether their "life is worth living." Critics have referred to it as a "Death Book for Veterans." Duckworth is a veteran herself, and a hero, but she was totally wrong in this segment about whether this booklet is being used with veterans. She claimed it is not being used, but Wallace demonstrated that it is being used. She claims it...

Sen. Arlen Specter on Sunday called for hearings to scrutinize a guide for veterans' end-of-life care which one former Bush official says sends a "hurry-up-and-die" message to injured troops. The guide, called "Your Life, Your Choices," was suspended under the Bush administration but has been revived under the current Department of Veterans Affairs. Jim Towey, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, told "FOX News Sunday" that the pamphlet makes injured veterans feel like a burden, encourages the severely injured to die and should be tossed out. Asked about the document, Specter, a member of the Veterans'...

Here is video of Jim Towey on Fox News Sunday discussing a document being used by the Veteran's Administration (called by some a "Death Book") since July by new directive that he says essentially encourages Veterans who are badly ill to "hurry up and die." The document is now being used at "end of life" counseling and was written by Dr. Robert Perlman, a man whom Towey says advocated "assisted suicide" before the Supreme Court. Of particular concern is a worksheet on page 12 that leads patients to consider "is my life worth living?" It asks the patient questions like,...

<p>We did something different on Fox News Sunday today. Instead of discussing the week's news--we brought something up that I suspect most people have never heard about.</p> <p>It is a 51-page end-of-life counseling book the Department of Veterans Affairs is now using--called "Your Life, Your Choices." I learned about it on Wednesday--in an article in the Wall Street Journal--under the title "Death Book for Veterans."</p>

Sen. Specter Calling for Hearings into End of Life Guide for Vets The Department of Veterans Affairs is under increasing scrutiny this week after it was revealed a controversial end of life counseling pamphlet may be revived and distributed to veterans. The guide called "Your Life, Your Choices," was originally suspended under the Bush Administration, but it is apparently being brought back by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jim Towey, a former Bush Administration official, brought the revival to national prominence this week with an article in the Wall Street Journal, which outlined his criticisms of the booklet. When asked...

A prominent senator on the Veterans' Affairs Committee on Sunday called for hearings to scrutinize and consider suspending a guide for veterans' end-of-life care which one former Bush official says sends a "hurry-up-and-die" message to troops. The guide, called "Your Life, Your Choices," was suspended under the Bush administration but has been revived under the current Department of Veterans Affairs. Jim Towey, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, told "FOX News Sunday" that the pamphlet makes injured veterans feel like a burden, encourages the severely injured to die and should be tossed out. Asked about the...

August 21, 2009 01:10 PM EDT Wallace Unplugged: End-of-Life Counseling "Wallace Unplugged" on the real story behind Veterans' health care and end-of-life counseling. ... This Week on Fox News Sunday: (8/23/09) Amid charges of "Death Panels", Chris Wallace uncovers explosive new information about a "death book", already being used by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, that encourages the nations' veterans to pull the plug. This Sunday we’ll take a look at how this controversial book steers users towards a predetermined outcome from the man who took down the program during the Bush Administration. Plus, we'll bring you a reaction from...

B. Hussein Obama, a man bent on the destruction of America, has taken further measures to humiliate, destroy and demoralize America. The evil that is Barack Hussein Obama continues to lie to the American public, insult and degrade America’s Christian population, openly appease the Muslim’s around the world who would like to kill us and destroy America, while sending his minions out to harass the average American, and wasting millions of dollars while doing so. No wonder he needs a vacation. Jon Voight, noted Hollywood actor, former liberal activist and now a champion of common sense and patriotism, says, "There's...

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."

VA's Denial-of-Care-Oriented 'Your Life, Your Choices,' Quashed Under Bush, Revived Under Obama http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2009/08/20/vas-denial-care-oriented-your-life-your-choices-quashed-under-bush-reviv The Death Book for Veterans http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html Your Life, Your Choices Booklet (see for example page 21) http://www.rihlp.org/pubs/Your_life_your_choices.pdf