Obama's book of death
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| Sat, 08-22-2009 - 11:54am |
Turns out there already is a health care book of death written by our government. It was apparently created by the Clinton administration, cast out by Bush, and has now returned to "help" those it "protects" under Obama (Obamacare?).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html
The Death Book for Veterans
Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society.
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."
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."
When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?
One can only imagine a soldier surviving the war in Iraq and returning without all of his limbs only to encounter a veteran's health-care system that seems intent on his surrender.
I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update "Your Life, Your Choices" between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as "Compassion and Choices").
This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients. America's 24 million veterans deserve better.
Many years ago I created an advance care planning document called "Five Wishes" that is today the most widely used living will in America, with 13 million copies in national circulation. Unlike the VA's document, this one does not contain the standard bias to withdraw or withhold medical care. It meets the legal requirements of at least 43 states, and it runs exactly 12 pages.
After a decade of observing end-of-life discussions, I can attest to the great fear that many patients have, particularly those with few family members and financial resources. I lived and worked in an AIDS home in the mid-1980s and saw first-hand how the dying wanted more than health care—they wanted someone to care.
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.

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Aha....More today about the misrepresentation of the pamphlet ,and the OP author's possible motivations:
How Conservatives Got The Facts Wrong On Their Latest Obsession: The "Death Book" For Veterans
Marcus Baram
08-23-09
Kinda what I figured-- shekels and shine for Towey; same old stuff, different day for the rest of the lot. One would think they'd get tired of spinning whole fabric from a few threads but apparently not. Towey is absolutely pathetic and ought to know better, either as a lawyer or as a person of faith. The others are just peddling the usual line of deceptions and omission of facts. It worked to start a war, they probably figure "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
I wonder how the Fox interview went. Tammy Duckworth is an Iraq vet who lost both her legs as well as badly damaging one arm; and probably has far more experience with the issue of VA care and personal health directives than any of the other talking heads. Not likely that her experience will matter one darn bit to the Fox gang.
Edited to remove redundant words and correct a word.
Edited 8/23/2009 2:58 pm ET by jabberwocka
Jabberwocka
This is a link to the blurb Fox put out about the interview--no transcript that I can see which is too bad because Fox can be relied upon to omit those bits which don't serve their desired ends.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/23/sen-specter-calls-hearings-end-life-care-guide-veterans/
The Fox link DOES provide a link to the "Your Life, Your Choices" pamphlet and that's good; but after the power of suggestion by Towey and the other liars and cheats, readers will probably look for evidence that vets are being pressured to off themselves. What a shame.
Jabberwocka
Drama, drama, drama. When the government hires Dr. Kevorkian as the Director of Health, then I'll start worrying. Until then, I think you dramatists need to take a deep breath and calm down.
What is it with you conservatives that if you don't win an election you have to do everything humanly possible to defile the person who did win? You are doing more to destroy this nation than any group of people I've ever seen. You, and your media prophets are working overtime to widen the chasm that has already split this country in half. These lies and manipulations are nothing more than seeds of
From today's Albuquerque Journal Business section:
Monday, August 24, 2009
For sake of argument, stick to the facts
Journal--> 2009 href="http://www.albuquerquejournal.com">Albuquerque
Journal--> By Winthrop Quigley
Of the Journal
Jabberwocka
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