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August 28, 2009
Exclusive: ‘Your Life, Your Choices’ – Is VA Booklet a Look at Health Care for All Under ObamaCare?
A controversial booklet entitled “Your Life, Your Choices,” that was suspended under the Bush administration because of the concern that it might encourage veterans to end their lives so they won’t be a burden to society, has been revived under the Obama administration. Its use is being promoted at Veterans Administration hospitals and nursing homes around the nation. You can see it on the VA website here.
Examples of the questionable purpose of this book include a quote by a fictitious character who says, “I’d never want to live like a vegetable.” It also has a questionnaire entitled “What makes your life worth living?” that asks veterans to rate scenarios such as “being in a wheelchair,” “living in a nursing home” and “being a severe financial burden in my family” from “difficult but acceptable” to “not worth living.”
Click here to see a CNN report on this issue.
The booklet was authored by Dr. Robert Pearlman who, in 1996, advocated for physician-assisted suicide before the U.S. Supreme Court in Vacco vs. Quill, and is a known supporter of health care rationing.
Jim Towey, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, is one of the most prominent critics of the booklet.
"This is a slippery slope," he said Sunday. "When you look at the book it makes people feel like they're a burden and they should do the decent thing and die. ... When a veteran comes back from Iraq, they shouldn't be given a book like this."
Towey called the guide "fundamentally flawed" and said it should be pulled from the Web site.
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), a member of the Senate Veteran’s Affairs committee, said the booklet “raises a lot of questions” and that he would call for hearings immediately. Interestingly, this is the same Arlen Specter who has come under fire in his home state of Pennsylvania for his support of the proposed health care “reform” legislation.
Representatives for the VA and the Obama administration say the book is “under revision.” Which portions are under revision? And why not wait until it’s revised to put it back into circulation? It seems that nothing this administration does can be done slowly – it’s all “hurry up and get it done now.” Why the rush?
The controversy surrounding this book is two-fold. One, it brings into question the importance of veterans – who put their lives on the line for the safety and freedoms we still enjoy in this great nation – in our society. Do we really need to suggest to them, of all people, that “life may not be worth living?”
Two, while the Obama administration denies the existence of “death panels” in the pending health care “reform” legislation (funny how something that doesn’t exist can be removed), such “end of life” counseling is already in existence within our VA system. If it’s good enough for the VA, why wouldn’t it be good enough for the rest of the population?
Many people today believe in preparing what is called a “living will” – a document that would dictate that person’s wishes regarding life or death should he one day be unable to articulate those wishes himself (i.e. being in vegetable state that doctors believe will be permanent). That’s all well and good – as long as it remains a decision between the individual and his loved ones. Once government gets involved, either with “end of life counseling” or the rationing of health care that is sure to result from a government-run program, it’s a whole new ball game.
Nowhere in our Constitution does such a blatant violation of individual rights exist. The American people are well aware of this fact, which is why people all across our nation are mobilizing to tell our elected representatives “no.”
Will those same elected representatives listen?
Brought to you by the editors and research staff of FamilySecurityMatters.org.
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