Department of Veterans Affairs’ “Death Book” Raises New Concerns

Jim Towey’s article, “The Death Book for Veterans” appeared in the Wall Street Journal on August 19, 2009. The article has caused quite a stir by exposing how the government is sending a “hurry up and die” message to elderly veterans and disabled soldiers.

Towey writes, “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.”

Towey says that under the Obama Administration, the VA has brought back a”death initiative” which the Bush Administration had suspended. He describes in detail a 52 page workbook entitled Your Life, Your Choices: Planning for Future Medical Decisons” that Towey says “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.'”

Towey wonders how a disabled young soldier coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan would react to the following:

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.” One section asks, “Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘If I am a vegetable, pull the plug’? There are are also scenarios such as “I can no longer contribute to my family’s well being,” and “I am a severe financial burden on my family.”

The most frightening section is entitled, “What makes your life worth living?” A series of circumstances are listed and asks “if this factor by itself described you” would you find it “difficult but acceptable,” “worth living, but just barely,” “not worth living,” or “can’t answer now.”

But don’t just take Jim Towey’s word for it. Read the VA workbook for yourself at www.ethics.va.gov/TLYC/YLYC_First_edition_20001001.pdf

You can read his Wall Street Journal article here

Sue Armacost