There has been a lot of talk recently about whether or not there are 'death councils' included in the proposed healthcare bill. Tuesday's Wall Street Journal posted an article on the government's involvement in Veteran's end-of-life issues. According to the article:
"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."
This booklet is not helpful in our dealing with America's veterans. It may save money if our soldiers opt to refuse care, but to me, that flies totally in the fact of what this country is about. The VA should be ashamed for even putting this book together.
The article further points out:
"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."
I agree.
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