I just buried a dear friend, and vet, on Monday. He died from "complications" of surgery. I do hope that was the truth
SnT
The Death Book for Veterans
Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society
Jim Towey , Wall Street Journal August 18, 2009
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.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...107981718.html
Lebensunwerte Leben
Obama Administration: Depressed and Disabled Veterans Should Consider Forgoing Medical Care
We downloaded this document directly from the Veterans Administration, and the content suggests that both family finances and depression–a non-terminal illness–could constitute
“Lebensunwerte Leben”, or
“life unworthy of life.” Smoke is generally indicative of fire and, although HR 3200 says nothing about mandatory end of life planning, euthanasia, or anything else similar to Germany’s
Aktion T4 program–the euthanasia program that served as a precedent for the Holocaust–we have shown that there is indeed fire to go with the smoke. “Your Life, Your Choices” is simply more evidence, and it even suggests that war veterans with depression consider themselves a burden on the society that sent them to war.
Note that it invites our veterans to define even non-terminal conditions (such as being in a wheelchair or having depression), to which few if any living wills apply, as “Lebensunwertes Leben.http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=16483
I just met with the VA today to start my inprocessing (I was medically retired on the 11th) and wish I knew about this before I went in so I could ask about it. Having been in the WTU at Ft. Carson for the past year and being summoned down there for suicide prevention briefings immediately following wounded soldiers taking their own lives, this has to be the last thing the VA should be espousing. I will be going up to Cheyenne for my compensation exam in a few days and will address it then.
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