“Life is worth living, but barely.” – V.A. Book

We’ve all seen the articles and pamphlets calling on us to make some life’s end decisions now to save our family from the grueling decisions. I’m definitely not calling for an end to thinking about these important matters. That being said I am not ready for this or any government to be in the business of life and death decidions. Any student of history knows where this slippery path can lead. In general, government just cannot be trusted.

On the heels of many denials by President Obama of “death panels” in the Health Reform package a new wrinkle emerges. This might shed some light on the “end of life counseling” that is clearly called for in the House version of the Bill. It also highlights why Americans are reacting strongly to this possibility. Jim Towey is President of Saint Vincent College and former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives (2002-2006) and founder of the nonprofit Aging with Dignity. He wrote an opinion in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week in which he outlines the disturbing contents of a book distributed by the Veterans’ Administration. The book, ‘Your Life, Your Choices’, includes a chart on page 21 that runs through a series of scenarios with a correspnding choice. The respondent is to look at a list of hardships and decide how that hardship would impact their life. The choices are: a. Make life difficult but bearable. b. Life is worth living, but barely or c. Life wouldn’t be worth living. The hardships range from loss of the ability to walk to “I can’t shake ‘the blues’”. The message here is clear. Whoever is giving our vets this book must believe their life isn’t worthwhile or is approaching that stage. Extremely sad; Towey claims VA doctors are instructed to counsel all vets on end of life matters and supply this Hemlock Society sanctioned book to every patient. One could just imagine… ‘Welcome home from Irag! Have you thought about whether your life is worth living?’ Sickening.

As Towey so aptly says, “When the government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?”

I could not come up with a better way to end this post than the way Mr. Towey ended his brilliant piece. Thank you Mr. Towey. “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.”

P.S. – As a 1985 alumnus of Saint Vincent I could not be prouder than I was while reading that Mr. Towey is willing to take a public stand for the dignity of life.

http://www1.va.gov/pugetsound/docs/ylyc.pdf

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html