Jim Towey writes:

“Ex-soldiers don’t need to be told they’re a burden to society.”

Veteran’s should be honored, Veteran’s Day should be celebrated nationally with closed government offices, closed businesses, parades, fireworks and gala events. It’s not!

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.

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 Barack Hussein Obama, the VA has now resuscitated “Your Life, Your Choices.”

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 is also the primary author of this workbook.

“Your Life, Your Choices” 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.”

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.”

 There is a section which provocatively asks,

“Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘If I’m a vegetable, pull the plug’?”

There also are guilt-inducing scenarios such as,

“I can no longer contribute to my family’s well being,”

“I am a severe financial burden on my family”

and that the vet’s situation “causes severe emotional burden for my family.”

Mr. Towey continues:

I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update “Your Life, Your Choices” between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as “Compassion and Choices”).

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.

Barack Hussein Obama and his Marxist/Fascist hybrid Liberal ilk should cut costs to American taxpayer’s by referring themselves to “Your Life, Your Choices.” The sooner they take their own advise the better America will be for it. Indeed!