The Death Book for Veterans

Wall Street Journal
08/18/09
JIM TOWEY

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."

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NOTE: It is a well known fact among Veterans that there are three states that treat Veterans very well, Florida, Maine, and Oklahoma. The rest of the Veterans Centers leave a lot to be desired. If the Government cannot take care of its Veterans, how does anyone expect them to provide Government run healthcare. My Dad always said he wouldn't take his dog to the VA Center in Dayton. As a Veteran of WWII, he would not go there.

When this Administration fixes the VA system as well as Medicare, then get back to us. Instead two universal healthcare systems in TN and MA used as examples are going broke. If it doesn't work in a State, it will not work nationally. Instead of the Democrat Congressmen/women saying they will vote against their constituents on OBAMACARE to support Obama, they should pay more attention to what is going on around them and why constituents want them to JUST SAY NO to OBAMACARE!