Expert Says VA Should End Use of Document with Veterans Written by Proponent of Assisted Suicide - Video 8/23/09
Here is video of Jim Towey on Fox News Sunday discussing a document being used by the Veteran's Administration (called by some a "Death Book") since July by new directive that he says essentially encourages Veterans who are badly ill to "hurry up and die." The document is now being used at "end of life" counseling and was written by Dr. Robert Perlman, a man whom Towey says advocated "assisted suicide" before the Supreme Court.
Of particular concern is a worksheet on page 12 that leads patients to consider "is my life worth living?" It asks the patient questions like, "Am I a financial burden on a my family?" "Can I shake the blues?"
Towey gives Obama the benefit of the doubt and assumes Obama knows nothing about the document, but is urging Obama to pull the plug on it.
4 comments:
1. The booklet ("Your Life, Your Choice") has been used since the BUSH administration. It is not an Obama invention, nor an invention of anybody under Obama.
2. Taken in total, rather than out of context, the questions it asks are completely in line with what any such discussion ought to include. YLYC also counsels vets that they may not be as much a burden as they think they are. This right-wing media blitz on the subject ignores the entirety of the booklet and it context, not surprisingly.
3. Towey knew of YLYC back when he was working for Bush. Where was he then? And where was Fox News? As with innumerable other subjects, it's a problem only since Obama took office.
4. Towey sells his own book on the subject.
By the way, you guys have a nice-looking site--I love your masthead--but it just simply isn't true that "conservative principles have made America 'Freedom's Lighthouse.'" Factually, this country was founded on radical liberalism with a decided anti-monarchic and anti-authoritarian bent, which is completely at odds with modern "conservatism."
Steve,
I'm glad you like the site and glad to have you participate here.
Obviously, I disagree with your statement about what has made America "Freedom's Lighthouse." By conservative principles, I mean the principles of the U.S. Constitution, a document that sets forth the role of government as being a limited one so as not to burden people. The larger and more intrusive government becomes, the more freedom will be limited.
By conservative principles, I also mean the belief in the need for a strong national defense and the willingness to stand for freedom at home and around the world. Without that, much more of the world would be in the darkness of tyranny today.
Thanks again for your participation.
Steve,
The Bush Administration put it in mothballs as soon as Bush found out it existed. It has now been put back into service SINCE Obama became President. That's the issue at hand.
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