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<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial color=#006666>Senator Wants Hearings on Obama
Admin Veterans Guide Promoting Euthanasia<BR></FONT></STRONG>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><STRONG>by Steven
Ertelt</STRONG></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=2><BR><I><FONT
face=Arial>LifeNews.com Editor<BR>August 24</FONT></I></FONT><FONT color=#000000
size=2><FONT face=Arial><I>, 2009</I><BR><BR><SPAN class=article_text><FONT
size=2><FONT color=#0000ff>
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<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2><B><IMG
height=200 src="http://www.lifenews.com/vet.jpg" width=200
align=right>Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) --</B> A senator says he wants
Congress to hold hearings on a new Obama administration document that some say
promotes euthanasia. The Department of Veterans Affairs have revived a guide
called "Your Life, Your Choices" that was first published during the Clinton
administration.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>Last year,
bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care brought back a
52-page end-of-life planning document that was suspended during virtually all of
the Bush administration.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>It was
promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of
hospitals and nursing homes but, as Jim Towey <A
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574358590107981718.html">writes</A>
in the Wall St. Journal, "the Bush White House took a look at how this document
was treating complex health and moral issues and suspended its use." </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>Under Obama,
the VA has now resuscitated the guide, written by Robert Pearlman, chief of
ethics evaluation for the center and who advocated for physician-assisted
suicide in the 1996 case of Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme
Court.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>A worksheet on
page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own
life would be "not worth living."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>Now,
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter, a member of the Veterans' Affairs
Committee, says the document raises "a lot of questions" and he is calling for
immediate hearings on it.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>"I think
consideration ought to be given right now to suspending it pending hearings,"
Specter told the Fox News Sunday program.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>Towey also
spoke about the guide on the program and said it makes injured veterans feel
like a burden, encourages the severely injured to die and should be tossed out.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>"This is a
slippery slope," he said "When you look at the book it makes people feel like
they're a burden and they should do the decent thing and die. ... When a veteran
comes back from Iraq, they shouldn't be given a book like this."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>Tammy
Duckworth, assistant secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs, told the
Fox program that the guide hasn't been fully revised and is not yet officially
implemented.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>She called it
a "tool" and said it was just one of many options for veterans, not the only
one.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>Fox reports
that an official directive from July tells VA health practitioners to refer
veterans to the document but Duckworth said she questioned whether the directive
had been approved at higher levels.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2>One section of
the guide titled, "What Makes Your Life Worth Living?" asks veterans to check
boxes such as "I am a severe financial burden on my family" and "My situation
causes severe emotional burden for my family."</FONT><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color=#000000 size=2><BR></FONT></P>
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