YOUR LIFE, YOUR CHOICES

There has been much written, mostly negative, about the “death book”, the Department of Veterans Affairs booklet on advanced planning directives.

Officially titled, "Your Life, Your Choices," the [death] book fosters dark thoughts about a difficult life somehow being less of a life.

On Page 21, the Death Book poses questions to veterans to which they are to answer whether life would be "difficult, but acceptable," "worth living, but just barely" or "not worth living." The scenarios include: "I can no longer walk but get around in a wheelchair," "I can no longer contribute to my family's well-being," "I live in a nursing home," "I can no longer control my bladder," "I am a severe financial burden on my family," "I cannot seem to 'shake the blues' " and "I rely on a kidney dialysis machine to keep me alive."

The most positive answer allowable is "difficult, but acceptable." Every situation is phrased in the most negative terms. If veterans check any of the "not worth living" boxes, they are asked if this means they "would rather die than be kept alive." Further along, the book asks, "If you checked 'worth living, but just barely' for more than one factor, would a combination of these factors make your life 'not worth living?' If so, which factors?"

There is no attempt to ask people, "What would it take for you to want to live?" Instead, the booklet focuses on wanting to die.

All of the above is correct, but it only describes 2-3 pages of 50. I agree with the Washington Times editorial that the booklet shorts the “what would it take to want to live” question, but dispute the argument that the booklet focuses on “wanting to die.” A more correct description is that it focuses on responding to the inevitability of death, which, unfortunately, is a subject for which happy faces do not abound.

Congressman Steve Buyer (R, IN, 4th district) has posted a copy on his website. Read it and decide for yourself if it’s truly a “death book.”