Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Did anyone catch these?
On "Fox News Sunday," H. James Towey, the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, said the guide seemed to encourage people to "hurry up and die."
The booklet, "Your Life, Your Choices," asks people to consider whether life would be worth living if, for example, they were in severe pain, relied on a feeding tube or a breathing machine, lived in a nursing home or imposed "a severe financial burden" on family members.
In a bulletin last month, the Department of Veterans Affairs recommended the booklet as a tool to help veterans with "advance care planning."
Tammy Duckworth, an assistant secretary of veterans affairs, said it was being revised.
But Mr. Towey said, "The document is so fundamentally flawed that the V.A. ought to throw it out."
nytimes.com/2009/08/24/health/policy/24health.html
TPM LiveWire
Jonah Goldberg Compares VA Pamphlet to Nazi Eugenics
By Rachel Slajda - August 24, 2009, 11:14AM
Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large of National Review Online, went on Fox News today to fan the flames of the latest fabricated "death panel" controversy.
Goldberg equated a Veterans Affairs pamphlet -- one that's reportedly no longer being used -- with Nazi eugenics, saying "death panels may not be too far off the horizon."
Read the entire TPM LiveWire report.
Your Life, Your Choices:
Planning for Future Medical Decisions
Note -
The following is a 1997 publication that was produced under VA IIR Grant No. 94-050, "Development of an Advance Care Planning Workbook," 4/01/95 - 3/31/97. The document is currently undergoing revision for release in VA. The revised version will be available soon.
Your Life
Your Choices
Authored by
Design & Layout by
Planning for Future Medical Decisions:
How to Prepare a Personalized Living Will
"What should we do for Dad?"
Your Life, Your Choices
There's only one person who is truly qualified to
tell health care providers how you feel about
different kinds of health care issues--and that's you.
But, what if you get sick, or injured so severely that
you can't communicate with your doctors or family
members? Have you thought about what kinds of
medical care you would want? Do your loved ones
and health care providers know your wishes?
Many people assume that close family members
automatically know what they want. But studies
have shown that spouses guess wrong over half the
time about what kinds of treatment their husbands
or wives would want.
You can help assure that your wishes will direct
future health care decisions through the process of
advance care planning.
"We got the kind of call we'd feared. Dad had
been in declining health for months. Then he fell
asleep at the wheel and was in a bad car accident.
Three weeks later he was still in a coma. A breathing
machine pumped air into his lungs because he could
not breathe on his own. The doctors thought his
chances of coming out of the coma were slim. They
talked with Mom and me about turning off the
breathing machine and allowing Dad to die naturally.
I felt terrible. I didn't think Dad would want to be
kept alive like this. But I knew Mom would feel guilty
for the rest of her life if we told the doctors to "pull
the plug" while there was still even the slightest hope.
We weren't sure what we should do because Dad
never told us what he would have wanted. I really
wish we'd talked about this before."
1. Figure out what you want.
Think. You need to understand what kinds of
situations you might face and the options for care.
Write. Write down your wishes so your loved ones
will have a record of what you told them. This also
helps if no one is around who can
speak for you.
What do you need to do to guide your future health care?
Forms are included in the back of this workbook.
It can take as little as 15 minutes to fill them out.
2. Communicate this to others.
Talk. Tell your loved ones and health care providers
about your strongly-held beliefs and what kinds of
care you would want in different situations.
Part I: The Basics. This 14-page section introduces and discusses
all of the important components of advance care planning. You
may find it provides enough information for you to figure out
what you want and express your wishes to others.
Part II: Resources. Turn to these sections for additional help and
further explanation of ideas and topics introduced in "The Basics."
Two ways to use this book.
Spend an hour working through "The Basics." Then communicate.
OR
Work through "The Basics." Take another hour or two to work
through all or part of "Resources" for a more complete approach.
Then communicate.
How to use this workbook.
This workbook has two parts.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Basics
Why do you need to think now about future health
care decisions? ......................................................................... 5
Do you have strongly-held beliefs that should guide
your care? ................................................................................ 6
If you couldn't speak for yourself, what would you
want done for you? ................................................................... 7
Who will speak for me if I can't speak for myself? ....................... 8
Common questions about choosing a spokesperson.................... 9
What else can I do to make my wishes known? ....................... 10
Common questions about advance directives ........................... 11
What situations and decisions do people commonly face?
Dementia ............................................................................. 12
Coma .................................................................................. 13
Stroke ................................................................................. 14
Terminal illness .................................................................... 15
Telling others what you want ................................................. 16
Writing it down ..................................................................... 17
What's next? ....................................................................... 18
Thought-provoking exercises
Introduction.. ...................................................................... 19
Your Beliefs and Values
Who should speak for me? .................................................... 20
What makes your life worth living?........................................... 21
Personal and spiritual beliefs ................................................. 22
Hope for recovery .................................................................. 23
Weighing pros and cons of treatment
for different chances of recovery ............................................. 23
Choices about death and dying
How would you like to spend your last days? ......................... 24
Organ donation and autopsy.................................................. 25
Burial arrangements ............................................................. 25
Funeral or memorial services ................................................ 26
Health conditions and treatments
Introduction .. ................................................................... 27
Health conditions
Coma................................................................................. 28
Dementia ........................................................................... 29
Serious stroke .................................................................... 30
Terminal illness .................................................................. 31
Treatments
Kidney dialysis .................................................................. 32
CPR-Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation ................................... 33
Feeding tubes ................................................................... 34
Mechanical ventilators (breathing machines) ........................ 35
Hospice and palliative care ................................................. 36
Your health care preferences
Introduction.. .................................................................. 37
Care preferences under different health conditions
Current health.......................................................................... 38
Permanent coma ..................................................................... 39
Severe dementia ..................................................................... 40
Severe stroke .......................................................................... 41
Terminal illness ....................................................................... 42
A future situation of concern..................................................... 43
How to talk about your wishes
Introduction. ........................................................................ 45
Talking about your wishes
Starting the discussion .......................................................... 46
Asking someone to be your spokesperson .............................. 47
Who else should you talk to? ................................................. 47
What if you don't have close family or friends? ......................... 47
Nine important issues to discuss ........................................... 48
Talking to your health care providers ...................................... 49
Reviewing you wishes ........................................................... 50
Other issues
Legal and ethical issues of advance care
planning .................. 51
================ end snippet =======================
The complete booklet is in PDF form at the following link:
ethics.va.gov/YLYC/YLYCFirstedition_20001001.pdf
I've provided this to allow you the individual to make a reasonable effort to understand and judge for yourself what is in the booklet and not rely on the words of Jonah Goldberg or Bush's Faith-Based lackey, H. James Towey.