Is this a goverment-sponsered book meant to convince our wounded vets to commit suicide??

This book was featured on Fox News this morning (August 3rd, 2009) and Chris Wallace brought up the argument of the book convincing wounded vets to commit suicide. Apparently, this book was written and printed by the government, and is now "required mailing material" to our vets.

This is the closest I can get to the actual website. (you also need the capacity to open pdf files.) Anyway, here's the first web address. From here, there's a "here" link to get you to the online version of the book.

fns.blogs.foxnews.com...

PLEASE check this out. Conspiracies are fun in there own right, but if this is true, IT MUST STOP.

[edit on 24-8-2009 by Toelint]

It's a manual to incite these people to think about things beforehand, to voice those views and preferences to family and friends and to write a living will. I wouldn't call that inciting them to suicide.

Really, it's something we should all do. It shouldn't be left to the family to fight about. You are the one in a coma or God-only-knows-what. It's your responsibility to think in advance about how long and under what conditions you're to be kept alive or when to pull the plug. Does your ego need a funeral? (Oops! Did I say that? ) It should be widely known and in black and white before that moment arrives, dear ones!

I'm actually surprised that this is published by the government.

No conspiracy here.

Okay, HERE'S the link to the actual pdf file.:

www.ethics.va.gov...

And frankly, I'm not so sure.

reply to post by Toelint


Which part of it is causing you concern? It seems perfectly fine to me. It only asks you to consider the quality of life rather than assuming that everyone wants to live forever. I agree with that premise. There is absolutely no good reason to allow someone to languish due to nostalgia (i.e., because others cannot let go), in pain (because you might not be aware of it - in a coma, for example) or in futility.

Death is not shameful. It happens just as surely as birth and is as much a part of that cycle. It truly is a cycle. Once you understand that, it becomes considerably easier to deal with.

I can't remember who said it, but someone said "Americans act as though they will live forever, and think of death as a kind of terrible accident that happens to people when they get older".

The practice of keeping patients alive for as long as medical technology will allow is a sick practice that wastes medical resources that could be used to help people who will get better, and is one reason why Americans spend so much per capita on health care and get relatively poor care in return, because so much goes into life-extension and so little goes into prevention.

Not writing a living will is one of the worst mistakes you can make, both for yourself and for your family and friends. Living wills are the only solution to the problem of cruel and unnecessary life extension aside from a Nazi-style euthanasia program. I don't like the idea of a series of checklists, but there is space for "other" concerns, and the checklists have the advantage of reminding people to think about end-of-life issues that might not occur to them.

reply to post by ELNC3


Personally, I would be mighty annoyed if my family kept me alive artificially due to some hope that I might recover. I also don't want to be kept alive if I should ever fall into a long coma. For a little while, fine; but if it goes on for months, give up gracefully. My God, can you imagine?

Also, if they think for one split second that I would like a funeral, they really don't know me at all and have no business attending my funeral. lol Seriously though, is there a bigger waste of money? It's a carcass!! Dump it in a pit for worms to chow down on and head to the pub for a wet one and a nice rehash of all the crazy/stupid/amazing/worthless stuff I did while I was incarnated.

Now you all are part of my living will. If you ever see that CosmicEgg has kicked it, grab your shovel and head on over. Might be a good night out. I hope you all feel like holy h*ll the next day too.