Now They Don't Even Pretend. Fox Fabricates 'Death Book' for Vets
[H/t Heather.]
Via Media Matters. This is even more shocking than the usual misleading Fox News coverage. This is an outright lie, manufactured by someone treated as credible by the rest of the media. But don't worry, I'm positive it will be covered in depth on all the other networks! (Not.)
On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace repeatedly cropped quotes from a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) document to falsely suggest that the Obama administration is pressuring veterans to end their lives prematurely and to accuse Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth of lying about it. In fact, contrary to Wallace's false assertions, the document he referred to does not require doctors to direct veterans to what conservatives have labeled the "Death Book for Veterans."
WALLACE: If I may, Ms. Duckworth, because we have limited time here --
DUCKWORTH: Sure.
WALLACE: Why would a question -- I can understand questions about if you're in an irreversible coma, do you want us to pull the plug. But why -- as I asked Mr. Towey -- why would you even have a question in an end-of-life plan-- counseling book about, "If you're in a wheelchair, if you're living in a nursing home, does that make life worth living?"
DUCKWORTH: Well, I know that before I was injured, I certainly let my husband know that, you know, being in a wheelchair was something that I feared and I was afraid for, but that I also wanted my life prolonged. This is a tool. This is a simple tool that was put into place, as I said, under Secretary [Jim] Nicholson. It was something that was used throughout -- and let me make a correction. We've not used it since 2007, when under the Bush administration, we decided to go ahead and revise it.
This checklist is still under revision on a timetable according to a program that was actually decided on under the previous administration. Because I know that President Bush and Secretary Nicholson and Secretary [James] Peake all valued life. And that's what we're doing, is we're revising it. It will be out in 2010. It's not yet out. So Mr. Towey was not correct by saying --
WALLACE: Secretary Duckworth, that's just not true. The VHA put out a directive on July 2, 2009, and I want to put up two pages from that directive. The first one, Page 8. "Primary care practitioners are responsible for giving patients pertinent educational materials, e.g., refer patients to the 'Your Life, Your Choices' module." And on Page 9, it says if they request more information, "patients may be directed to the exercises in 'Your Life, Your Choices.' "
