Debunking The Latest Conservative Health Care Smear: “Death Book For Veterans”.
Following false accusations that Democrats’ health care reform legislation would institute “death panels” for the elderly, H. James Towey claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the Obama administration revived a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) booklet on advanced planning directives that would “steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves that life is not worth living,” calling the booklet a “death book.” As with the death panel smear, conservative media — particularly Fox News — have promoted Towey’s false “death book” claim, ignoring facts that undermine Towey’s rhetoric.
(via mediamatters4america)
Fox News’ Chris Wallace furthers ‘death panel’ hysteria with ‘death book’ claim
Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace devoted the first segment of this week’s show to trying to prove President Barack Obama’s administration was encouraging veterans to choose to die.
“We’re going to do something different here today,” Wallace began. “Usually we discuss the news, but today we’re going to tell you about something you may never have heard about, what critics are calling the ‘death book,’ a 52-page pamphlet the Department of Veterans Affairs is using right now in end-of-life counseling for the nation’s 24 million veterans,” explained Wallace.
