Vets' Groups Slam 'Death Book' Claims

The head of a top veterans' advocacy group is demanding an apology from Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele for claiming the Veterans Administration is encouraging vets to commit suicide.

Executive Director of "Veterans for Common Sense" Paul Sullivan is slamming the RNC chairman for comments he made Aug. 25 on Fox News, when Steele said the VA is distributing a manual "telling our veterans stuff like, 'Are you really a value to your community?' and, you know, encouraging them to commit suicide."

Sullivan said today he "wants to make sure somebody stood up and said 'Michael Steele is lying.' "He said he believes Steele's motivation is to make government-run VA health care look bad and, by extension, hurt health care plans being pushed by the Obama administration.

"I would say that's their attempt, and it's unfortunate and they should not do that," he said.

Steele's office has not returned Military.com's request for comment.

Sullivan's group has not been shy in criticizing the VA previously. It was among the first veterans groups to demand the VA take action after the organization mistakenly sent out letters to hundreds of vets earlier this month telling them they had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.

The VA has since apologized and pledged to reimburse vets for any medical expenses they incurred because of the false alarm. The agency said 600 of the recipients – about a third of those getting letters – received them in error. The letters were supposed to go to vets already aware of their diagnosis, to tell them how to claim for benefits.

'Playing politics with vets'

Steele's allegations that the VA is encouraging vets to commit suicide dovetails with allegations of a so-called "death book" or "death manual" that some lawmakers and pundits have referred to in stump speeches and talk-show interviews.

Critics say the book titled "Your Life, Your Choices, "was first produced during the Clinton administration and still was in circulation during the Bush administration, according to John Rowan, president of Vietnam Veterans of America.

Rowan said in an Aug. 26 statement calling it a "death book" was playing politics with veterans.

"This booklet was developed with guidance from clerics," Rowan said in his statement, "and it addresses options most of us and our loved ones will have to sort through as we live our final years. To play politics with veterans' end-of-life choices is not only irresponsible, it is cruel.”

Defenders say the book is a guide to help veterans with end of life planning.

There is no "death book,"Sullivan told Military.com. He called Steele's comments "egregious" and "an outrageous slander against [the] VA designed to create an atmosphere of mistrust and fear among the millions of our veterans who rely on the VA for medical care."

In addition to an apology from Steele, Sullivan wants one from Fox News for giving credence to the idea that the VA was encouraging vets to commit suicide.

Sullivan claims that Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, selectively cropped quotes from a Veterans Health Administration document to "falsely suggest that the Obama administration is pressuring veterans to end their lives prematurely."

During the show Wallace challenged VA Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Tammy Duckworth over whether the VA was still recommending the "Your Life, Your Choices"book to veterans.

Duckworth said the book is still posted online but that the VA does not actually recommend it because it has been under revision since 2007.

In an emailed statement to Military.com, Mary Ryan, executive producer for Fox News Sunday, said: "In its July 2, 2009 handbook, the VHA directed healthcare providers to give patients educational material about end of life counseling. While it referred to 'other published materials,'  the only material that it specifically referred to and actually directed patients to on its website was 'Your Life, Your Choices.' "

SEE THE FOX NEWS INTERVIEW ON THE 'DEATH BOOK'

SEE SEC. DUCKWORTH'S RESPONSE

The VA declined to comment on Steele's charge it is encouraging vets to take their own lives or on the controversy over the "Your Life, Your Choices"book.

But in an email to Military.com, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said the agency has fielded more than 150,000 calls from veterans, veteran family members and even active-duty troops, to its suicide-prevention hotline since it was established in 2007.

Roberts said nearly 3,400 of the hotline's callers were convinced not to take their own life.

Sullivan added veterans in need of help should not be frightened away from getting it, and he fears that's what talk of a "death book"can do.

"Veterans at VA facilities have told me they were very distressed to see on the news that the VA is encouraging veterans to commit suicide,"he said. "The important issue is we want veterans who need help to go to the VA and get help, and get it in a timely manner.”