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NY Times reports on Towey's attack on "Your Life, Your Choices" without noting he is selling competing booklet

August 24, 2009 12:18 pm ET — 8 Comments

The New York Times reported that former Bush administration official H. James Towey criticized the booklet, "Your Life, Your Choices" -- which is one of several end-of-life educational materials used by the Veterans Health Administration -- for supposedly "seem[ing] to encourage people to 'hurry up and die,' " and being "so fundamentally flawed that the V.A. ought to throw it out." But the Times did not note that the organization Towey founded is selling its own competing end-of-life booklet, which Towey has reportedly pushed the Veterans Health Administration to buy.

Times reports Towey's attack on "Your Life, Your Choices"

Times quotes Towey smear that "Your Life, Your Choices" "seemed to encourage people to 'hurry up and die.' " From the Times article by reporter Robert Pear:

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."

[...]

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." [NY Times, 8/24/09]

Towey's organization selling its own booklet on end-of-life issues

Towey's organization is selling "Five Wishes" booklet on end-of-life issues. The organization Towey founded, Aging with Dignity, sells "Five Wishes," a booklet that, like "Your Life, Your Choices," is designed to guide people in the creation of a living will.

Huffington Post: Towey pushed government to buy his booklet. Huffington Post news editor Marcus Baram reported on August 22 that "Towey seems to have his own axe to grind" in criticizing "Your Life, Your Choices." According to Baram:

He has repeatedly tried to get the government to spend millions to purchase his "Five Wishes" book, which is published by Aging With Dignity, a non-profit group he founded, to distribute to veterans across the country, according to sources within the VA. Towey used his influence with the White House to get a meeting with VA officials, including then-Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. At one meeting, Towey was informed that the VA could not act on such an unsolicited proposal without violating federal procurement regulations, according to VA sources.

Towey acknowledged that government "can buy" "Five Wishes." On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace stated to Towey, "In the course of this controversy in the last couple of days, VA officials are suggesting that you want the government to buy and use your book." Towey began his response by saying, "They can if they want. Millions of Americans do. But that's not what this is about."

From the August 23 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:

WALLACE: Finally, you have been involved with end-of-life issues for years. You worked in an AIDS home back in the '80s. You have written an end-of-life document yourself called "Five Wishes," which is widely used around the country.

In the course of this controversy in the last couple of days, VA officials are suggesting that you want the government to buy and use your book.

TOWEY: They can if they want. Millions of Americans do. But that's not what this is about. That's a not-for-profit, Aging With Dignity.

I want Americans to have access to a document that treats their life with respect, that's not pushing them to hurry up and die, that's not guilt-tripping them, that's not saying that if you can't shake the blues maybe your life's not worth living.

It's the pressure, Chris, and it's wrong for government to do it. There's so many documents out there that help families plan for and discuss end-of-life care.

People should access the one they're comfortable with, but the government should not be pushing exclusively this approach, and I think it's wrong. And I think to have an author of the assisted -- that supports assisted suicide doing it is terribly wrong.

Towey's organization also selling companion materials to "Five Wishes." Aging with Dignity also sells several companion materials to its "Five Wishes" booklet, including a "Five Wishes Video" for $24.95 per individual copy.

Towey received more than $90,000 from Aging with Dignity in 2007. Towey is a member of Aging with Dignity's board of directors and received more than $92,000 from the organization in 2007, the latest year for which Aging with Dignity's tax disclosure form is available. Towey received $92,429 from Aging with Dignity for "consulting" services.

Towey's brother's firm received more than $50,000 from Aging with Dignity in 2007. According to Aging with Dignity's disclosure form, "Ed Towey & Associates" received $51,106 for "video production" services. The disclosure form also states that "Jim Towey and Ed Towey are brothers."

— A.H.S.
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    • Author by BillJ-MN (August 24, 2009 12:26 pm ET)
      2  
      Conservatives, please read Your Life, Your Choices for yourselves and tell us what is controversial in it. Unless you believe individuals should never have the option of making choices for their own end-of-life possibilities, I just don't see anything in it worthy of objection.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by mk3872 (August 24, 2009 1:28 pm ET)
           
        Of course, Bill, there is nothing objectionable. This originated from the Bush administration.

        The right-wing media folks all stick together like the Borg.

        They are doing a favor to Towey to help him push his own book as a replacement.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by BillJ-MN (August 24, 2009 4:18 pm ET)
             
          And now, four hours later, there is still no one who can point to anything objectionable in Your Life, Your Choices. Longer than that, actually, because no one was able to when I issued the challenge yesterday, either.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by towembig (August 25, 2009 1:29 am ET)
              2
            ok, i will tell you what is objectionable..the entire thing!!! people who are aging or elderly and have children never want to be a burden, they dont want to die either!! there are several pieces of misinformation in this booklet, and most people who are given this "information" are [b]not[b]experts in the medical field. for instance, no one really knows what anyone is aware of while in a coma. some who have come out of comas say they were aware, while others were not. also all CPR doesn't involve being shocked!!! i would know as i am an EMT. Most, if not all of this information is terrifying if you didn't know any better. My 90 year old grandmother for instance doesn't have extensive medical knowledge but she does know she does't desire to die. besides, if you did have severe dementia, would you even remember these "wishes"? i highly doubt it!! you may not even know who or where you were, so how would you like it if suddenly your child, mother, father or any appointed person suddenly appeared to tell the medical professionals how to keep you alive? it would be totally terrifying as most likely you didn't even remember this person and now they are telling you how, when, or where you will live your last days!! this "helpful information" is misleading and depressing. I am a healthly 30 year old with an extensive medical background and even i dont wanna live anymore after reading this. Die with dignity my rear!! this is the definition of scaring someone to death. On top of that the VA is giving this to possbilby severly injured, traumatized and depressed veterans who are dealing with alot already only to be given advide on how horrible life is going to be if they choose not to die? if you had been injured during a war, lost a limb, or burned severly enough for any of these medical conditions to even be an option (i.e. feeding tube, or maybe just mute and someone THINKS your a vegetable)would you really want to read how aweful it was. You're living it, the last thing you need is to see it in black and white. My opinion has nothing to do with politics, just common sense!! BTW...does that fit your definition of objectionable?
            Report Abuse
            • Author by Telstar (August 25, 2009 11:24 am ET)
                 
              You have clearly stated your objection to the issue, it is your opinion and you are welcome to it. But the question posed by BillJ-MN was:

              "Conservatives, please read Your Life, Your Choices for yourselves and tell us what is controversial in it."

              At no time in the above passage did you once make any specific reference to the document in question. Could you please clarify what part of the document Your Life, Your Choices do you find controversial? Even just one passage from the book would be fine.

              By the way: You are an EMT? Big respect to what can often be a thankless job.
              Report Abuse
            • Author by MugenBao (August 25, 2009 2:02 pm ET)
                 
              Like most of the pseudo-conservative wingnuts these days, your reply is nothing more than a bunch of incoherent babble which doesn't even address what it purports to.

              Have you truly read the book? Can you quote a single passage? How about this 'terrifying' bit of scare-mongering?

              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.


              So that's the kind of reading that scares you so bad that (in your words) "even I dont wanna live anymore after reading this"? You, sir, are an abject liar.

              For someone who claims to have an extensive medical background - and based on the highly emotional but largely ignorant verbal diarrhea you ejected above that seems a dubious claim at best - I'm surprised that you seem blissfully (or is it willfully?) unaware that every major medical association endorses end of life counseling, preparing a living will, and making important decisions about how to handle your affair the end of your life while you are still in a condition to do so.

              Apparently BillJ's challenge is simply too tough for the Deather cult, as it has still gone unanswered.
              Report Abuse
            • Author by eethann (August 25, 2009 2:56 pm ET)
              1  
              As an EMT, you must have had significant experience with do-not-resuscitate orders and living wills. These documents are standard practice for those with terminal illness and in end-of-life care programs and can play a pivotal role in guiding the decisions made by caretakers in times of great pain and duress. Since none of us in fact know how or when we will die, it is really a shame that we don't all go through the process of talking with our loved ones about our wishes and creating living wills.

              As an EMT you must have seen many cases of distraught partners placed in the impossible situations of having to choose between one painful choice and another in the midst of disaster and grief.

              Just as patients themselves are not medical experts, nor are the family members and caretakers whose "duty" it is to care for them. It is therefor the responsibility of the medical establishment to provide support and guidance, educating patients and their families about the choices they have and the trade-offs involved.

              As an EMT, you must know that.

              (You must also know that CPR is often administered along with defibrillation in the case of cardiac arrest, as noted by the American Heart Association, and the discussion of the two together is hardly "controversial" or "objectionable")
              Report Abuse
            • Author by rumpleteasermom (August 25, 2009 6:05 pm ET)
                 
              @Towembig

              You realize that the only almost direct reference you made to an end of life planning guide referred back to the Five Wishes booklet being promoted by Towey who receives money from the organization selling it.

              The question was, what do you find objectionable in this booklet:
              http://www.rihlp.org/pubs/Your_life_your_choices.pdf

              Having now read both of those guides, I want a paper copy of the Your Life Your Choices booklet. It is MUCH better at helping you think through all the possibilities and decide what you really want. The Five Wishes booklet is fine if you are like my MIL whose philosophy is keep me alive under any circumstances as long as possible no matter what.

              I personally, have faced down death a couple of times now (believe me, going into open heart surgery makes you think long and hard about life.) I know a lot about what I don't want, but I would love to work through the Your Life Your Choices workbook to make sure I've thought of everything.
              Report Abuse

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