Per The Washington Post:

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) called on the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday to consider suspending its use of an end-of-life planning document that critics have dubbed the “death book for veterans.”

“There is an issue as to whether the VA document inappropriately pressures disabled veterans who forgo critical care by subtly urging them on end-of-life decisions,” Specter wrote in a letter requesting that the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hold a hearing on the matter.

VA officials said that the document has been misrepresented by critics and that the decade-old publication, titled “Your Life, Your Choices,” is an “educational resource” meant to help veterans direct in advance the medical care they want in the event they are incapacitated.

[…]

Specter said in an interview yesterday that he had not read the booklet but was disturbed by what he had gleaned thus far. “I heard an inference that people might be inappropriately influenced to withhold medical treatment,” he said.

Specter’s letter, which was also sent to VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, says that “consideration should be given to suspending it temporarily until a determination is made as to its appropriateness.”