State’s veterans challenge aid-in-dying evictions

They served the nation on distant and often hostile shores, putting their bodies and minds in harm’s way for their country.

Now, in the twilight of their lives, the residents of Napa County’s Yountville veterans home are asking for the option to end their lives if they are terminally ill, in peace, at home, in their own beds.

The 625 residents and their spouses are denied access to the state’s aidin-dying law. A group representing residents of the home went to court to try to change that.

Life-ending medication also is off-limits to the other 2,000 aging and disabled veterans and spouses at the state’s facilities in Fresno, Barstow, Redding and other cities. That’s because California’s End of Life Option Act conflicts with federal law, so the state’s veterans agency bans it, fearing the loss of millions of dollars in federal funding.

Without the same rights afforded other Californians under the act, the veterans’ only option is to leave — or stay and risk misery. If the veteran leaves, their spouse must leave too and cannot return.

“I’ve watched three of my friends die here who were in pain and suffering. It’s unacceptable,” said Jim Thomas, 86, a decorated Vietnam Warera U.S. Air Force officer and pilot who lives with his wife, Jensena, 80, at Napa County’s Yountville Veterans Home, the oldest and largest residential setting for vets in the nation.

“The last thing someone needs, when you’re terminally ill, is to be told you need to move out. And you can’t protect your spouse,” said Thomas, one of the residents who sued to try to end the policy. While he’s still in good health, he wants future access to the option. “You’re already suffering.”

They don’t want to ask friends, children or grandchildren to take them in during such a sad and profoundly personal experience, which also requires many procedural steps to execute, Jensena said. And leaving means the surviving spouse loses not only a partner but their home.

The Yountville home, a red-tiled Mission Revival complex nestled against the oak-studded Mayacamas Mountains, offers an affordable retirement for aging, disabled or homeless veterans of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, war in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Founded in 1884, the home has a yearlong wait for admission; the average age of residents is 80.

The home offers a secure retirement for Jim Thomas, who as an Air Force captain, flew missions to Japan, Southeast Asia and remote Pacific Islands. Awarded two Commendation Medals for meritorious achievement, he repeatedly navigated big Douglas C-124 propeller transport planes, dubbed “Old Shakey,” through perilous fog. Once, after his plane’s engine exploded over the ocean and he lost navigational abilities, he safely landed the aircraft on a small atoll. Another time, after taking off with a dangerously overloaded cargo of anti-aircraft Nike missiles, he saved his crew by narrowly missing a cliff.

Now his life is quieter and more cozy, in a room decorated with matching blue bedspreads, stuffed teddy bears, Bibles and family photos. On the wall hangs a pair of faded pink pointe shoes, a memento from Jensena’s career as a professional ballerina.

“One of the reasons we moved here is to ensure that my wife,” a breast cancer survivor, “had a place to live for the rest of her life,” he said.

Fellow plaintiff James Musson, a former special agent with the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in Frankfurt, Germany, also cherishes his room. On display is his Vietnam War-era military dog tag, a Intelligence School diploma and his discharge papers.

“It’s home. It’s familiar,” said Musson, 79, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, interstitial lung disease, gout and shoulder bursitis. “You look out and see the gorgeous campus and the grand Napa Valley. It doesn’t really get any better than that.”

Musson also worries that if veterans leave the home to die, they would lose the right to be buried in its historic 11-acre cemetery, a resting place for combatants dating back to the Seminole Wars. The cemetery accepts only the interment of the Veteran Home’s residents and their eligible dependents.

“It’s important to me because it’s not just for myself, but for other home members,” Musson said.