Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

[waikikiluau]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

I've heard that Terri's is in her last hours according to her father... It's just sad that they pulled out Terri's feeding tube.. because I've heard that there had been cases like Terri's who were able to recover after 10-16 years..and Terri is not breathing on her own.. she needs food in order to survive and live.. she must have a therapist so that her recovery will be fast..but with this WRONG decision of pulling out her feeding tube--they killed the life of a person.. i believe no one wants to be in that same situation as Terri --but she still has feelings, she's still alive even if her body can't move or be the way it was before --have you notice how sad/mad she was after they tried to pull of her feeding tube.. it means and shows SHE's choosing life.. her family wants her to live..so, let her family decide and not our state officials coz THEY have NO RIGHT over another's person's business... this is a personal issue..let it be decided personally by the family and not the state.. not also her husband coz he should not be considered as her family who had shown only care for the money he'll get when Terri dies --he has a partner now --why not divorce Terri -what is he still waiting for?he's waiting for Terri's death to get the money then, he'll marry his current partner in whom he has already a child... what's happening is just crazy.. leave Terri alone, and let her live.... but to late, wrong decision..they have been killing Terri right this very moment little by little... and they still have the guts to say that Terri can't feel... they have no right to say that coz they are not in Terri's shoes.. Terri has no way to say what she's feeling but believe it..she can feel, she knows what's been happening to her..and she's just helpless and can do nothing to stop it... her brain is only damaged but she can feel.... her brain is still functioning....

[pzarquon]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

so, let her family decide and not our state officials coz THEY have NO RIGHT over another's person's business... this is a personal issue..let it be decided personally by the family and not the state.

Well, a spouse trumps one's parents in defining "family" and authority to make decisions, and this is a fact that has been upheld in nearly two dozen courtrooms that have heard this case. Terri's plight is a tragedy for all involved, and I truly feel for her parents - I imagine I might fight too, put in the same position (though I'd not let myself become a pawn in politics). But these battles happen thousands of times every month all across the country... tough decisions have to be made by people who love and may disagree... and in the end we have to trust that the right thing will be done, even if we (or Mr. President) might not agree.

May Terri's passing be peaceful, and may her family eventually find the closure they need. And may every soul in America this week set down their end-of-life wishes. At least tell the people you love your feelings, but try to write them down, and if you can, take advantage of many free "living will" resources out there to do it right.

Leave no question. Don't be the next Terri.

[Miulang]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

According to the latest TV news accounts on CNN, the Schindler family will not make any further appeals if this last appeal in the State Supreme Courts is turned down today (the court's decision is due by noon today, EST).

What gets me is the protestors in Pinellas County who are bringing their children to the protest and then allowing them to be arrested...I doubt the kids really want to be there. These idiotic parents are putting their kids in danger, just because "we want them to see how justice works now, so when they get older, they can do something to change things." Yeah right. It's the parents' personal agendas that's harming the kids.

There was a woman who had a relative in that same hospice who missed being at her relative's bedside when he died simply because of the security measures that have to be in place because of the protestors in front of the facility. Why isn't that woman's civil rights being protected? Doesn't she have a right to be at her relative's bedside as he dies peacefully?

And those right wingnuts who are issuing bounties on the internet for the killing of Michael Schiavo and one of the judges and the guy who was arrested in Pinellas County for trying to rob a gun store so he could free Terri...sheesh. These people don't know Terri personally and I'm not sure the Schindler family condones their actions (thank god both the internet person and the local robber have been caught), but why are they getting so emotionally involved anyway? Isn't it a battle between the parents and the husband?

Miulang

[alohabear]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

R.I.P. Terri....I hope this fiasco was worth it.

[pzarquon]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

This fiasco got millions of Americans talking about tough issues that they probably wouldn't have had the nerve or interest to broach before. It's hard to be sitting around the dinner table, spouting off about the Schiavo case, without ultimately coming to the question, "What would you want to do?"

While my wife and I talked about it before, we never really cemented it until last week, when wishes were put in writing. The same scenario unfolded in homes across the country, I'm sure. No one wants to be the next Terri. And now, steps have been taken to avoid that fate.

I think legislative and executive intervention in this family case was a travesty. I think the coopting of the case by political groups on both sides was shameful. I think neither Terri's parents nor her husband will escape this without permanent scars. But insofar as the otherwise Condit-esque wall-to-wall coverage of Terri's case can have a silver lining, it at least put end-of-life issues into the collective consciousness.

[kimo55]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

Like many of you, I have been compelled by recent events to prepare a more detailed advance directive dealing with end-of-life issues.

Here's what mine says:


* In the event I lapse into a persistent vegetative state, I want

medical authorities to resort to extraordinary means to prolong my

hellish semiexistence. Fifteen years wouldn't be long enough for me.


* I want my wife and my parents to compound their misery by engaging

in a bitter and protracted feud that depletes their emotions and their

bank accounts.


* I want my wife to ruin the rest of her life by maintaining an

interminable vigil at my bedside. I'd be really jealous if she waited

less than a decade to start dating again or otherwise rebuilding a

semblance of a normal life.


* I want my case to be turned into a circus by losers and crackpots

from around the country who hope to bring meaning to their empty lives

by investing the same transient emotion in me that they once reserved

for Laci Peterson, Chandra Levy and that little girl who got stuck in

a well.


* I want those crackpots to spread vicious lies about my wife.


* I want to be placed in a hospice where protesters can gather to

bring further grief and disruption to the lives of dozens of dying

patients and families whose stories are sadder than my own.


* I want the people who attach themselves to my case because of their

deep devotion to the sanctity of life to make death threats against

any judges, elected officials or health care professionals who

disagree with them.


* I want the medical geniuses and philosopher kings who populate the

Legislature to ignore me for more than a decade and then turn

my case into a forum for weeks of politically calculated bloviation.


* I want total strangers - oily politicians, maudlin news anchors,

ersatz friars and all other hangers-on - to start calling me "cuzin Kimo,"

as if they had known me since childhood.


* I'm not insisting on this as part of my directive, but it would be

nice if Congress passed a "Kimo's Law" that applied only to me and

ignored the medical needs of tens of millions of other Americans

without adequate health coverage.


* Even if the "Kimo's Law" idea doesn't work out, I want Congress -

especially all those self-described conservatives who claim to believe

in "less government and more freedom" - to trample on the decisions of

doctors, judges and other experts who actually know something about my

case. And I want members of Congress to launch into an extended debate

that gives them another excuse to avoid pesky issues such as national

security and the economy.


* In particular, I want House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to use my case

as an opportunity to divert the country's attention from the mounting

political and legal troubles stemming from his slimy misbehavior.


* And I want Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to make a mockery of

his Harvard medical degree by misrepresenting the details of my case

in ways that might give a boost to his 2008 presidential campaign.


* I want Frist and the rest of the world to judge my medical condition

on the basis of a snippet of dated and demeaning videotape that should

have remained private.


* Because I think I would retain my sense of humor even in a

persistent vegetative state, I'd want President Bush - the same guy

who publicly mocked Karla Faye Tucker when signing off on her death

warrant as governor of Texas - to claim he was intervening in my case

because it is always best "to err on the side of life."


* I want the state Department of Children and Families to step in at

the last moment to take responsibility for my well-being, because

nothing bad could ever happen to anyone under DCF's care.


* And because Gov. Jeb Bush is the smartest and most righteous human

being on the face of the Earth, I want any and all of the

aforementioned directives to be disregarded if the governor happens to

disagree with them. If he says he knows what's best for me, I won't be

in any position to argue.


****
mahalos and apologies to:
Robert Friedman...

[1stwahine]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

Yesterday, I was poked by needles, blood drawn, Cat Scanned, made fun of my mental illness, and treated without respect and dignity as normal patients would be. I cried, not only for me but for the millions of others like me that are treated the same awful way. Patient Advocate? Yeah, there was one her name is Kat. She just got back from vacation, was to busy to do her job advocating. I'm afraid to die at Kaiser Permanente Hospital...I'm not afraid of dying. Go figure that one out.

Check out my Blogg!

[1stwahine]

Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

Living wills or Advance directives is back in da news!

In this morning's StarBulletin http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/04/news/story11.html
Expert backs right-to-die talk

An attorney involved with a Missouri case is in Hawaii to discuss end-of-life decisions

By Helen Altonn

"This development is "dramatic, amazing and wonderful," he said. "But the flip side is, we have to talk as a society about what the purpose of medicine is and when technology does not serve that purpose. That discussion is just starting."

William Colby, 51, of Kansas, is visiting Hawaii for the first time with his wife and four children, ages 6 to 14. He will give free community lectures in Honolulu and Hilo and participate in a bioethics conference at St. Francis Medical Center.

"The good to come out from the horrible Schiavo family tragedy was it caused the rest of us to stop and talk about something we don't usually talk about," Colby said."

"Because of this case, many have filled out living wills or advance directives stating their wishes about end-of-life care, he said."

I know this is a touchy subject. I have my Advance Directive already in place.

Nuff said.

Auntie Lynn