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Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

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

    Schiavo's Feeding Tube Is Removed
    The removal came after a dramatic sequence of legal feints that began Friday morning when the House Government Reform Committee issued subpoenas to Schiavo, a woman who has been unable to speak for 15 years; her husband, Michael Schiavo; and several doctors and employees of her hospice, ordering them to appear at a congressional hearing March 25. Then, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee formally invited Michael and Terri Schiavo to testify on Monday. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's statement pointedly noted that it is a federal crime for anyone to interfere with a person's testimony before Congress.
    Terri's situation, on its own, is a tragedy. The battle between her husband and her parents is tragic. The attempted intervention of politicians, however, is just abhorrent. I thought Florida lawmakers passing a law specifically to reinsert her feeding tube was ridiculous. Now folks in D.C. are trying to get into the act. Terri and her entire family is now just one big political football, and it's disgusting.

    The attempt by Republicans in Congress to use this one family's conflict to make points among the fringe right (talking points being passed around rejoice in this being an uncomfortable topic for Democrats and a good way to fire up the base) is almost certain to backfire. A huge majority of Americans, including a good majority of evangelical Christians, side with the spouse in right to die cases.

    No matter what you think about the Schiavo case, the whole fiasco is the best reminder any of us ever need to set up an advance directive. Leave no ambiguity as to your wishes should you end up in Terri's position.

  • #2
    Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

    You watched the same network news show I did. Those talking points are beyond repulsive.

    Mel, stop reading now, because I'm about to say something really nasty about Republicans:

    they are the slimiest bunch of weasels I've ever seen. Tom Delay was almost gleeful because this fiasco will divert attention from his mounting ethical challenges. He grabbed at it like he was a drowning man.
    http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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    • #3
      Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

      This past week many of the topics hit home and then some. This by far brings back so much memories. My late husband, Conrado died from Lou Gerigh's Disease on Jan. 17, 1997. Watching him deteriorate was agony for my children and I but it was better to have him than not have him at all. There is no pain from Lou Gerigh's they say, there is pain from what his secondary diagnosis was ( Pneumonia) which stemmed from the primary one. He had a trech and a feeding tube to help him with his breathing and to give him the nutrients to stay alive. It was not his, mine or anyone's decision to end his life...it was GOD and GOD alone as we know him.

      It is imperative that everyone young and old have some form of Living Will in place...no matter if rich or poor. I know that I am guilty of many times trying and having thoughts of suicide...today, I know that I need my medications for without I may succeed and my life is not of mine to end.

      I plan to live, I plan to continue dreaming, I plan to achieve my goals and more. I plan to grow old and watch my grandson and future granchildren grow into productive and caring adults too. However, if I should be in a similar situation like "Terri Schiavo," I hope and pray nobody takes out my feeding tube and let me die an agonizing death by starvation!
      Last edited by 1stwahine; March 18, 2005, 09:04 PM.
      Be AKAMAI ~ KOKUA Hawai`i!
      Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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      • #4
        Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

        Poor Tom DeLay. Not only is he a crook, but he's now a delusional one, too! He says Terri Schiavo, prior to having her feeding tube disconnected (but NOT removed, as some reports have stated), was alive and not on life support. Well, I think having a stomach tube to receive nutrients IS life support. He says, "she's alive, just like me..." A radio talk show host retorted on air, "Yeah, he's (DeLay) just as brain dead, too".

        The legal wrangling between the families and the Republican right wingers will definitely create embarrassment for the Republican party. The Dems have been way too silent about this issue. They need to step up to the plate and say that this issue, if it has to go beyond the family, should be resolved by the State Supreme Court of FL. The US Supreme Court has already stated that it doesn't want to usurp the States' rights to determine the issue. Jeb Bush has no more power to restore the feeding tube.

        What's also missing from the argument is the fact that Terry Schiavo will die from dehydration before she starves to death. It's a scientific fact that people can survive without food for months, but they will only last for a few weeks (if that) if deprived of water. When her electrolytes go wacky due to dehydration, she will no longer feel pain (if she even does now) and will lapse into a coma.

        If her husband had been as mercenary as his opponents would like to make us believe, why didn't he take the $1 million that was offered by a man to sign away guardianship back to her parents? Why do her parents and family believe they "know her better" than her husband?

        Even if Michael Schiavo waived the right to guardianship, whoever the next guardian was would still have to follow the court's ruling, which at this moment means no feeding via the gastic tube.

        If only one good thing comes out of all of this, it's that everyone should realize that they need to have a living will (at the very least) so your family knows what you want done ahead of time if you can't make that decision yourself.

        Miulang
        "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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        • #5
          Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

          I can't believe anyone would want to be kept alive by machines for fifteen years. But I do think it is HORRIFIC to make the woman die from thirst and starvation.

          Just give her some chemical which will quickly and painlessly let her move on to whatever comes next.

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          • #6
            Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

            Strange, is it not, that through Living Wills, one could make abundantly clear to family, friends, and the world at large, "I do not wish to be sustained by machines." Yet, even though one can do that, one cannot specifically specify, "I wish to be put out of my misery." Nope, if you had the will and ability to do it with a shotgun, more power to you, but if you're helpless and gone to the world, your body has to be allowed to deteriorate and expire over as long a period as possible, to extend whatever pain you might feel, and the pain of your loved ones.

            God bless America, I tell ya.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

              In light of current ranglings on Terry, this interview is a huge deal!

              This is a partial transcript from The O'Reilly Factor, November 5, 2003

              BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the Back of the Book segment tonight, the parents of Terri Schiavo are hoping for a miracle. Their daughter has been in a vegetative state for 13 years, as you know. Ms. Schiavo's husband wants her to die, and so do many in the State of Florida.

              But listen to this. In 1995, Kate Adamson was in a similar position. She was in a vegetative state after suffering a stroke.

              For almost 70 days, she was totally unresponsive. Doctors finally pulled her feeding tube. And, for eight days, she was dying.

              Then Ms. Adamson began responding on her own. Doctors quickly put the feeding tube back in, and she recovered.
              http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,102388,00.html
              Last edited by admin; March 21, 2005, 12:18 PM. Reason: Respect copyright. Excerpt and link.
              Stop being lost in thought where our problems thrive.~

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                Sorry admin, and thanks for fixing the article. The link doesn't work, but I know this woman's story is found at many sites, when her name is googled, thanks to her writing a book about her ordeal, an ordeal where she was even operated on with little or no anesthesia, as it was said she was brain dead, when in fact the opposite was true, she says she was paralyzed in a unique way, being totally aware and mind very intelligently even knowing what she wanted to say, but couldn't say it. She says when her feeding tube was taken out, she was wanting to yell how hungry she was, etc. Schiavo may be experiencing precisely what this woman did. I hope many readers will find and read the entire story, it is so powerful, and sounds almost identical to Schiavo's condition.
                Stop being lost in thought where our problems thrive.~

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                • #9
                  Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                  Kate's story is inspiring, but it's hardly comparable to Terri's case (though it's an inevitable one, and will surely sell more books!). Kate had a stroke, and was paralyzed. Terri's brain was starved of oxygen, and her cerebral cortex has basically disintegrated. Ironically, while Terri may very well appear more responsive than Kate could have been in her condition, there was a lot more going on inside Kate's head than there's been in Terri's for sixteen years.

                  People come out of comas, and maybe, miracles happen. But beyond that, the larger question is, who makes the call when you can't make it yourself? Funny that the same people who argue passionately for marriage as a sacred institution and a fundamental partnership to life would argue againstspousal rights when it affords the opportunity to score political points.

                  Further still, this is a judicial call, and at the state level at that, and for President Bush to be making speeches and signing last-minute legislation over one family's Florida court case is ridiculous.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                    I thought it was depressingly ironic and hypocritical that Bush would say that...

                    In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life. This presumption is especially critical for those like Terri Schiavo who live at the mercy of others. I appreciate the bipartisan action by the Members of Congress to pass this bill. I will continue to stand on the side of those defending life for all Americans, including those with disabilities.
                    ...while having vigorously boosted the death penalty while governor of Texas. Can't have it both ways, Shrub.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                      All this going on and my MAMA got on my case regarding her own wishes and whatever else needs to be finalized in case the Lord (our belief) comes for her. I always seem to prolong the effort basically cause I hate to face the reality of her dying.

                      Tomarrow, MAMA and I go to update and finalize what "she wants." Unlike me, she doesn't want to be living off any machine. My reason, is not to prolong my life if I'm a veggie. For the simple, yet, comical reason that I love food. I don't want to starve to death nor the feel the pain. If they can prove that I'm braindead (kimo, shat-up)...pull the sucka outta me and let me go in peace.

                      I pray that like my late husband, I will get a glimpse of heaven and tell them I was on my way. When I got there...I'd say, "Let's PARTY!"
                      (come'on everybody, smile). This topic is depressing, visualize auntie lynn causing havoc in heaven) Gaurens, they send me back down with a beautiful body and whateva's).

                      I know that if anything happens to my MAMA, all kakas gonna hit the wall. But like the wise MAMA I got, she said, "you got the papers to shov'em up their noses".
                      Be AKAMAI ~ KOKUA Hawai`i!
                      Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                        Pzarquon,

                        what may be comparable is what Terry may be suffering inside. There are docs that say she's a veggie, & docs that say she isn't. More about this story seems to come out daily, since this is such a huge issue. There was a video of Terry a few years ago that made it onto local Florida tv, when it airs, three separate & individual doctors contacted her parents, insistent she isn't a veggie & wanted to help their case, terry's dad took them each, separately, to see & evaluate Terry, & all 3 signed afidavits that Terry's condition isn't braind dead, but brain damaged, severely of course.

                        Soon as that happened, then....Terry's hubby ordered no visitors allowed but he & her family, he isolated her, not letting her have access to other areas of the home, like a consoling jacuzzi, nor any activities of the home. why?! Why do her parents suspicion him from the time she passed out? Why are they quoted as saying they think he may have choked her, causing this?!

                        Kate A. was diagnosed by docs, not just one doc as being a veggie too, with no hope of recovery! Saying nonchelantly that she just had a stroke sounds like she wasn't such a severe case, as she was. She speaks of this as a paralysis way above typical, as one medicine hasn't figured out, nor can often diagnosis it properly.

                        There is plenty of reason for us to think Terry may be experiencing what Kate did, inside, moaning on the outside, with perfectly formed words and ideas on the inside of what she is trying to get her body to cooperate, and SAY.

                        Note the loving, caring and dedicated hubby that Kate had, compared to Terry's! Terry's is damn determined to keep control, and his timing of some of his orders are suspicious. There's a report that he told her care takers to stop treating her bed sores! What on earth, except he must have hoped THAT would kill her, since he wasn't getting away with starving her. Were she hooked up to "life support" machines, her body not able to live on its own, that'd be a totally different case. But it isn't! She is being deprived of the one thing that you and I must have, to live, and it's the only thing she needs to live that she doesn't have.

                        Since I, like the prez, believe we have souls that meet our maker some day, life is sacred because once we leave the body, we face an eternity based on judgement. Kate prayed and Kate is fine. Terry may be inside praying, we do not know. Clearly, doctors misdiagnose this state of illness they do not yet understand fully. Err on the side of life, on the safe side, yes, especially in a situation with so much confusion, suspicion and a timeline of things that do look questionable. We've had so many cases of hubbies killing wives in the news, this sure as hell could be, may be one of them.
                        Stop being lost in thought where our problems thrive.~

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                          Pzarquon, you said "Funny that the same people who argue passionately for marriage as a sacred institution and a fundamental partnership to life would argue againstspousal rights when it affords the opportunity to score political points."

                          You seem to forget or ignore something very basic to this case, making it not funny at all. Terry's spouse isn't being a spouse to her at all, per family values. He has two children by another woman!! I believe he is living with that woman, being her common-law hubby right now. Therefore, it isn't funny because we same people that you allude to aren't being strange, funny or hypocritical. Mr. Shiavo has given up his rights to be respected or thought of as a parnter in a sacred institution, and his "fundamantal partnership." In fact, he's acting it out with two women, while not not being a true partner to either, per we same peoples' views.
                          Stop being lost in thought where our problems thrive.~

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                            Ah, yes, if you're stymied in the courts, go to the court of public opinion, and jump straight to character assassination. There's also the story that he beat her and is trying to kill her to cover it up (bulimia led to her heart attack, the inadequate treatment of which has already been established in the courts). I'm sure he's a puppy-kicking, tailgating, paperclip-stealing meanie, too.

                            Fact of the matter is, he is rightfully Terri's legal guardian, and until recently, there was no argument over the appropriateness of that at all (which one might expect if his worthiness as a husband was at issue). It's merely a dispute over What Would Terri Want, versus what her husband and her parents want. The state courts are where that debate belongs, and it's been settled more than once - and note that the husband was not the only person who testified that Terri had expressly stated that her wish was not to have her life artificially prolonged.

                            Remember also that her husband and her parents were allies for several years before her husband concluded the time had come. During the first trial, her husband's devotion was not challenged - he learned skills to take care of her personally and ended up taking a job at a therapist at a hospital nearby, etc. His contention has always been that Terri would want to be put out of her misery, and it is that - and not some unseemly benefit - that he's fighting for. He even allegedly refused payoffs of six (or even seven) figures to walk away.

                            Besides, even if her husband is a total ass, he was and is her husband. My point was, if you're going to fight for marital privileges, you're going to have to accept all marriages, from true love to Vegas spontenaity. Her husband's standing as Terri's guardian has rightfully been upheld in several courts.

                            But more importantly, the fact that a personal family dispute, and a question of state law, has been turned into a political football at the highest level of government is just apalling.

                            The other painful irony this case is highlighting is that all the hand-wringing and wailing about the inhumanity of starving Terri to death is reminding people that this method (or the removal of any life support to wait for natural failure) is the only choice, since physician-assisted death is illegal. If you kill yourself at home with a shotgun, you're in the clear, but if you want it done neatly and painlessly in a controlled environment, you're breaking the law... and even morehilariously, anyone who helps you do it is guilty of murder - and may be put to death!

                            God bless America, I tell ya.

                            The judge, even acknowledging "substantial issues concerning the constitutionality" of the federal act, turned down the parents' request for the temporary injunction this morning, concluding that there was little chance the parents' case would ultimately succeed. Of course, now the parents are just moving on up to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

                            At some point, I hope reason prevails... and that the "substantial issues concerning the constitutionality" thus far brushed aside eventually come back to bite Congress in the backside.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Terri Schiavo: Life, Death, Politics and Living Wills

                              Ironic that when the Prez was Governor of TX, he signed a bill that allowed a hospital review board to determine if the plug was to be pulled on a patient if there was a dispute between members of the patient's family and doctors (if there was no advance directive), and now he wants to get the Legislative Branch of the U.S. government to get involved in something that 20 courts (including the US Supreme Court x2) have said is a state issue?

                              What the Texas Bill did within the last 2 weeks was cause a badly deformed newborn to be taken off life support (and die) and an elderly terminally ill man to be moved from a hospital to another one.

                              It is apparent in the Texas cases that the patients and their families (lower income) were being discriminated against because of their economic status.

                              So the bioethical issue is in the case of life v. death decisions, who is worthy of being kept alive? Only those people and families who have the wealth to fight the decision of doctors and State courts? What happens to poor people who run out of Medicare and Medicaid funding while in terminal care? Are these the ones, who even if they state they want to be kept alive under all circumstances, who end up having their lives terminated anyway for "economic" reasons?

                              For the "culture of life" people, why aren't you fighting for the rights of the poor people too?

                              Miulang
                              Last edited by Miulang; March 22, 2005, 06:00 AM.
                              "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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