Removal of Feeding Tube (pray)

[Quoth The Raven]

Originally Posted by EEWRED

Also, I think it is important to look at some facts about her husband that for the most part have been left unreported. The women he is seeing now, he has been with for a very long time (I believe about seven years, they are under a common law marriage and have two children together. As legal guardian, he ended her therapy about seven years ago. This therapy was ordered by the state when Terri was awarded the 1.7 million dollar settlement. Curiously enough, he ended the therapy about the same time he started his relationship with his common law wife.

I'm pretty sure J4L found something that stated it was illegal for any person to be denied therapy. That being the case, if Michael Schiavo was in fact illegally denying her therapy then why was there no case regarding this? Surely her parents could have used that as the thin edge of the wedge if there were any substance at all to that allegation. The fact that it wasn't makes me question the validity of the claim.

It should also be noted that up until Michael ended Terri's rehab, she was making slow, but steady, progress towards walking and talking again.

A large part of her brain is gone. It's like taking half the peaches out of a tin, topping up the juice and claiming there's still a full tin...the space is full, but there's no substance to what it's full of. The bits that would make her capable of walking and talking aren't there anymore. There are scans to prove it. Yes, people have woken from vegetative states before, but if you read this it may go some way toward explaining what the difference is in this case:
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/02/25/Ta...overy__h.shtml

[kiwimac]

People,

Seven out of the eight Neurologists who have examined Ms. Schiavo have found her to be in a "presistent vegatative state" a CT of her brain showed "such a profound loss of tissue … that the normal brain cortex has been lost" and replaced by fluids. Electroencephalograms show "a flat tracing" -- no evidence of cerebral activity at all."

[Source]http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.d.../503190337

And from the same article


Quote:And Ms. Schiavo's husband, Michael, doesn't appear to be motivated by money, as her parents have accused. The $700,000 he won in a malpractice suit to pay for her care is mostly gone. He has offered to donate what's left to Hospice.

He has been attentive: He went to nursing school to learn to care for her. He took her to California for experimental surgery. He waited eight years after her collapse, when it was clear she wasn't going to improve, to go to court to get her feeding tube removed.

Ms. Schiavo's parents and their Right to Life and Operation Rescue friends point out that for the past few years Mr. Schiavo has lived with a woman, and that they have had two kids. But when all hope for his wife's recovery was gone, was it really so wrong to move on?

Mr. Schiavo visits his wife twice a week, does her laundry, and pays for services most patients in a vegetative state don't get. She is dressed every day, for example, and make-up is put on.


As well


Quote:In Schiavo's case, seven of eight neurologists who physically examined her over time determined that the Pinellas County woman suffered irreversible brain damage after her heart attack 15 years ago, according to Dr. Ron Cranford, a neurologist at the University of Minnesota and one of those who assessed her brain function. He examined Schiavo in 2001, as part of a court-ordered assessment.

"She has no electrical activity in her cerebral cortex on an EEG (electroencephalogram), and a CT (computerized tomography) scan showed massive atrophy in that region," he said. The cerebral cortex, which is the outer layer of the brain, is involved in higher brain functions, such as processing thoughts and storing memories.

"There is no medical dispute," Cranford said. "She is in a primitive vegetative state, and she has been for 15 years."


http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...80350/1006

Terri died 15 years ago. She is showing no sign of higher brain function, indeed her Cortex has dissolved, atrophied, been replaced by fluid. Let her go.

Kiwimac

[kiwimac]

Why is Michael Schiavo being demonised?

Well he has the audacity to actually care about his wife's wishes as counterpoised to her parents demands and he has moved on with his life. Oh and BTW, he is not "having an affair." An affair requires a LIVING partner, Terri died fifteen years ago, her soul is long gone, only the shell remains.

Kiwimac

[Halcyon]

I find it terrifying that I live in a world that would allow me to exist in such a condition, I hope to God that she, if not brain dead, is totally unconcious. It makes me feel physically sick when i imagine being conscious in such a condition, i haven't made a living will yet because i believe my family would do the right thing, but i'm thinking of writing one now in case some ghoulish protestors or judge succeeds in prolonging what would be a miserable existance.

[Seyorni]

I think the US' real attitude toward the sanctity of life is best demonstrated by Madelaine Allbright's comment when asked about the 500,000 children dead due to US sanctions against Iraq: "This is a hard choice but we think the price is worth it."

The brouhaha on the Senate floor is pure, self-serving hypocrisy.

[jamaesi]

Why is Michael Schiavo being demonised?

I wonder that, too. He's done naught to deserve it.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

I find it terrifying that I live in a world that would allow me to exist in such a condition, I hope to God that she, if not brain dead, is totally unconcious. It makes me feel physically sick when i imagine being conscious in such a condition, i haven't made a living will yet because i believe my family would do the right thing, but i'm thinking of writing one now in case some ghoulish protestors or judge succeeds in prolonging what would be a miserable existance.

Yes,
This issue affects all of us. If the courts or Congress establish precedence, then there will be legal reason for further interference from the government and infridgement on civil liberties. I know that it is wrong of me, but the lack of empathy from those in power makes me wish that they will have a similar experience. They are unable to conceptualize the pain that the family is going through.

I know that Terri's parents are fighting for their daughter, but it really looks like they have clouded judgement. Terri's husband has the right, plain and simple. We should have the right to die with dignity.

[Doc]

Well I have avoided watching or debating about this for some time, but it has been hard to avoid this past week. I support life and I feel it necessary to look out for the vulnerable of society. But sometimes there comes a point when I feel death is sometimes better than life. This for example. Here is why...

When I was in the 3rd grade, my mom got a call in the middle of the night saying that my Grandfather had become very ill during the night and was rushed to the hospital. My mom then drove the 4 hours in a blizzard hoping that he would be all right. Well, when she got there, he was already passed.

During that frightful morning, my Grandma one of the most painful decisions of her life. She decided not to have him stay alive by machines. (Grandpa would have hated that) He had suffered some terrible blood clot in the brain and a vessel had exploded and left him brain dead. Had she allowed for him to stay alive, it would have caused much more suffering for him, my grandma, and the entire family.

I may be pro-life but I am also Anti-Suffering. Had my grandma not have made that decision, she would have been depressed for the rest of her life watching her husband suffer needlessly day in and day out. She now is married to an old friend from highschool and enjoys travelling.

I just dont think anyone would want to live like that, not my Grandpa, not even Terri Schiavo.

[Saw11_2000]

I asked my father, a conservative Christian, and even he says she should be pass on.