NewsMax Petition to "save" Terri Schiavo

[PittLib]

A physician friend of mine brought this to my attention:



Dear NewsMax Reader:

Please find below an important message regarding Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman in danger of being starved to death. Please take action right away to help urge Congress to pass legislation to save her -- a recent court decision only gives her until March 18th before her feeding tube is pulled. Time is short.

Thank you.

NewsMax.com

http://view.exacttarget.com/?ffcd16-feb81c727d6d0378-fe33117076640379751273

I've been reading all of the Terri threads, and though I've been aware of this case for years, it has recently become a personal issue for me. My family has been dealing with a similar issue. Three weeks ago, my stepfather's father (Ed) was found unconscious due to a seriously compromised heart and we had to begin the emotionally grueling task of deciding how to address his care. Luckily, we were in agreement for the most part (to let nature take it's course).
My heart breaks for my stepfather, as the burden of the decision fell on his shoulders. Of his six siblings, he is also the primary caregiver to his mother who has Alzheimer's (though she is in a home) and for his son who became a quadriplegic after a motorcycle accident this past summer (he is also in a home, as he requires a vent). My stepfather spends most of his free time caring for them ... taking his mother out weekly and driving almost 4 hours to spend the day with his son.

I'm sure there is a point in all of this ... so I'll try to get to it. Upon hearing of a situation involving right to life, I tend to side with the patient in terms of what is best - that their wishes must be respected at all costs. I learned in this experience, however, that consideration must be given to the person forced to make the decision as they have to live with the consequences. After Ed suffered two cardiac arrests (he was unresponsive), my stepdad had the option to pull life support immediately knowing that Ed would not want to live incapacitated. It was a cruel gamble: to let him die when he could be saved, or to risk his ire if he were to survive but be dependent on care. We opted for a 24 hour waiting period, in which Ed thankfully improved enough to make the decision himself, which we completely supported. He was put on "comfort care" and passed away peacefully Sunday night.



In relating this to the Schiavo case, I feel that concern for Terri has been superseded by her parents and her husband's needs. If her husband is truly championing her wishes, then I say "bravo". As I do not know him or his motives, I can't say for sure. As far as her parents are concerned, I do not understand how such supposedly devout and faithful people could keep their daughter tethered to this world if they truly believe in all that their religion teaches. I think it is selfish and cruel. Even if starvation point was as horrible as "right to lifers" are claiming, it pales in comparison to living out life in a vegetative state ... a matter of days versus years and years. I could not imagine that anyone would willingly endure that. It makes me sad to think that Terri is being lost in all of this - her will is bogged down in what amounts to petty trivialities and the twisting of dogma. People need to look past the immediate and do what is best for her, not her parents. While I brought up the point that the decision makers should give their emotional stake some weight ... it is absolutely abusive that they are putting their guilt or will or whatever it may be ahead of Terri. I only wish that people would see this situation through her eyes, and stop using her as a pawn in some sick legal and/or religious power struggle.

[Robbien]

1. Newsmax is just another Talon News/GOPUsa

A payola site if there ever was one.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Given that Michael Schiavo has already turned down...

...several offers of money from 700,000 to 10 million dollars, it would seem to me if the people who are trying to smear him as some kind of greedy self-serving monster aren't getting the hint that if you can't bribe a man to change his mind, then perhaps you are wrong to cast aspersions on his motives.

[Modem Butterfly]

3. They're about fifteen years too late

This whole situation would be funny if it weren't so tragic and scary. The woman they knew is GONE, she died fifteen years ago. Her body just hasn't caught on yet. Let her GO!

[PittLib]

4. I agree ...

I believe it was your post that brought me to this. I was amazed that people are arguing the parents' side. After reading it, I called my mother to implicitly express my wishes in such a situation. Two days later we were facing this decision. While we are not particularly religious, we obviously have faith that there is something better than maintaining a life with very little quality.

[Modem Butterfly]

6. Get it in writing

My grandmother had Alzheimer's. When I was young, I had to take care of her while my mom worked. She attempted suicide several times, and often asked both my mother and me to help her end it. She did NOT want to live that way, we were both sure. My mother made me promise that I wouldn't let her linger on machines or any kind of life support, and I asked the same from her. When I was sixteen, the doctor told us that Grandma had lost the ability to swallow and that she could be allowed to slip away or we could put her on a feeding tube, and eventually a respirator. He asked us what she would have wanted and my mother looked at my dad, looked at me, and said, "I'm not sure, Modem, what do you think?"

I love my mother. She's a great person and a good woman, but she utterly failed both my grandmother and me that day. I know that, given the same set of circumstances, she would probably opt to keep me in that condition indefinitely. I have a living will, and my partner and my father, in that order.

[Selteri]

8. Don't forget, they're rushing through another law

to force this poor vegetable to continue to be forced to be kept alive.

Note - the doctors have already had to make the feeding tube line up with the dumping valve of the stomach because of problems with her trying to vomit back up the goop they pour down her throat otherwise.

This is why I have a living will. I would hate for my body to be trapped and held up like a meat puppet to give people power over others, even if I were dead and merely my spirit were aware for not being allowed to rest.

YES, we need to add a way to make euthenasia in these cases to be more gentle, like a Kevorkian allowance for people who are legally brain dead or such.

But they'll never allow that nder reoublican administrations.

[HockeyMom]

10. Health Proxy/Power of Attorney

Living Will not enough. Get those other two. They can contest the Living Will, but Power of Attorney stops them cold.

[bluedog]

5. About time the Right Nuts

shut up and stay out of Florida's politics.............this has turned into another circus...........no one but the voters of Fl should be writing to our Reps.....they are showing their true colors when they decide to take this case on again..........

[Fenris]

7. Oh for fuck's sake.

[grumpy old fart]

9. At least the wingnuts are consistent.....life is for the nonliving,

and let the living be damned. Weird.

[noonwitch]

11. I've got to disagree with you all, although I don't demonize the husband

I don't think the parties on either side of this issue are bad people or have some evil intent. The husband wants her to have peace and the parents are devout catholics who don't want their daughter to starve to death.

I don't think that they should starve her to death. I don't think she's a vegetable, she is brain damaged. I have a friend who had a son in this state for years, too. He recently died in an ambulance crash (he was being transported to the doctor or something). Prior to his death, he had made some progress after almost two decades of no progress, mostly because of new technology. Basically, he was more mobile and could be brought places like his mother's wedding, Tiger games, a day in the park, etc. I don't know what his feelings were about his quality of life, but everyone in his life did their best to maintain as much of it as possible. He could swallow and digest food, but couldn't feed himself.

A lot of the reason that those who support Terri's husband are so adament is that they fear being in that condition themselves. Who doesn't? People don't want to be born blind or deaf, nor do they want to get polio or other diseases that can incapacitate them.

I do share a fear with the freepers on this. I fear that there is a slippery slope from removing Terri's feeding tube to actively euthanizing brain damaged and mentally handicapped individuals. There are many developmentally disabled people who can't feed themselves. Should we starve them, too? A lot of them don't have much more brain function than Terri does.

[Dookus]

12. She has no cerebral cortex

is that really just a disability? It's like calling Marie Antoinette "disabled" after her meeting with the guillotine.

[Modem Butterfly]

13. Well-put, Dookus

Here's a CAT scan of her brain.



The black stuff in the middle is what has replaced the "Terri" part of her brain. Here's a normal CAT scan: