3/20/05 - Sam Swank, Re. Terri Schiavo Case
Tom,
I don't mean to chum the waters, but I can't sit on this any
longer.
This Terri Schiavo case has really got me steamed. I just listened
to the recording of her "responding" (groaning) to her father after her feeding tube was removed. It was posted on a popular
national website along with a photo of a grim-faced and concerned looking President Bush. He just signed emergency legislation
rushed through Congress, called "the Palm Sunday Compromise", to allow Schiavo's parents to petition a judge to reinsert her
feeding tube and restore her to the vegetative state she enjoyed before it was removed. Everyone has heard all this, of course,
because it has been receiving non-stop coverage on TV, radio, and print media.
The manner in which this poor woman's
plight is being prostituted for the Bush administrations' so-called "pro-life" agenda is nothing short of shameless and disgusting.
Does
anyone remember the Iraq war, which this story, along with the use of steroids by professional baseball
players has so conveniently overshadowed? Does anyone remember how stringently opposed our government was to the mere reading
of the names of dead servicemen on a late night news program? Or showing their faces or even photos of anonymous flag-draped
coffins? There is, of course, nary a mention of the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians ( including many
women and children) that have been killed at the whim of our concerned "pro life" president. This makes his willingness to
fall on the sword (and even leave his ranch!) for one essentially brain dead woman ring somewhat hollow, at least to me.
The
best hope for Teri Schiavo would have been embryonic stem cell research. But once again, the "sanctity of life" issue wins
out - Which is to say a clump of embryonic cells frozen in a lab carry more weight (politically, anyway) than an actual viable
human life - Unless of course that human life is sitting on death row, regardless if he's a minor or mentally ill. Then these
same people who would baptize a petri dish ardently call for that person's death.
So anyway, thanks for letting me
vent. The national news comes on shortly and the Schiavo story will lead for most of it, replete with senatorial photo ops
and people holding signs and burning candles.
Say, does anyone know if Terri Schiavo had health insurance? Ahhh, skip
it!
...
Sam,
A reasonably objective review of the decade-and-a-half history
of this controversial case, from 2/25/1990 up through 3/19/2005 can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo
I recall my own mother's death-bed struggle to rid herself of
the nasal canula that was providing oxygen. She knew it was her time and did not want it artificially extended.
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Ginnie Bivona,
Re. Terri Schiavo Debacle
To Sam: Well said!
Thanks for expressing what so many of us are thinking and saying. The whole thing is beyond disgusting...
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3/23/05 Terri Schiavo
Our national drama continues with news that the federal appeals
court force-fed the Terri Schiavo case by Bush & Co. has said No to the woman's parents, and given the US Supreme
Court a second chance to refuse to hear it.
In the movies, the Terri Schiavo character (played by Gwyneth
Paltrow) can always blink once for Yes and twice for No. Her movie doctor doesn't ask, "Do you want to
die of starvation over the next few weeks? Or would you prefer a lethal injection?" In the movie given
that premise, "Blink Twice Forever," Governor Arnold must spring Doctor Kevorkian (played by Jack Nicholson) to happily
end the cruel and unusual punishment life has turned out to be for our heroine - because in the movies everyone's life
is of ultimate importance. I think President Bush knows his audience.
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3/24/2005 - Breaking News: The Supreme Court has refused to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, rejecting
a desperate appeal by her parents to keep their severely brain-damaged daughter alive.
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3/29/05
Don Hockaday, Re.
Terri Schiavo
Terri's care
is now paid through indigent funds and Medicaid -- all her money has been spent by her husband on legal fees to have her feeding
tube withheld and all her parents' money have been spent on legal
fees to keep it in. Had she made her wishes clear in a Living Will, the decision would probably
be based entirely on medical opinion.
…
Dear Don:
When we registered
my mother in Dallas' Baylor Hospital
for the last time, we simply told the staff that she had a living will, but that we didn't know where it was (in the dozens
of boxes of documents and memorabilia my parents left behind, all in storage at that point). They took our word
for it.
Come to think on it, when
we took Dad into Valley Baptist, the same situation pertained; Mom said he had a living will, but she hadn't brought
it. The staff took her word for it.
Terri's fate really
is awful. And I don't know that a living will prohibiting being kept alive by "heroic measures" would have been
easy to apply in this case. Allowing someone to die of starvation scarcely seems humane.
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Rebecca Thompson,
Re. Terri Schiavo’s Loving Husband, &c.
Tom said, "Allowing someone
to die of starvation scarcely seems humane."
Agreed. I've been debating
whether it is time to put my dog to sleep. I keep thinking if someone were to choose to stop feeding an
animal and stop giving it water in order to kill it, they would probably be arrested and jailed. The law doesn't
abide cruelty to animals.
As for Terri Schiavo’s
brain being "liquefied down to the brain stem." That is not accurate. PVS can not be definitively diagnosed without an
MRI, and there were no more MRI(s) following the early 90's when her husband, who says that he "loves her," received the
million dollar settlement. Also, at that time, Mr. Schiavo no longer pursued physical therapy for his wife, whom he says,
"he loves," and had her committed to a nursing home. Mr. Schiavo "just went on with his life" as his attorney
stated on a TV interview. (Ka-ching Ka-ching.) Terri Schiavo is or was a practicing Catholic. Her religious
preference was not respected by her husband, who, by the way, says "he loves her." The Catholic Church is clearly
in opposition to the ending of life by withholding food and water. I have a friend who is in contact
with one of Terri's lawyers. He says Mr. Schiavo is also due $400K when, Terri, his wife, whom he says "he loves,"
dies. I haven't heard that on the news. I don't know if it's true, but who
cares? Surely, Mrs. Schiavo was loved by her husband. What more could
any woman want?
What we watched was simply
the legal murder of Terri Schiavo, by her husband, who says, "he loves her." And he plans to (legally, by the way) have
her cremated. We never will know about that brain stem for sure, but that doesn't matter either.
May Terri Schiavo rest
in Peace and may God have mercy... on us all.
Rebecca
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Dateline History: 3/31/1976
- Coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan was taken off her respirator.
In 1975, Quinlan collapsed
at a party, apparently after consuming alcohol and tranquilizers. She suffered irreversible brain damage after experiencing
an extended period of respiratory failure.
Her parents wished to have her taken off the respirator that was sustaining
her, but hospital officials refused. The Quinlans took their case to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which sided with the parents
in its decision in 1976. After Quinlan was taken off the respirator, she continued to breathe on her own and was fed by artificial
nutrition for nine more years, living in a coma until her death from pneumonia in 1985.
3/31/2005 - I have completely lost track of how many times the US Supreme Court has refused to hear the Schiavo case. Is it 3 now, or still only 2? And how many times has the 11th. Circuit Court
of appeals refused Terri's family's plea? Twice now, or is it still once? And which Bush is doing what on their
behalf? I know that on TV last night her dad said that for someone who's gone without food for a couple of weeks she
is looking really perky and displaying admirable courage.
Oh.
I see in the news that she’s died.
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