Terri's Day challenges the nation to unify

Renew America ^ | March 13, 2006 | Kevin Fobbs

[KevinNuPac]

Terri's Day challenges the nation to unify

Kevin Fobbs

March 13, 2006

Terri's Day — A Celebration of the Culture of Life honoring Terri Schiavo with a day of remembrance challenges each and every one of us to stop for a moment and ask ourselves a question, do we respect ourselves, our families, our lives?

And if we are faced with the question of the possible certainty of death, does anyone truly know, or even have the faintest clue about, our wishes? That is the greatest good, the greatest legacy that Terri Schiavo's death and an annual "Terri's Day" can bring to our lives and to the celebration of the Culture of Life.

On March 18th, we as a nation will begin to grieve again, to reach into our hearts and feel with our collective national spirit what the Schindler family felt last year at this time as each moment since Terri was disconnected from the feeding lifeline, the moments crept by like hours and hours like days.

All of us have felt in some way that pain — even if it were only in the privacy of our loved one's home, hospital room, hospice or perhaps talking with an attorney and doctor attempting to make sense out of some fleeting comments made in a conversation perhaps voiced ten, twelve or even two decades earlier — not necessarily an expression of her true feeling about an end-of-life decision but merely an incidental musing in a long-forgotten side conversation.

For at least one million Americans, and quite possibly a whole lot more, this is an opportunity to voice an opinion through a pledge supporting a resolution in each state called "Terri's Day — A Celebration of the Culture of Life." Each and every person who cares that your family, your spouse, your mother, your father, your sister or brother understands with clarity what you wish the end of life for you to be, with dignity and certainty should sign the online pledge at www.kevinfobbs.com and take the additional step to sign a Living Will — or as they call it at www.terrisfight.org, the Will to Live.

Some have asked why Americans should care about an annual Terri's Day. It is quite simple, we tend to keep turning the page on the Culture of Life because we feel it does not affect us. We tend to believe that seemingly universal belief that those who are handicapped, those who are not quite living a "perfect" life or by contemporary notion "ideal" then those lives are possibly disposable, marginal, not relevant, and part of the Culture of Death which embraces a "disposable society."

But life and our values for the Culture of Life are not disposable. Think about the young people today who would rather hurt themselves or even take their own lives rather than feel "imperfect" or the elderly person whose family is told by an insensitive health care professional while the stricken person struggles to cling to life, "she would be better off in another place," — just let her die, disconnect her from life, because her quality of life is not up to "contemporary standards. "

Why does celebrating the Culture of Life in Michigan become so essential for all of us in America? It is important for several reasons. Dr. Jack Kervorkian, also known as "Doctor Death" helped launch first in Michigan and then the nation the notion of the death culture. Secondly, and equally as important, at the May 12 event — just two days before Mother's Day — there will also be a "Mary's Moms" celebration of those women and mothers who have met challenges in standing up for some aspect of the Culture of Life.

This past weekend I sat at my cousin's funeral — or going home celebration, which more accurately describes it — thinking about the dearly departed and how she packed so much caring for others into her life even as she struggled with illness and advancing age. She was a wonderful woman who had lived through many, many challenges in her life, but in her 73 years she had met these challenges with dignity and had conveyed to her family when would be the right time to allow her to pass away.

Her daughter, who is a minister, spoke to the packed church about the times when, with all of her pain and then a stroke, the doctors had informed them that perhaps it was better to let her go. Yet that was three years ago that that occurred, and if the family had listened to the doctors and refused to see how she fought back and not only recovered but went back to volunteering at the church to feed and clothe the homeless. The medical professionals didn't care about an elderly lady who was on dialysis, but the family did and they knew better. Patricia lived three more years — years her extensive extended family considered "a gift from God."

So isn't part of the lesson of Terri's legacy and Terri's Day for families and loved ones to have a meaningful conversation with their family and to have the written document on hand as well that conveys the wishes clearly and concisely? You betcha.

As I sat in the church I thought of all of the families across the nation and the world who were sitting at their loved one's bedsides — or even standing outside of a hospital emergency room — overwhelmed with emotion, torn by what may be days of conflicting anguished decisions. I thought again of how out of death we may have the certainty of life. Terri's death reminded the nation that yes a state can and will starve you to death, and your family may be rendered helpless as you watch your loved one's precious life forces drain slowly away.

By signing the online pledge at www.kevinfobbs.com or going to www.terrisfight.org, you can learn about how to encourage your state legislature to establish March 31st as an official Terri's Day. Hold a Culture of Life Home Party or meet-and-greet to sign pledges, share ideas and support The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation as well as Culture of Life activities and events in your community or around the nation. Between now and March 31st you can make a dramatic difference for yourself, your family and for the nation. Stand up for the Culture of Life because one person, one life, one family can and does make a difference in America. Make the difference and be the difference today. America...The countdown for the Culture of Life has begun.

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Kevin Fobbs is President of National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac), a non-partisan civic and citizen-action organization that focuses on taking the politics out of policy to secure urban America's future one neighborhood, one city, and one person at a time. View NuPac on the web at www.nupac.info. Kevin Fobbs is a regular contributing columnist for the Detroit News. He is also the daily host of The Kevin Fobbs Show on News Talk WDTK - 1400 AM in Detroit. Listen to The Kevin Fobbs Show online at www.wdtkam.com daily 2-3 p.m., and call in toll-free nationwide to make your opinion count at 800-923-WDTK(9385) © Copyright 2006 by Kevin Fobbs http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/fobbs/060313

[8mmMauser]

Jumbo bioethicker siting! Thanks, Wampus SC. Pianking and ebolising for fun and profit.

Attack of the Kudzu People: Man as an Invasive Species

8mm

[T'wit]

>> I for one am grateful for what you did, post #2,219.

I'll second that.

You d' big Wampus on campus, SC.

[8mmMauser]

An Andrea Clarke thread has started. It is based on the WND story out today.

Hospital to 'kill' sick woman? Ethics committee votes to pull the plug against family's wishes

8mm

(this includes Ohioan from Florida's ping list, update to 4/17.)

[djreece]

While I am grateful to everyone who is bringing the info about Andrea Clarke to light, I am a bit puzzled by the delay in bringing action info to FR. Anytime people are asked to click through to another site to find information, you are going to lose a lot of them.

According to the Houston Daily article about how insurance companies work, Andrea's insurance is Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Here is their website:http://www.blueshield.com/
I would suggest that FReepers, particularly any who carry their insurance, request a clear and strong statement from them regarding their willingness to pay for Andrea's continued care and let them know that their response will determine your decision on whether to continue to use them for insurance.

[Pepper777]

Here's another thread about Andrea.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1017296&mesg_id=1017296

[djreece]

Thank you for bringing this info to this thread:

"Get on the phone. Again, the info: Andrea Clarke is at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, TX. St. Luke’s is located at: 6720 Bertner Avenue, Houston, TX. Their phone number is: 832-355-1000."

For one thing, we should tell them to give Andrea more time.

Here's the general e-mail of St. Luke's hospital: generalinformation@sleh.com

[supercat]

If we go there, it should only be to offer support and help, not to hash it out with them over PVS and stuff related to Terri. At THIS POINT it would be counterproductive, and might repel them.

I think you may have misunderstood my intentions. If I were to do anything, it would be with the intention of having Andrea's supporters form focused arguments as to why she should not be denied care. The idea would not be to undermine their efforts, but to enhance them.

[Sun]

"Here's another thread about Andrea.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1017296&mesg_id=1017296"

Thank you for the updated link, Pepper.

[Sun]

The link in my post doesn't work. Please see Pepper's post #2305

[Lesforlife]

According to Vickie Nee, of the Scott Thomas fight for life,
Avalon Place in San Antonio has offered to take other patients
that St. Luke's tried to kill (specifically a Greek man who has
subsequently died but in God's timing.)

I passed the name on to Andrea's sister, Lanore.

She is optimistic that things may have turned a corner
because of the media attention.

I pray she is right, but told her to get Andrea out of St. Lukes.

Once a facility has its mind made up, it likely won't change
horses.

I don't get the impression Lanore has a grasp of how ruthless a game
this can be.

Prayers needed!!

I offered to come for this weekend if another protest is appropriate.
Any Texas Freepers free??

[Sun]

Do you know what religion St. Lukes' hospital is?

[Lesforlife]

Episcopal.

I raised that with the Public Relations mouth piece who claims
the family hasn't given permission for her to make a statement.

It is disturbing that supposedly faith based hospitals have
ethics committees coming to the same bankrupt decisions
as secular corporate medical facilities.

[Sun]

Another case of the "enemy within."

How sad.

[Sun]

I copied this post from the DU link:

"59. I was going to move my parents to TX, but now I'm not.
This is terrifying. I was planning on moving back to Austin soon and I was going to suggest that my parents move near me. This made me change my mind. This is a nightmare.

I am so sorry for your family. My best regards."

It sounds like my thoughts on retiring in Florida some day. Now Texas is another warm state to cross off my list.

[T'wit]

>> It sounds like my thoughts on retiring in Florida some day.

I'm scared to cross the Florida state line, much less to retire there. The politicians and lawyers are creating an industry to bump off seniors and ransack their estates. When the state's huge retirement community finds out what's going on, they had better hit the road running.

Actually, this is an opportunity for any warm state(s), including Texas, to attract retirees (and their bank accounts) away from Florida. Just give them a fair shake.

[Sun]

I know what you mean - like Ted Stith who went down to Florida for a visit, and happened to get a stroke during that time, so was dehydrated and starved to death.

[Wampus SC]

"Andrea Clarke's chances are obviously not good, but that is no reason to give up! She is sure to die without the medical care that St. Lukes is taking away from her. It used to be, when a patient was teetering on the edge, that a hospital would pull out all the stops to save her. Now it says, "Sorry, that's too expensive."

This thread has been full of surprising happenstances. A few days ago we were talking about whether its easier to get bioethicked with socialized medicine or with a privatized system driven by insurance companies. Now we have an example of the latter that isn't hypothetical. And it's still -- different paths, same end result.

The death culture crowd sure didn't waste any time abandoning all arguments except the economic ones. They're definitely following the 12 step program for totalitarianism.

• "----- 1. Offing the useless eaters. Justification initially appeals to compassion. After it becomes more accepted, economic arguments predominate. Eventually it's all economic."

The only thing surprising me is how fast they're following the program.

[Wampus SC]

"A Bush law in Texas, eh? So Bush and and the decidedly red state of Texas are discovered in bed with the right-to-die movement, eh? There's the irony of the year!"

He supported it and signed it. So much for being pro-life, huh?

BTW, over on FR's Andrea thread, we've just gotten the Word on High from Scott McClellan that this was okay -- because Dubya supported the law that allows killing after 10 days instead of the law that allows killing after 3 days! ROFLMAO!!! What a ruse! Falsely framing the debate as if when to kill is the issue, rather than the issue being, "should we allow this kind of killing at all?"

[Wampus SC]

It might have been, or might not have been. We'll probably never know, and probably never need to. Things are getting done. Reagan was right.

[Wampus SC]

"While I am grateful to everyone who is bringing the info about Andrea Clarke to light, I am a bit puzzled by the delay in bringing action info to FR. Anytime people are asked to click through to another site to find information, you are going to lose a lot of them."

I doubt there are many, if any, who either don't know how to click on a link, or just won't click on links. Some links are in the form they're in due to requirements we work within. Freepmail me if you'd like to discuss it.