8mm
Posted on 05/04/2008 1:29:25 PM PDT by wagglebee
On April 7 an article appeared on the Opinion page, "Terri Schiavo's lifesaving legacy" by Nat Hentoff.
When Terri's story first appeared in the paper and on the news, I considered responding to the decisions that were made regarding her care and her future.
I feel that God gave us life and only he has the right to take it away and we are charged with caring for one another until that time.
In 1984 I was told to put my son in a nursing home because "he will never get better." Had we followed that advice we may have faced the same ending that Terri's family has endured.
My son, Thomas Siske, suffered a severe head injury in December of 1983. (This newspaper ran several stories on his progress because we made a difference in how victims of head injuries are treated.) Tom has a great testimony regarding his walk through the last 25 years.
Was this walk easy? No. But Tom was a willing participant. He wanted to make a difference. He wanted more schooling. The injury affected him physically. He wears a full leg brace and his left arm is paralyzed.
Yet he never gave up. Mentally he came back 200 percent. After three years, Tom had an associate's degree in accounting.
Still, employers looked at the outside and, after three months, would terminate him. Then, 15 years down the road and many jobs later, a company hired Tom and the employer never saw the disability. He saw a man who was determined to do what it takes to get the job done. Tom has been with this company eight years.
They deserve recognition. With their permission, I say congratulations Housing Products Inc. in Selinsgrove, Pa. You are an example for businesses and employers. Thank you for looking beyond the physical. "As you did it to the least of these you did it to Me." Matthew 25:40.
Caretakers, parents of disabled, those in the medical field, please don't give up or label someone. Only God knows the beginning and the end.
About two years after Terri died the medical field discovered something that could possibly have helped her. I remember thinking, "If only Terri were still alive."
Only God knows.
Amen!
Pro-Life Ping
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
You will want to read this!
Been there, heard that, ignored that.
Definitely!
Of course Terri Schiavo might never have recovered anyway, sadly many people do not, but who are we to second-guess God’s plans? What kind of people are we if we take it on ourselves to stop the possibility of a miracle?
Even if Terri’s condition never improved (and many in the same or worse condition than her have achieved significant recovery), she WAS NOT terminally ill. Terri needed food and water, just like the rest of us.
I’m sorry, I guess I’m not familiar enough with Terri’s story. I thought the doctors said her brain was wasting away but her mother still hoped she might recover. But, it doesn’t change my opinion either way. Even if a patient has an incurable fatal illness that doesn’t make it OK to kill them. Miracles do happen and we should not get in God’s way like that.
Life unfolds if it isn’t smacked from behind and then dehydrated to death.
Just to clarify: Terri was not wasting away. That would be like a disease. She didn’t have any diseases. Doctors that lied about Terri were the hired guns of the death lawyers.
I just saw your post on miracles. Miracles happen all the time but they don’t always make news, do they?
I would bet that 99% of Americans don't have a clue who Haleigh Poutre is.
>> “About two years after Terri died the medical field discovered something that could possibly have helped her.”
I don’t recall hearing anything about this discovery. My memory of the tormented family clouds much of the peripheral news.
Re: Haleigh Poutre, child protective services kept her under wraps so very long. I’m just glad enough leaked out about her so people could stand up for her. Now she’s testified and everything. She’s making progress and to think what they were planning to do w/her. Wasn’t Mitt still Governor of Massachusetts and didn’t he step in before he left office?
I believe it refers to Ambien helping with brain injuries.
I like that Nat Hentoff called it Terri’s Legacy. We’ve called her ping list Terri’s Legacy List since the state of Florida’s Medicaid program took her life.
Ambien wakes up even some genuinely comatose patients and hyperbaric chamber therapy is another treatment that helps brain injured folks. It’s similar to treatment for deep sea divers who get the bends.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.