Charges May Not Come in Eluana Englaro Case, Medical Hearing on Thursday

Life News ^ | 2/10/09 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Local authorities and officials in the Udine region of Italy are unsure whether the medical staff who removed Eluana Englaro's feeding tube will face any hearings or charges in connection with her euthanasia death. Englaro died on Monday after four days of starvation and dehydration.

Her death was ordered by an Italian appeals court after her father Beppino had spent the better part of a decade fighting to take her life.

Englaro was expected to live two weeks but she succumbed to the starvation after only four days.

Prior to the removal of her feeding tube, national officials indicated they would prosecute the staff of any medical center that would remove it and cause her death.

On Tuesday, in the chaotic fallout from Englaro's death, the Udine prosecutor's office has ordered an autopsy on Englaro's body.

Public prosecutor in nearby Trieste, Beniamino Deidda, told the Italian news agency ANSA, ''For the moment we have no news from the commission of any crime."

Meanwhile, the Udine branch of the Italian Medical Association is planning a hearing on Thursday to establish whether disciplinary proceedings should go ahead for the medical team that removed her feeding tube.

Eluana's anesthetist, Amato De Monte, will appear before the panel on Thursday and the rest of the medical team will also be called upon to appear at some point.

''It's absolutely too early to express any opinion or judgement'', Udine branch president Luigi Conte told ANSA.

De Monte said he had "nothing to hide" and that he would go over the autopsy results with the medical association committee.

Health Undersecretary Eugenia Roccella has accused the medical team of removing Eluana's feeding tube three days early. The plan had been to gradually deprive her of food and water but Roccella believes all nutrition may have been stopped on Friday, leading to her premature death.

''I'm not making subtle accusations or insinuations,'' she said. ''I'm just saying that the doctors did not apply the protocol that had initially been decided upon."

That Englaro died prior to the time most observers expected has been a concern for pro-life advocates who have followed the case.

[wagglebee]

Health Undersecretary Eugenia Roccella has accused the medical team of removing Eluana's feeding tube three days early.

They were afraid that the government would change the law and stop Eluana's murder.

[wagglebee]

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[wagglebee]

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[Darwin Fish]

How long was she brain dead?

How long is enough?

One year? Just asking.

[wagglebee]

How long was she brain dead?

She wasn't.

[Darwin Fish]

OK, how long was she in a “persistent vegetative state on January 18, 1992” oops quoted from somewhere.

So let me rephrase that: How long is being in a PVS long enough?

[wagglebee]

So let me rephrase that: How long is being in a PVS long enough?

How about until she dies a NATURAL DEATH?

[wagglebee]

Perhaps you should read these:

Editorial: Haleigh Poutre, ‘Persistent Vegetative States’ and Compassion

Awakenings: Return To Life (Some Minimally Conscious People Re-Awakening Thanks To Drug Therapies)

Never Forget About Terri Schiavo - Girl Awakens from Coma.

British Researchers See Normal Brain Activity in Another "PVS" Patient

Pulling the Plug: Ethicists Debate Ramirez Case

Jesse Ramirez, Considered a “Vegetable” Like Terri Schiavo, Now on His Way to Recovery

Study Shows Forty Percent of PVS Patients Misdiagnosed, Half Recover

Permanent Vegetative State (PVS) Diagnosis Often Inaccurate More Data Shows

Woman in 'Vegetative' State Like Schiavo Wakes for Three Days, Speaks, Eats Cake - Relapses

Boy in "Hopeless" Vegetative State Awakens and Steadily Improves

Reborn (Zolpidem - "Ambien" - brings people out of Persistent Vegetative State")

Terri Schiavo Family Says Terry Wallis Case Shows Errors Diagnosing PVS

Doctor prescribed drug cocktail to stimulate man's brain (comatose firefighter)

Rush Limbaugh: Injured Firefighter Was Given Chance to Live (Great e-mail to Rush!)

[wagglebee]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

[Darwin Fish]

So let me get this straight: If you were in a car accident, or something, and the doctors told your family you were in a PVS, your will is to be kept alive forever? For as long as is possible?

In a hospital bed, you can keep a body alive for almost forever, if brain death is all that is wrong.

Mine says one month.

I would not burden my family that way, and I think it is torture for the vegetable (pVs).

[wagglebee]

Once again, we ARE NOT talking about brain death, we are talking about a disability. A person who is brain dead CANNOT breathe on their own and their heart WILL NOT beat on its own.

Eluana was perfectly healthy prior to last Friday:

Neurologist for Eluana Englaro Admits She is Healthy, Euthanasia Unnecessary (Eluana Died Today)

What other disabilities merit death by your standards?

I notice that you IGNORED the numerous threads I gave you links to about people recovering from PVS.

[Darwin Fish]

OK, let me rephrase it:

So let me get this straight: If you were in a car accident, or something, and the doctors told your family you were in a PVS, your will is to be kept alive forever? For as long as is possible?

In a hospital bed, you can keep a body alive for almost forever, if PVS is all that is wrong.

Mine says one month.

I would not burden my family that way, and I think it is torture for the vegetable (pVs).

[BykrBayb]

Where did you get the idea that brain injuries make it possible for someone to live forever?

[cycjec]

"PVS" is the invention of "quality of life" propagandists. See e.g. the Times of London September 2006 for research showing the many so-called "PVS" patients can hear and understand others. This was once the standard understanding wrt persons with impaired communications, even those under anesthesia or comatose. Read Chris Borthwick's articles (they should be at vicnet.au) on the history of this appalling "diagnosis."
More to come

[cycjec]

An excellent compilation.

[cycjec]

A footnote to my earlier post (and to wagglebee’s better
reply): Sometimes capable, otherwise reliable doctors
find it necessary to distinguish Terri’s (and perhaps now
in Italy, Eluana’s) case from those they are currently
treating. I can only guess at their motives. I did hear
this done once, at a presentation at a local library about
persons returning to consciousness. I will say the MD
present (there was a neuroscientist and others) probably
had his reasons. That doesn’t mean any of us should take
such statements seriously.

[wagglebee]

Thanks for your excellent posts on this thread!