Posted on 11/04/2005 3:24:09 AM PST by 8mmMauser
Family members are investigating what they consider to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a nursing home patient at the center of a life and death tug-of-war reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo tragedy.
Seventy-nine-year-old Jimmy Chambers died in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after the tracheotomy tubes that deliver oxygen from a ventilator to a hole in his neck became unhooked. Family members were told Chambers, a resident of the Anne Maria Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in North Augusta, S.C., apparently pulled the interlocking tubes apart.
"We're having it investigated. We're just incredulous," Chambers' daughter, Deanna Potter, told WND in reference to her siblings. "The last time I saw dad he was blowing me a kiss. I blew him one and he blew one back."
The retired dispatcher for Holland Motor Express died approximately 10 hours later. His death certificate indicates he died of "natural causes."
"Apparently, suffocation is a 'natural cause' when you're on a ventilator. We're contesting that," said Potter. "He suffocated. He didn't just pass away. He struggled and fought. And I'm just so angry."
Potter estimates it would have taken 10 to 14 minutes for her father, deprived of oxygen, to fall unconscious, and questions why the nursing home staff didn't come to his aid.
"The oxygen-saturation meter and his ventilator both would have had alarms going off. Four-thirty, five o'clock in the morning you'd think someone would hear this," she added. "That's the thing that really bothers me and makes me suspicious."
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
The living will was absolutely declared valid.... it was almost worshipped by the health care establishment. The problem in SC is the ADULT HEALTH CARE CONSENT ACT. It was the only law that anyone seemed to care about. It lists the people that have the right to make health care decisions for one who is not capable, in their order of priority. Spouse is way up there and there was no one with the guts to question her decisions because of that law. At one point, my mother asked the Long Term Care Ombudsman if she had the right to disconnect his ventilator. The Ombudsman said she did, and she declared that she would do just that WITH A SMILE OF VICTORY ON HER FACE!!! Now wouldn't you think that the ombudsman might just question what the heck was going on? Nope -- living will and the Adult Health Care Consent Act. Mind you, the ombudsman didn't even question whether or not he may be capable of making his own decisions, even though we strenuously told her that he could.
On another occasion, I sat with Kevin Ginn, the CEO of the nursing home. What documents did he have on his desk? -- living will and DNR. He didn't bother with the affidavits showing that Dad revoked the living will.
The living will document is scripture the Death Merchants in the health care establishment. Unbelievable but true.
Hi, 8mm -- good job. Thanks for the post and the ping.
Yep, I've come to think of Living Wills as Death documents and not a thing more. Death merchants don't belong in the healthcare industry, but they are there. They came while we weren't paying attention.
This sounds like negligence on the nursing home. The do-not-resusitate order doesn't mean they would not reconnect the respirator. My mother passed away recently. She was on a respirator the last 3 months of her life. Several times the respirator became disconnect while she was moving her hands. It was a simple connection. One tube slide into another tube. Alarms go off but the response was usual poor. I would reconnect it. Alarms are going off all time. Infusion pumps failing, respirators, etc. The response is alway poor.
I hadn't heard about this man's fight to live, wonder if Terri's murder gave his "wife" ideas. I hope the outcome of this case is different than Terri's.
BTTT
Post #446 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1494762/posts?page=446#446 Wampus SC's post providing contact info.
Post #30 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1506323/posts?page=30#30 My post listing news articles about Anne Maria. Their record is shocking.
DadsGirl, you and your family should take a look at this.
Most of his family did the right thing. All it took was one to do the wrong, and now he's dead.
The outcome is the same. They're both dead, and no one's been arrested. Hopefully both situations will change to include the arrests of those responsible.
This has changed our family. We want to fight the death culture and the living wills. My Dad won't die in vain. God is going to help us all do what we can to overcome evil with good.
I was speaking of Scott Taylor, who'se "wife" is trying to regain custody from his mom. Sorry for the confusion.
What is bothering me so much is the fact that when my mother moved up here from Florida, she was told by our attorney that the Living Will she had in Florida would not stand up her in South Carolina - that it was not considered a legal document.
This was in the mid ninties when she had checked out the validity of it.
I see. The only thing I can tell you is that today the living will, even tho it was written in 1990 took precedence over everything. I spoke with the mayor of North Augusta and he actually sneered his words to me that if Dad had changed his mind that he should've written it down. Dad changed his mind AFTER he was injured and couldn't write anything down. There was absolutely no respect for the documents we produced from witnesses. Finally, when they were all duly notarized, the courts accepted them and we think that is what finally began to change the tide.
It's bazaar and frightening. Here's the real kicker.. the living will took precedence EVEN THOUGH MY DAD COULD MAKE HIS OWN DECISIONS IF HE WASN'T BEING MEDICATED SO HEAVILY!!! The provisions of the living will had never been met, yet it was the document that ruled the day.
The euthanasiasts have planned it this way. Your dad's case is, I think, probably very common. Every hospital and health care facility regularly brings living wills and advance directives forms forward and puts pressure on the patient to sign them. Months before my dad died they asked him to sign them every couple of weeks. He repeatedly told them no. I am grateful to him for showing me that you can die just as well without them.
Oops! That was my fault. I'm sorry.
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. I hope and pray that Scott is more fortunate than Terri. So far he has been, but his life could have the same tragic ending.
There was also no respect for his written directive. Aside from the fact that it should have been disregarded when he revoked it, the terms of it were not being adhered to. Any removal of life support could only be done if he was unable to communicate his desires. The written will must have said that, right?
So the written will didn't rule the day either. The desire to kill him took precedence over his written directive and his spoken word.
That's okay:}
Thanks for the ping!
The state, which now has legal custody of the child, wants to terminate her life support, citing medical tests that show she will never recover.
Her stepfather has launched a legal battle to keep her alive.
But more than Haleigh's future hinges on the outcome. The stepfather, Jason Strickland, 32, is accused of taking part in a savage beating that left the girl in a vegetative state and dependent on life support.
And if she dies, he could be charged with murder.
Accused stepfather fights to keep girl alive
8mm
Dr. Cyril Wecht, the Allegheny County coroner and frequent national talk-show guest who has been linked to many high-profile cases, is coming to Greensburg to promote his new book.
Wecht is the author, co-author or editor of nearly 40 books on forensic, scientific and legal topics.
This is his fifth book for the general public, and all of them are about famous or significant homicide investigations. Four are collections of cases, and one, "Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?," is devoted entirely to the murder of the girl.
Wecht was a consultant for the Charles Manson murders, in the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, and in the O.J. Simpson trial.
"I think that (O.J.) did it, but with a second person," Wecht said.
He almost stepped in for several other famous cases. He was going to work with the prosecution in the investigation of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, who was with Sen. Ted Kennedy when she drowned in his car, but the judge denied a request to exhume her body.
The parents of Terri Schiavo wanted him present at her autopsy, but the medical examiner in Florida denied the request, Wecht said.
8mm
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