Posted on 04/07/2005 2:59:57 AM PDT by schmelvin
For Immediate release! To: All media, and supporters of life. From: The Family of Mae Magouirk Date: April 6, 2005 Contact: Kenneth Mullinax - Mockingbird@compuhelp.net
Shiavo case revisited in Georgia
Mae Magouirk…not comatose …not vegetative …not terminal
Why is Hospice LaGrange, Ga. withholding nourishment?
(LaGrange, Georgia) Mae Magouirk is being withheld nourishment and fluids and the provisions of her Living Will are not being honored at the Hospice-LaGrange, (1510 Vernon Street, LaGrange “Troup County” Georgia, 706-845-3905) a subsidiary of the LaGrange Hospital in LaGrange Georgia. Her family is desperately seeking to save her life before she dies of malnourishment and dehydration.
Mae Magouirk IS NOT comatose and she IS NOT vegetative. She is not terminal!
Despite these facts the Hospice and Beth Gaddy, a school teacher at LaGrange’s Calloway Middle School and granddaughter of Mae Magouirk have been denying her proactive nourishment or fluids (via a nose administered feeding tube or fluids via an IV) since March 28 without prior legal consent; against the wishes of her Living Will and against the wishes of Mae Magouirk’s closest living next of kin. Mae Magouirk’s next of kin are: Mr. A. B. McLeod (Her Brother) and Mrs. Lonnie Ruth Mullinax (Her sister) both of nearby Anniston, Alabama.
Under Georgia law, unless a medical durable power of attorney is in place, your closest living next of kin are stipulated to make all medical decisions. When Mae Magouirk’s closest living next of kin lodged a complaint with Hospice LaGrange’s in-house attorney Carol Todd last Thursday, March 31, Ms. Todd checked Mae Magouirk’s case file and upon examination of both documents discovered that Beth Gaddy DID NOT have the durable medical power of attorney for Mae Magouirk and upon closer examination of Mae Magouirk’s Living Will ascertained that fluids and nourishment were ONLY TO BE WITHHELD if she was either comatose or vegetative. SHE IS IN NEITHER STATE!!!
Nor is Mae Magouirk terminally ill. Her local LaGrange, Ga. cardiologist, Dr. James Brennan and Dr. Raed Aqel, a highly acclaimed interventional cardiologist at the nationally renowned University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center have determined that Mae Magouirk’s aortic dissection is contained and not presently life threatening.
Two weeks ago, Mae Magouirk’s aorta had a dissection and she was hospitalized in the LaGrange Hospital in LaGrange, Ga. Her aortic problem was at first determined to be severe and she was admitted in the intensive care Unit. Her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, a teacher at the Calloway Middle School in LaGrange, stated that she held Mae Magouirk’s medical power of attorney and thus invoked said powers against the wishes of Mae Magouirk’s closest living next of kin by having her moved to Hospice-LaGrange. While at Hospice-LaGrange, Beth Gaddy stated that her wishes were for no nourishment for Mae Magouirk via a feeding tube or fluids via an IV. Before hospitalization Mae was lucid and never had been diagnosed with dementia as was testified to in Probate Court on Monday, April 4, by a local MD.
Page Two Mae Magouirk is being starved to death!
Upon learning from Hospice-LaGrange that Mae Magouirk was being denied nourishment and fluids and upon being told by Carol Todd (Hospice LaGrange’s in-house legal consul) that Beth Gaddy DID NOT HAVE THE PROPER LEGAL AUTHORITY to deny said nourishment AND that the denial of nourishment went against Mae Magouirk’s Living Will, Mae’s family (Mullinax/McLeod) ordered the immediate beginning of such nourishment/fluids for Mae to Hospice via Carol Todd.
First Contact with Hospice on Thursday, March 31 Carol Todd told Mrs. Lonnie Ruth Mullinax (Mae Magouirk’s sister) and Kenneth Mullinax (Mae Magouirk’s nephew) via phone on Thursday, March 31 that Georgia Law stipulated that Mrs. Mullinax and her brother A. B. McLeod (Mae Magouirk’s brother) were entitled to make any and all decisions for Mae Magouirk. Mrs. Mullinax immediately told Carol Todd to insert fluids via an IV and insert a feeding tube, via her nose. Carol Todd had the IV fluids started that evening but told the family that they would have to come to Hospice LaGrange to sign papers to have the feeding tube inserted and because of such, she believed that Mae Magouirk would no longer be a candidate for Hospice LaGrange. She was then told that Mae Magouirk’s family concurred and the ONLY REASON Mae was at Hospice was because the LaGrange Hospital had failed to exercise due diligence in closely examining the power of attorney which Beth Gaddy said she had, as well as executing the provisions of Mae’s Living Will to her preordained stipulations. Gaddy only had a financial power of attorney and did not have a medical power of attorney and Mae Magouirk’s Living Will provided that a feeding tube and fluids SHOULD ONLY BE DISSCONTINUED IF Mae was comatose or in a vegetative state. She was and is in neither state.
Attempt to rescue Mae on Friday denied by Probate Judge Donald Boyd On Friday, April 1, when A. B. McLeod (brother) and Kenneth Mullinax (nephew) showed up to meet with Carol Todd and to arrange emergency air transport of Mae Magouirk to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center (One of the top cardiovascular centers in the USA) Hospice LaGrange stalled them while Beth Gaddy went before Troup County Georgia (LaGrange, Ga.) Probate Judge Donald W. Boyd (who DOES NOT hold a law degree) who granted Beth Gaddy emergency guardianship of Mae Magouirk, giving Beth Gaddy full and absolute authority. Thus, they COULD NOT MOVE HER FOR PROACTIVE MEDICAL CARE Friday because Beth Gaddy had Hospice stop them and then she had Mae’s IV fluid tube pulled out. Beth Gaddy has repeatedly told Mr. McLeod, Mrs. Mullinax and Kenneth Mullinax that she feels they all should let Mae not eat and thus cause her to die because, and we quote Beth Gaddy: “Grandmamma is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus. She has glaucoma, and now this heart problem and who would want to live with disabilities like these?”
As stipulated under Georgia Law, a hearing for an Emergency Guardianship, must be held within 3 days of its request and Mae Magouirk’s hearing was held on this past Monday, April 4, before Troup County Georgia Probate Judge Donald Boyd who favors granting Beth Gaddy permanent guardianship and thus will seal Mae Magouirk’s fate of allowing Beth Gaddy to starve her to death against the wishes of her Living Will and in full knowledge that Mae Magouirk is not terminal, not in a coma and is not in a vegetative state and that medical care at UAB Medical Center is awaiting her. Shiavo revisited!
Mae’s present state and vital signs Mae’s blood pressure is good, averaging 140/82 with a pulse rate of 88. However, since admission to Hospice she has not been lucid but who would be since nourishment and fluids have been denied since March 28, 2005. Also adding to her confusion is that she is off her regular medicines and is on a dose of Adavan and Morphine. Without food or water her electrolytes and body chemistry is not within its proper parameters. If her condition is not given major public attention soon, she will die, not by divine cause but by the omission of assistance by man. WE MUST GET Mae moved to UAB Medical ASAP
Resources: Probate Judge Donald Boyd…Court CASE NUMBER: Estate 138-05 Attorney for saving Mae’s life: Jack Kirby, Kirby & Roberts***
We're welcome. ; )
AMEN!!!
This is RIDICULOUS!
It is like the family members just DISREGUARDED Miss Mae's LIVING WILL!!
I don't GET IT!!!
NOT AT ALL!!!
THIS TICKS ME OFF!!!
btw, that wasn't a typo. I'm not doing for you. I'm not doing it for them. I'm doing it for us. All of us. And we're welcome.
Thank you for all you're doing. I may not always say it, but it doesn't go unnoticed.
Before sterilization, antibiotics and development of modern inert materials feeding tubes would usually do more damage than good -as such feeding tubes are a recent advanced alternate method of feeding one that would otherwise starve. FYI -my belief as a Catholic is that food is not an extraordinary measure and that permitting death is far different from procuring death. As such the decision to allow one to die is far different than causing one to die. No need to respond -just presenting information.
What the Catholic Church teaches -here are some linked documents and excerpts that may answer questions:
Euthanasia's terms of reference, therefore, are to be found in the intention of the will and in the methods used. It is necessary to state firmly once more that nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly. nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action. For it is a question of the violation of the divine law, an offense against the dignity of the human person, a crime against life, and an attack on humanity. It may happen that, by reason of prolonged and barely tolerable pain, for deeply personal or other reasons, people may be led to believe that they can legitimately ask for death or obtain it for others. Although in these cases the guilt of the individual may be reduced or completely absent, nevertheless the error of judgment into which the conscience falls, perhaps in good faith, does not change the nature of this act of killing, which will always be in itself something to be rejected.
To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called "assisted suicide" means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested. In a remarkably relevant passage Saint Augustine writes that "it is never licit to kill another: even if he should wish it, indeed if he request it because, hanging between life and death, he begs for help in freeing the soul struggling against the bonds of the body and longing to be released; nor is it licit even when a sick person is no longer able to live".Even when not motivated by a selfish refusal to be burdened with the life of someone who is suffering, euthanasia must be called a false mercy, and indeed a disturbing "perversion" of mercy. True "compassion" leads to sharing another's pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear. Moreover, the act of euthanasia appears all the more perverse if it is carried out by those, like relatives, who are supposed to treat a family member with patience and love, or by those, such as doctors, who by virtue of their specific profession are supposed to care for the sick person even in the most painful terminal stages.
The choice of euthanasia becomes more serious when it takes the form of a murder committed by others on a person who has in no way requested it and who has never consented to it. The height of arbitrariness and injustice is reached when certain people, such as physicians or legislators, arrogate to themselves the power to decide who ought to live and who ought to die. Once again we find ourselves before the temptation of Eden: to become like God who "knows good and evil" (cf. Gen 3:5). God alone has the power over life and death: "It is I who bring both death and life" (Dt 32:39; cf. 2 Kg 5:7; 1 Sam 2:6). But he only exercises this power in accordance with a plan of wisdom and love. When man usurps this power, being enslaved by a foolish and selfish way of thinking, he inevitably uses it for injustice and death. Thus the life of the person who is weak is put into the hands of the one who is strong; in society the sense of justice is lost, and mutual trust, the basis of every authentic interpersonal relationship, is undermined at its root.
The condemnation of euthanasia expressed by the Encyclical Evangelium vitae since it is a "grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person" (n. 65), reflects the impact of universal ethical reasoning (it is founded on natural law) and the elementary premise of faith in God the Creator and protector of every human person.6. The approach to the gravely ill and the dying must therefore be inspired by the respect for the life and the dignity of the person. It should pursue the aim of making proportionate treatment available but without engaging in any form of "overzealous treatment" (cf. CCC, n. 2278). One should accept the patient's wishes when it is a matter of extraordinary or risky therapy which he is not morally obliged to accept. One must always provide ordinary care (including artificial nutrition and hydration), palliative treatment, especially the proper therapy for pain, in a dialogue with the patient which keeps him informed.
At the approach of death, which appears inevitable, "it is permitted in conscience to take the decision to refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life" (cf. Declaration on Euthanasia, part IV) because there is a major ethical difference between "procuring death" and "permitting death": the former attitude rejects and denies life, while the latter accepts its natural conclusion.
4. Medical doctors and health-care personnel, society and the Church have moral duties toward these persons from which they cannot exempt themselves without lessening the demands both of professional ethics and human and Christian solidarity.The sick person in a vegetative state, awaiting recovery or a natural end, still has the right to basic health care (nutrition, hydration, cleanliness, warmth, etc.), and to the prevention of complications related to his confinement to bed. He also has the right to appropriate rehabilitative care and to be monitored for clinical signs of eventual recovery.
I should like particularly to underline how the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act. Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering.
Love your tagline!
PING
NOC list (am still building it. Sorry)
Please ping Diva Betsy Ross or me if you wish to be a part of this NOC (Nuclear Option Committee) for Judicial Activism to carry this fight forward.
Thank you for all the work you did. Sounds like you tried to run the same gauntlet I did, only to run into the same obstacles.
I think we all need to get in contact with the media and our representatives. And, I think FReepers should be calling that hospice to let them know that this matter will not be quietly swept under the rug. We need to move on this and do it fast, because she's been off that feeding tube for over a week now.
The public needs to know that a non-terminal patient with no brain-damage at all, who was merely recovering from surgery, is now being starved to death. (Not that it should matter whether or not Mae Magouirk is brain-damaged. Terri had just as much right to live. But, to the average "sheeple" this will matter, IMHO. This will allow them to see how quickly we've already begun to slide down the slippery slope.)
And, I think Frist deserves to get an earfull too.
Does anyone here have a list of media contacts? We need to get the word out quickly.
And, even though I know this may upset some FReepers, I am through playing politics. If people like Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader are willing to help, then I think they should be contacted too. I refuse to play partisan politics while someone is being murdered! I will not do that!
You've put your finger on a big part of the problem... and the main reason ~I~ felt pretty reluctant to profess to really know what the situation with Terri was. I don't know. I don't have the education or qualifications to know, nor have I seen many who do. It's hard to weed out the educated opinion from the uneducated guess and speculation. I've seen precious few who seem to even have much life experience with medicine or dying.
I worked for a short time for a Hospice facility. In administration, but I still heard much conversation and records of people and situations. I will state without reservation that the nurses and aids in hospice seemed to me to be a group of particularly caring and giving people who provided their very best of themselves in caring for the dying. But at the same time, I know there is a difference between pure hospice care for the dying and curative care. There is an important legal and insurance difference. Patients accepted into hospice are not allowed therapies that are intended to be curative, and patients who are still seeking a cure to their disease are not allowed hospice coverage or care, and yet they may be refused coverage for curative therapies not directed by a doctor. There definately are patients who end up in a sortof limbo between hospitalization, nursing home or hospice, where there is debate within a patient, and within families on where they rightfully should be.
I didn't read the whole article, but how much $$$ is this "poor" niece looking at???
...how soon before people are 'put to sleep' due to being obviously crazy by holding the wrong political views?
Contact information for the Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA). I couldn't find a newspaper in LaGrange, but this is very close. I think this is the paper that's most widely read in LaGrange.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/contact_us/about/
Much more contact info here. http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/contact_us/contact_list/departments_np1/
YOu guys are good. I just read this and you guys have already checked the story out as best we can.
I bet Terri's case affected the Judge's decision. I hope you guys find out what is going on now with this woman.
Just got this in an email-- frim someone I TRUST!!
I was digging for info on the West Georgia Hospice (Phone: (706) 845-3905 Tollfree: (888) 368-3905) in Lagrange and check out the bold purple below, this is the same center that was over Woodside Hospice were Terri was held if I’m not badly mistaken. Not that this shows anything YET, but I’m still checking names of board members and affiliations; just to see if there might be something.
Plus, found this - the Facility Administrator at the hospice is Cathy Wiggins: Director of Hospice – who is also,,,
Cathy Wiggings, West Georgia Hospice, LeGrange – Pres of Board of Directors of
Georgia Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (GHPCO)
GHPCO is a committed member and supporter of the Georgia Collaborative to Improve End of Life Care, a partnership of providers, academics, business leaders and community members that has worked together for the past 5 years to improve end of life care in Georgia. The accomplishments of the Collaborative include community education through Georgia Health Decisions' CRITICAL Conditions program; support of physician, nurse and allied health provider end of life education and training; outreach to community organizations; research on current practices and the Emmy award-winning documentary Final Choices: Changing a Culture. (a change to the culture of death)
GEORGIA Collaborative to Improve End-of-Life Care Holds Planning Meeting
In an effort to focus its activities, be more inclusive of organizations around the state, and plan for its future, the Collaborative met January 21, 2004 at the Loudermilk Center for the Regional Community in Atlanta Georgia to create a plan for the next five years. The meeting was made possible through a Rallying Points Certificate and was facilitated by staff from the Hospice for the Florida Sun Coast - the south's Rallying Points Regional Resource Center. Representatives from more then 30 organizations participated, and committees were formed around several key areas, including governance and sustainability. It is hoped that the participation of new organizations and individuals will reinvigorate the Collaborative's efforts.
Final Choices: Changing a Culture Wins Emmy Award!
Final Choices: Changing a Culture won an Emmy for Best Medical Program at the 2001 Southern Regional Emmy Awards. The award was presented to Carol Fisk, Gerald Bryant, and Leigh Green. Final Choices was developed in September 2000 with the GEORGIA Collaborative to Improve End-of-Life Care to run on Georgia Public Television (GPTV) as a companion piece to On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying and was the winner of a National Headliner Award in May 2001 and a Georgia Association of Broadcasters Award in June 2001.
Our Beginnings
In late 1997, and with funding from the Georgia Coalition for Health, the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, and the Georgia Department of Medical Assistance, we initiated active program involvement in issues related to end of life care. That initial effort has now organizationally evolved into the Georgia Collaborative to Improve End of Life Care and encompasses multiple, statewide programs including feasibility studies, quality interventions programs, and public and private sector policy redesign. (I just bet they do want to change policies)
Our Partners
· Georgia Psychological Association
· Georgia Hospice Organization
· Emory University School of Medicine
· Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of GA
· Medical College of Georgia
· Mercer University School of Medicine
· Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia
· Morehouse School of Medicine
· United Healthcare of Georgia
· Medical Association of Georgia
· Georgia State Medical Association
· Georgia Hospital Association
· Georgia Department of Community Health
· Georgia Nursing Home Association
· Georgia Medical Care Foundation
· Georgia Health Decisions
· Health Care Ethics Consortium of Georgia
· Georgia Health Policy Center
Thank you for the update. I hope we hear from the family soon.
WOW! You are Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Why do you call yourself "eeevil" conservative? You are obviously the ooposite of "evil"
Thank you for everything you have done for this woman. Have to keep reading the thread now. Must contact Brother and sister and tell them that the biggest mistake made in Terri Schindlers legal case is that nobody requested that Terri have her own attorney. Must tell brother and sister to ask the judge for an attorney for the woman.
Gonna quit now and keep reading the thread.
Please put me on your ping list.
eeevil Conservative is not only not evil, she's downright bubbly! I never met a happier, more outgoing person in my life!
What is NOC?
I AGREE. Leave Politics out of it. Euthanasia is a HUMAN RIGHTS issue that superceeds, religious and political boundries. Get everybody, Jessy Jackson I though was the best speaker for Terri, even though he arrived on the sceen to late.
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