What was done to your grandmother was cruel...to do CPR on a woman of 90, against her wishes is absolutely hideous....bless her heart, she is with God, so sorry that you and your family had to endure such assault...
I had been caring for both my parents, in their home, in California...I lived with my husband and younger son in Washington State...thank goodness my husband is a saint, who told me, when dad was diagnosed with cancer, to go and care for them and be with them...he, my husband, would take care of our younger son, take care of the house, ,and still work...he would do his job, and my job, for as long as it was necessary...
Dad died after a few months...I went back and forth from my home in Washington to California to care for mom with Alzheimers...after two years of doing that, it was enough...I brought mom up to Washington State with us...
And I took her to have her examined by the doctors up here..now they told us nothing different than the doctors in California...after her exam, the doc called me and wanted me to come in for a chat...and so I did...
He wanted to know what I wished for mom, what moms wishes were...he said he would honor our wishes, no matter what they were, even if those wishes were contrary to his medical judgement..I told him, mom wished for nothing done for her...the doc agreed...he told me that mom was in such bad shape, that her death could occur the next day, or a year from then, there was just no way of knowing...
And so I took mom home, and cared for her...she died almost 2 yrs later...thankfully I had the financial means to hire an agency to have help for a few hours a week, so that I could get some rest...when mom peacefully died, on a Sunday afternoon, I called the agency, who then sent out a nurse to verify my findings...then the agency called the doctor...at was at this point, that I found out, that after the doctor visit two years earlier, my doc had called the coroner, to inform him that mom would be dying at home, and she was under his care, receiving 2X a week reports from the visiting nurse...so when mom died, all the doc had to do was call the coroner, who looked up her name in their computer files, and no coroners wagon or ambulance showed up at my house...which is what the doctor had intended, that my house not be turned into a circus...bless that doc...
As a funny side note, mom had decided that when she died, she wanted to donate her body to science...and the University of Washington had agreed to take her...they came down from Seattle to Olympia, where we lived, and two very young(at least to me), and respectful gentlemen, took her and gently placed her in their van...and off mom went...
We laughed about it later, that mom always wanted to go to college but never got the chance...now, in death, she was going to college...but she thought, having medical research done on her body, might help medical science along...
This is what "Slidge" contributed and it''s opened a lot of eyes. It is exactly what Peach referred to.....
"Here is the 38-page findings made by the GAL (the Guardian ad Litem appointed by Jeb Bush in 2003)
< http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/WolfsonReport.pdf >
It might be a bit more illuminating than a talk radio pundit, who obviously has an agenda and an axe to grind. The GAL is a neutral party, by law.
A key paragraph is, "After the malpractice case judgment, evidence of disaffection between the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo openly emerged for the first time. The Schindlers petitioned the court to remove Michael as Guardian. They made allegations that he was not caring for Theresa, and that his behavior was disruptive to Theresas treatment and condition. Proceedings concluded that there was no basis for the removal of Michael as Guardian Further, it was determined that he had been very aggressive and attentive in his care of Theresa. His demanding concern for her well being and meticulous care by the nursing home earned him the characterization by the administrator as a nursing home administrators nightmare. It is notable that through more than thirteen years after Theresas collapse, she has never had a bedsore."
The next year, he signed a DNR order, "based upon discussions and consultation with Theresas doctor, and was predicated on his reasoned belief that there was no longer any hope for Theresas recovery. It had taken Michael more than three years to accommodate this reality and he was beginning to accept the idea of allowing Theresa to die naturally rather than remain in the non-cognitive, vegetative state. It took Michael a long time to consider the prospect of getting on with his life something he was actively encouraged to do by the Schindlers, long before enmity tore them apart. He was even encouraged by the Schindlers to date, and introduced his in-law family to women he was dating. But this was just prior to the malpractice case ending."
And as for being a leach, well, I'm sure they've failed to mention this on WBAL: "In response to Mr. Pearses report, Michael Schiavo filed a Suggestion of Bias against Mr. Pearse. This document notes that Mr. Pearse failed to mention in his report that Michael Schiavo had earlier, formally offered to divest himself entirely of his financial interest in the guardianship estate."
Read the whole thing. It's probably the only fair accounting of the entire incident, written by someone who legally had to remain unbiased.
In a very real way, your mother is still alive. Her body helped doctors to save other lives.
Your mother was someone very special!