Posted on 03/23/2005 5:09:24 PM PST by Hildy
You are in your 20's, and you're visiting somebody in the hospital. You pass by a room where somebody is all contorted up, in a vegitative state. Would you say to your husband:
a)Honey, Don't ever let me live in that condition.
b )Honey, If I ever get like that, please make sure you do everything in your power, whatever the cost to you and our family, financially and emotionally, to keep me in that vegitative state no matter how long it takes. I want you to come and sit by my side every day and go home alone every night. I want to have strangers tend to my most personal needs. If I don't respond in four or five years, make sure I'm kept alive by a feeding tube in my stomach. And, most importantly, if you're not sure if I know what's going on around me, please err on the side of caution and keep me in that bed, indefinitely.
Remember, you're 24 years old. Which one would you pick?
Neither one.
Well, go on...
I don't consider liars, hypocrites, or others who dance on the grave on Terri amongst my friends and certainly not a loved one.
You are welcome to all of the delusions that you want, however.
We'll just keep it between ourselves then.
If I was in the hospital to visit a friend, I wouldn't be wandering around assessing the status of other patients. However, if my wife asked me, I'd say that I'd want to be kept alive if she could recognize that I was still 'in there.' If I'm terminal, or if true brain death occurs (i.e., I don't react to stimuli, etc., I just lie there with only autonomic functions) then harvest my organs & throw the rest in the river, for all I care. I'd definitely tell her 1.) don't withhold food & water, and 2.) don't go shack up with some other guy until after I reach room temperature.
FYI, I'm 29, so I'm not too far off from your hypothetical age.
I love that you guys keep saying that what Michael and others testified to was "hearsay" but keep repeating as fact something like this, which was the ultimate hearsay!
Perhaps it would be more succinct to say that I gladly support the 'right to die.' But that's a freaking far cry from the 'right to kill other people.'
I would – and did, on paper – say “a)Honey, Don't ever let me live in that condition.”
I believe in a living will, but I also have a medical power of attorney – it’s more binding. While it doesn’t specifically say what should be done, it gives the person absolute control. If that person is some one you trust it is very worth while.
The problem with your question is that Terri is quite possibly not in a vegetative state. So the exercise is quite possibly invalid.
That's a fair answer. Thank you.
No it's not. You just want it to be.
It's human nature to see someone else and imagine yourself in their situation. Everyone does it. Everyone.
Hildy
When I was in my 20s I was working in a state hospital, I have also worked both in drug rehabs and nursing homes. This is what I am going to tell you because I have worked with patients with many physical and psychological problems. Life goes on. The person all twisted and bent is still human. He laughs, cries and complains just as you and I do. They look forward to everyday events just as we do. An extra cookie or some ice cream can make them happy.
I had one lady who always called me Mrs. Goebbels. Many times she would tell in her whiskey tener voice. ''Well Mrs Goebbels, I'm getting a cookie, but your going home to a whiskey sour.''
I also worked with a woman whose mother would come every weekend, dress her and place make-up on her. The patient was catatonic. In my youth I thought the mother's actions were futile. But now I understand, I could only see the patient. The mother could look past that and see her daughter as she was and the girl that she had been.
We look at these people and thank God we are not them. But God did not strike these people down as punishment.Nor do I think they are better or even more spiritual then us. They are human and deserving of respect and care.
Their type of life may not be the type you want but you should know that there cannot be ''death with dignity'' because life is never dignified. Life is a messy wonderful thing from the birth to death. I am planning to hold on as long as I can.
I suppose I could have written this a lot better, but it is from the heart and my heart is sad.
Laura Jean, you wrote it perfectly. Simple pleasures to many human beings are GOLD. I know. I've seen it too, up close and very personal. Your post has me crying with heartache. God bless you, Laura Jean. Your heart is huge, and I can see that heart so clearly.
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At 24 I didn't think I was ever going to be ill or die. Any remark I made at that age was with the most rudimentary understanding of life and death. Making a decision about this important issue at that young age is a mistake, in my opinion and no one should be held to an offhand, possibly flippant remark.
Especially if one didn't believe in it strongly enough to put it in writing.
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No kidding. Especially not to a hospice.
Have you ever been starved? Dehydrated? Stabbed? Shot? Beheaded? If you've never experienced those things, how can you be sure you wouldn't like it?
What exactly do you consider "not terribly long ago?" Feeding tubes have been around a lot longer than 15 years.
I'm so sick of hearing that lie repeated over and over. There has never been a de novo hearing. President Bush signed a law requiring a de novo hearing, but there has not been one. Ever. Please quit saying that there have been twenty de novo hearings. There has not been a single one.
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