Posted on 04/07/2005 2:59:57 AM PDT by schmelvin
We are currently enjoying VeggieTales for bedtime movie. Usually we are long gone to bed, but Nana is here from North Carolina and the whole routine is SHOT!!
Ken was calm, earnest, polite, factual, and rational.
He did not interrupt anyone or appear angry or belligerent at all. He appeared a bit upset at the pain this situation was causing his mother and the harm it was doing to her health, but he did not lose control of his emotions. You could sense that he was dire and worried but was forcing himself to remain calm.
That's the way I saw it.
If Mae is awake and lucid, I really wonder what Gaddy might be telling her (if Gaddy's even there, UAB is like 3 hours away from where Gaddy lives and works, right?).
The "poor nephew" is the only person who heard the granddaughter Gaddy say that "Grandma wants to die, she wants to go home to Jesus." Hannity questioned him as if he didn't believe him.
I don't believe him.
Can you just picture miss Mae in her kitchen baking cookies and dispensing hugs? She looks like exactly who I would picture in my
imagination.
Did you believe michael schiavo?
Mae's estate is already going to her daughter and then to beth and her brother. That is already established.
Love seems to be the motive here. Not money. Except for beth.
Mae has a daughter? I missed this.
No, daughter in law.
Yes. The heart condition. She is only out of immediate danger say her doctors, new and old. Since Mae is not a candidate for surgery, that renders her aorta dissection as inoperable and probably fatal. I know the sister is being treated by the same doc and Mullinax claims that Dr. Aqel can treat the condition without surgery. Yet surgery seems planned for the sister if she hits a level 6 distress level which is critical. So surgery is a life saving procedure that Mae cannot benefit from.
Mae is 7 years older than her sister and already suffering advanced effects of the hereditary condition. In my book she's terminal. Not saying that I would deny her life support based solely on her heart condition.
Incidentally, it doesn't seem that "terminal" is a medical term. The only definition I find for "Terminal illness" is "When you get sick at the airport," from the Redneck Medical Guide.
Miss Mae is 'everybody's' mother. What almost happened to her can happen to every one of us. There I go again, speaking as if I lived in the US, which I don't, I am an Australian. It just can't happen here. From personal experience both as the widow of a medical practitioner and the admittance of aged relatives to a nursing home where the patients are cared for right until their last moments, all I can offer is the suggestion that the US must change its entire system of medical care. Starting with the paperwork, the very wording of 'Living Wills' which appear to be designed to deliberately confuse and result in nothing less than the death of the person who signs a document that they believe expresses their wishes, and literally sentence themselves to death by starvation.
From what I have gathered of the Terri Schiavo saga, and now the sad Miss May story, death has become an industry in the US and the legal system is complicit.
'Guardianship' has become a mockery of the term - it's no longer an instrument that guarntees the best interest of the 'guarded' - Guardianship appears to have become a fast-track toward inheritance.
Atotrney Gibbs speaks out on Mae!
http://www.prolifeblogs.com/
You didn't read the court documents. This is from Lonnie and Buddy's objection to Gaddy being Mae's guardian:
3.) The petitioner, Elizabeth A. Gaddy, has refused to allow Ms. Magouirk to be treated for her condition in Birmingham, and has made the following statements which are contrary to the alleged incapacitated adult's interests:
(a.) "Uncle Buddy, before you and Kenny try to get Grandmamma to UAB to get well, I want you to know that I am in charge now, it's totally up to me because I hold the medical POA and Grandmamma (Mrs. Magouirk) has suffered too much and I want her to stay here in LaGrange."
(b.) "I don't care if they are the best doctors in the whole world. I have prayed about this and God has told me that Grandmamma is ready to go home with Jesus and Granddaddy. Since I hold the medical power to do this, it is my decision and I want her to go to hospice. her heart is now bad and she has glaucoma and blood clots. Grandmamma told me she wants to go home and I feel that means that she wants to die so I want her to go to Hospice. I promise y'all I won't withhold anything Grandmamma needs."
(c.) "Grandmamma is ready to go to heaven and Jesus has told her this so Grandmamma will stay here at the Hospice and I will make sure she gets good heart medicine and care here and that she is given food and water."
[This is the 2nd time I've had to post this info on this thread, and others have posted it here too. How much more bandwidth are we going to have to waste posting the same facts over and over again?]
If you'll look very carefully, you will see that this objection was made by both Lonnie and Buddy, NOT Ken. Although, Ken claims that he too was present when Gaddy made some of these statements; other family members also claim to have heard Gaddy say these things.
I feel a little dense here. I can't find the Gibbs statement on the link. Could you tell me where to look?
I don't like this. Any of it. Families turning against each other. People feeling like they need to write out every medical directive possible because they can't trust the people that love them to do what they wish.
I hate to think that I couldn't trust my hubby to make good decisions for me.
This is just my opinion but I think part of the problem is we expect too much from doctors. We look to them for all our medical questions and the doctors feel pressured to give definant diagnosis when that is almost impossible. Not everone is goin to react to treatment the same way. And the average person hearing medical terminology hang on every word the doctors say because we as the public are intimidated by what we don't understand.
OH MY GOSH!
They took it down!
Wonder what happened???
I'll have to check with Tim and see what's up-- THAT IS WIERD!
SOrry about that!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.