Posted on 10/17/2003 1:02:10 PM PDT by NYer
Levitcus 23:36...............Psalm 75........good night!
Amen,........More Grace and mercy, Mercy, MERCY,.....In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen!!!
"In places like Holland, Switzerland or Oregon in the US, laws already allow assisted suicides, and campaigners say there is a groundswell of public opinion in many other countries - particularly in Europe - which will force their governments to follow suit."
"But the debate is still a controversial one and the recent death of Dublin woman Rosemary Toole Gilhooley, shows the stark cultural gap that exists between places that tolerate the practice, and those to which it is a repellent concept."
"Mr Exoo is said to have attended about 100 suicides in the US, but they all went unnoticed until this one in conservative Ireland, where assisting a suicide is a crime almost as severe as murder - drawing up to 14 years in prison."
So there are countries holding the culture of death at bay, at least for now.
Ireland lets you bring your pets along if you move there and you don't have to put them in isolation for six months.
Ireland has an orthodox church for those of us who desire one.
I am nearly packing now....LOL.
From the Toronto Star article [HERE] : But because she's been in a persistent vegetative coma, she won't be experiencing anything, he explains.” She is not in a persistent vegetative coma or state. Her measured awareness rises above the threshold for those two states on the Glascow scale.
”When someone loses the higher brain function, if the cerebral cortex is gone, "there's no consciousness whatsoever, no sense of self-awareness, no sense of discomfort. They're living on the brain stem, with automatic respiration. If nothing but the brain stem is alive, she can't be aware of anything." But Terri follows commands, so there is a level of awareness. You asserted that Terri has no cerebral cortex functioning now. The wording does not state that such is the case with Terri, and rightly so because the opining physician cannot know one way or the other, not having tested Terri. Sorry, that link proves none of the assertion that Terri no longer has a functioning cerebral cortex.
_________________
From the StPetersburgTimes, Mary Jo Melone article [HERE ]: "I don't think it is widely appreciated just how damaged her brain is," said Walker, an internist, who has followed the case closely by reading the public record. If her factual medical records are not yet public record, what this physician is going on are the videos and things printed by reporters and to be read in depositions. He asserts large claims, but there is no CT scan or brainscan to substantiate his OPINION.
Schiavo's cerebral cortex, he said, is mostly gone. It was destroyed by the loss of oxygen she suffered when she had a heart attack 13 years ago. I’m sorry, but this is an unsubstantiated opinion, not a test verified medical fact. Once gone, the cortex cannot grow back, Walker said. The space it once occupied in Schiavo's skull is now filled with spinal fluid. I would caution any reading that assertion that it was believed Karen Quinlan’s cerebral cortex (she was in a deeper coma state for many years before they turned off her respirator and she continued to breath on her own) was withered and the space filled with spinal fluid, but autopsy proved that to be a false assumption. Sorry, this too is opinion, not medical test verified fact.
_______________
From the BBC News article [HERE]: (A reporter who would post the following without either researching the facts or having the facts but choosing to mischaracterize them is a hard one to believe further on …) Mr Schiavo's lawyer says the money has been spent on medical bills. Yes, it’s been spent, but Judge Greer secretly allowed the raiding of Terri’s rehabilitation trust fund to pay Felos, the attorney. That hardly qualifies as ‘spent for medical bills!’
Mrs Schiavo's brain scans have not been made public but Dr Walker has followed the case closely through media reports and court records.
"The majority of her cerebral cortex - the part of the brain that thinks and feels - has been destroyed and replaced by fluid," he said. This is the same Dr. Walker of the StPeteTimes, Melone article. And again, he has not stated that he has seen the scans, he is merely stating his opinion of what he believes to be the case from following the public records. This article is also not a definitive answer to the state of Terri’s cerebral cortex. Sorry to have to be so negative, but these articles are not sufficient to base an assertion upon.
It is possible that Terri’s cerebral cortex has atrophied with so little stimulation as accomplished by the commands of her 'guardian' adulterous defrauding abusive husband, but none of the material in the three articles can substantiate that her cortex has atrophied. And we ought to look questioningly upon them because there is video indicating Terri is above the response threshold for persistent vegetative state, and according to some physicians who have actually examined her in person. To be fair, the court’s appointed physician who examined Terri in person and is seen in one of the video records, has stated that he believes her responses are reflexive in nature and not indicative of comprehension or awareness. Which brings me to one last point, a point which was addressed by a poster previously (TheOtherOne): paraphrasing, 'when there is a question or disagreement, then we ought err on the side of life.'
I am praying for her!
We don't have ESP about these life-and-death issues, like George Felos does.
Felos is the lawyer for Terri's husband. He felt he could telepathically communicate with another woman (Mrs. Browning) whose death he hoped to arrange. He said she let him know, soul-to-soul, that she wanted release from her body.
He wanted to see Browning for himself. She could not speak, but Felos says his spiritual side picked up on something. He says her soul cried out to his soul and asked, "Why am I still here?" Browning died in 1989 of natural causes while the case was still unresolved, but the suit has had a lasting effect on the law. In 1990, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a living will can allow caregivers to withhold food and water from an incapacitated person, even when death is not imminent.I wonder if any serial killers will try to use this as a defense in the future?
"I'm psychic and my victim told me, through ESP, that she wanted me to kill her."
The husband who is living with a new girlfriend while his wife's mother and father are pleading with the judge to be able to have some say in the termination of the life they gave birth to.
This case is not as cut and dried as you make it out to be.
I'd like to sign one of those that says I don't want to be killed or allowed to die just because a doctor decides it is "best" for me.
The right-to-die waters are awfully muddy. We can see that by the way the people who want Terri to die are playing word games.
Word games are a good indicator of something amiss.
I was just reading an article which says that Physician Assisted Death, voluntary euthanasia and removal of life support are ethically equivalent. The author mentions that more people accept removal of life support than the other two methods of bringing about death. He suggests that, if people could be convinced of the ethical equivalency of all three, they (and physicians) would be much more accepting of Physician Assisted Death.
http://www.hemlocknj.org/equivale.html
Whether that physician responds to the patient’s repeated entreaty to "Help me die" by removing a life support system, by PAD or by euthanasia, in all three cases both intention and result are the same. In sum, there is no principled ethical difference among these three means to serve the dying patient. In this context, helping the public and physicians to recognize this ethical fact may well bring acceptance of PAD and euthanasia up to the 90% mark now current for refusal of treatment. (Interestingly, this is about the level of support for the Dutch way of dying now current in the Netherlands.) In such an environment it would appear that decriminalization of PAD and of euthanasia under reasonable rules barring abuse could easily be achieved.
That's the unfortunate thing about precedent....it seems to encourage the entrenchment of some pretty nasty practices.
BTTT
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.