Commentary: When a feeding tube borders on the barbaric

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | May 28, 1997 | Dr. Ronald Cranford, MD

[ChemistCat]

I will fight for anyone's right to have a feeding tube withdrawn *if he or she has a painful, terminal condition* and clearly indicated that desire by living will.

Oh, this is about Terri? None of that applies. No one has the right to end her life without conviction by jury and her express wishes about final care (and her condition was not terminal in any case, until they decided to make it so.)

If she is indeed in a "vegetative condition" then the painful part doesn't even apply.

Goodnight and good find. Even if the word is getting out via the lying sneaking liberals who want active euthanasia legalized, at least people are going to hear about this and maybe some more people will seek out the actual facts.

[concerned about politics]

More pro-death stuff. It's none of their business. If it were them, they'd change their minds in a hurry!

[steplock]

These murdering ghouls would have considered me for "euthanasia" since I was "fed" intraveneously via a port in my chest for a year - not to mention the tracheotomy and breathing tubes - comatose for several weeks...

Did you know that while comatose a person DOES HEAR what is going on? Admitedly, the brain does some wierd interpretations of the external stimuli, and even while the body does not move, the brain sure as hell does!

I had a little "clarifying" to do with a couple of surgeons when I finally recovered enough to talk half way coherently....especially when I described what one did to me while I was on the operating table. He had an "unprofessional" method of removing a bandage.

[concerned about politics]

Oh, this is about Terri? None of that applies. No one has the right to end her life without conviction by jury and her express wishes about final care (and her condition was not terminal in any case, until they decided to make it so.)

Her husband "said" she wanted to die. Of course, he may have tried to kill her and that's how she got there in the first place, but hey. Would he lie just to save his own skin?
Yep!

[xzins]

Pro-euthanasia of elderly alzheimer patients is a huge step from not keeping a feeding tube in a comatose patient.

The issue with Terri Shiavo is not the removal of the tube. It is that no one would attempt to use therapy to teach her to eat on her own.

It is possible that behind the incapacity she has she might be aware of her surroundings. She would not be the first incapacitated patient for whom that is true.

[krb]

Can you be specific? What happened when you were "out of it" that you could actually recall when you got better?

[concerned about politics]

Did you know that while comatose a person DOES HEAR what is going on? Admitedly, the brain does some wierd interpretations of the external stimuli, and even while the body does not move, the brain sure as hell does!

So Teri hears every damning word her husband says?
Pray for rehabilitation. All she has to know how to do is push a "yes" button to convict him.

[Bogey78O]

When one argues in the general one can hardly be proven wrong.

The Terri Schiavo case is a specific case. There are facts and specific arguments involved in that case.

For example, if you were to ask should people be allowed to die in dignity you'd agree. If you argued should people who have a chance of recovery be allowed to die in dignity without trying or attempting to save them you'd probably be given a different answer.

That's why we have to focus on the specifics of this case and not general pro-euthanasia or anti-suicide arguments.

[Nebullis]

If we want our loved ones to live and die in dignity, we ought to think twice before suspending them in the last stage of irreversible dementia.

Back when grandma and the kids had to decide to sell the farm or keep grampa alive, extreme life-suspending efforts after "the appointed time to die" was a rare exception.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

How do you know that outside of some hyperbole, considering that Terri's family got along well with him until he indicated that he wanted to move on with his life? I'm trying to figure out how somebody gets along so well for so long with an abusive monster, then has a sudden change of heart.

[CindyDawg]

ping

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Funny thing, that ol' cost-benefit analysis.

[concerned about politics]

How do you know that outside of some hyperbole, considering that Terri's family got along well with him until he indicated that he wanted to move on with his life?

I saw the parents interviewed on TV. He's beat her before.
He was Teri's husband. What could they do if she still stayed with him?
That's why they want the medical records exposed. She's SUPPOSE to be in her condition because of a heart attack, but she also had multiple broken bones and a wound to the neck.

[MarMema]

Ronald Cranford is a sick sick man and I can hardly believe you would post something he wrote.

He is not only a liar and a sadist but a killer.

You need to read some of the stuff he has written in medical journals, and the replies.

Anyway since when did you become such a utilitarianist?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I have placed this article not so much as a reflection of the Schiavo case, but more as a conversation piece for the education those who have stated on other threads their desire to have all possible efforts taken in the event something like this happens to them.

[MarMema]

You are correct. It is abuse of the disabled.

[concerned about politics]

I'll choose life. I'm not leaving until I have to.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I can't say I know anything about the guy - I just googled up something on some aspects of feeding tubes.

And to clarify - I also don't agree with some of his euthanasia and alzheimer's mixing - but some of what he says does make sense.

[MarMema]

ping