Brain-Damaged Fla. Woman Recieving [sic] Fluids

Associated Press ^ | 10-21-03

[shhrubbery!]

Although counterintuitive, what was being done to Terri was not inhumane. Conscious patients with terminal diseases (usually advanced cancer) sometimes elect to stop receiving food and drink. They uniformly report that they are not suffering during the week or so that they remain conscious, and withholding nourishment and water is an accepted practice in the hospice community.

I beg to differ. Depriving her of life was inhumane, in and of itself.

And as for your example of conscious patients with terminal illnesses: Yes, some are nauseated either by their illness or by the morphine that may be administered to them. They do not want to eat, and the morphine they receive usually will help keep starvation from being painful.

This is very different from what happens to a non-terminal, non-medicated patient who is simply brain-damaged, not ill.

[Ronin]

Ha!

Her "husband" is scared pissless that under true guardianship she is going to recover and tell what really happened that day she became disabled.

Or that a different team of doctors are going to take a look at her injuries and find something he has managed, until now, to keep quiet.

The sun is breaking through. Terri is saved.

[Gelato]

At least they used the term brain-damaged instead of comatose or vegetative.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Those who condoned Terri's death by dehydration and starvation are satanic; they will reap what they sow.

Let them reap their WHIRLWIND!

[shhrubbery!]

The FSC will hear this case you can be sure...Anyone care to bet on how they'll rule?

Now that there is a conflict between the legislative and judicial branches, you are probably right that the obnoxious SCOFLA will try to throw its weight around, just as it did in Bush v. Gore.

In that case, we may see SCOTUS slap the arrogant puppies down again.

Bets? Sure. SCOTUS 1, SCOFLA 0.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Whether she's aware of her surroundings or not is difficult to establish -- videos taken a couple of years ago suggest that she was then, but that could have changed in the interim. Her parents and siblings are willing to care for her at home, and since she requires only feeding, this isn't much expense. She has a medical trust fund of over $1 million from a malpractice suit. Her husband is eager to get his hands on that money, which will go to him when she dies.

I'm in favor of euthanasia when proper safeguards are in place, but this case is loaded with conflicts of interest and suspicious details -- like how the husband suddenly remembered that Terri had said she didn't want to be kept alive artificially, just AFTER the $1 million+ malpractice award was won; and how he was insisting that she be cremated immediately after her death, though many questins remain about broken bones she may have sustained at his hands.

[narses]

You are funny. This is legislation that saved a life. It reined in a corrupt judiciary that was allowing a guardian to starve to death his wife. The seperation of powers is not a means by which the judiciary is supreme. The three branches are coequal, and as a check and balance, two branches (legislative and executive) can over-rule the third. Civics 101.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

This was a right to kill case. When is the AP going to get something right?

[I still care]

It is the first time they have used the honest term "brain damaged", instead of comatose or vegetative (inaccurate terms in this case). Sounds to me like they are listening to all their emails - or maybe reading FR.

[editor-surveyor]

Bump!

[F.J. Mitchell]

AMEN, Brian!

[texaslil]

The murdering husband, "Stunned" or just pissed? I'd vote for the latter.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

If Terri didn't want to live how the heck has she continued to fight for life under all of this abuse and neglect ,and all of attempts to starve her and dehydrate her? Do you think she has no will of her own?

[tardissa]

Have you considered that perhaps Greer committed judicial usurption of the legislative branch?!?

Judges are neither kings nor gods, though it seems that lately they have been treated as such. And they should never be immune to uphold the spirit of the law rather than twist the letter of the law.

[kennedyd]

No matter how everyone FEELS about this case, this action by the legislature and Jeb is no less then legislative usurption of the judicial branch.

Who passed the right-to-die legislation in the first place? Does the judicial branch pass laws now? The function of the judiciary is to interpret law that the legislature passes. A new law can invalidate an old law, and any decisions the courts made based on the old law. Are you claiming that any time the legislature changes the law they are usurping the authority of the judicial branch?

[F.J. Mitchell]

"Anyone care to bet on how they'll rule?"

They will likely stick a wet finger up and see which way the wind is blowing, and rule whichever way that keeps them from being empeached.

You are too easy, anyone with a conscience would not take your money.

[ladyinred]

There is another thread that is saying her lawyer is being told she is not receiving anything. Hopefully this one is correct.

[Hyacinth Bucket]

And if Terri really didn't want to live in this condition then a terrible injustice has been done.

This is exactly the crux of the issue, no one knows exactly how Terri would have wanted things. There is only Terri's husband's word that she would not want to live if left in this kind of condition.

The problem is that he has all kinds of conflicts of interest to be the sole decision-maker for her. There seems to be circumstantial evidence that he might have tried to harm her and collect the insurance. He already is living with another woman and has a child with the same woman. And Terri's family is willing to take on the full responsibility of caring for her.

So if there is no medical will to go by and the husband is a shady character, it is better to err on the side of life, don't you think? Besides slowly starving someone who cannot communicate clearly is definitely a cruel way to die that even animals are not subjected to when they are put to "sleep".