Posted on 10/22/2003 2:55:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Removal of feeding tube called 'state-sponsored euthanasia'
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Posted: October 22, 2003
4:24 p.m. Eastern
A physicians' group has added its voice to the din of reaction to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's intervention in the case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, the brain-disabled woman whose life-sustaining feeding tube was removed last week at the request of Terri's husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo.
Schiavo, who maintains his wife is in a persistent vegetative state and would want to be allowed to die with dignity, has been locked in a 13-year legal battle with Terri's parents and siblings who argue Terri is alert, wants to live and, given appropriate therapy, can be rehabilitated. Terri left no written directive.
Within hours of the state legislature's historic passage of a measure, known as Terri's Bill, which empowered the governor to take executive action in the matter, Bush ordered the feeding tube reinserted last night.
While hailed as a "miracle" by Terri's sister and other supporters, the surprise development – coming on Day 7 of Terri's judge-ordered starvation – angered right-to-die attorney George Felos, who represents Michael Schiavo.
Felos called the eleventh-hour law and Bush's subsequent intervention "absurdly unconstitutional" and maintains Terri has a right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially.
"The governor of the state of Florida does not have the right to trump a patient's personal choice," he said at a press conference. "The citizens of Florida should be alarmed by what is happening. What is happening here is a gross and illegal intrusion into the private liberty of citizens. ... This is not the former Soviet Bloc where you don't have the liberty to control your own body."
Following two unsuccessful attempts by Felos to get circuit judges to block the reinsertion of the feeding tube, Terri was transferred from the hospice where she has been a patient for three years to a local hospital and rehydration efforts were reportedly launched.
"She was literally absconded from her death bed in the middle of her dying process," Felos told ABC's "Good Morning America" this morning, calling the rehydration efforts "cruel."
But Dr. Jane Orient with the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, or AAPS, claims the opposite is true: "Dehydration is a cruel, painful death."
"It is unconscionable that the state ordered removal of her feeding tube in the first place – it's nothing less than state-sponsored euthanasia," maintains Orient. "She is not dependent on advanced medical interventions. Nothing is mechanically pumping her blood, or forcing oxygen into her lungs. She is simply being fed through a gastrostomy tube."
Last week the General Assembly of the Catholic Medical Association passed a resolution that concurred with Orient's view. It declared removal of Terri's feeding tube "without first undertaking rehabilitation therapy to ascertain her ability to swallow and digest nourishment" constitutes "depriving her of life without due process of law," according to Florida Statutes Section 744, 3211.
Would we allow a retarded child to be starved to death?" queries Orient. "Where are the 'compassionate end-of-life' groups such as the Robert Wood Johnson 'Last Acts' initiative, and why aren't they weighing in on this?"
Multiple physicians solicited by the Schindlers believe Terri, who vocalizes, laughs and appears to respond to her parents, could be rehabilitated to some extent. Some have even offered pro bono treatment, even though Michael Schiavo was awarded nearly $1.5 million dollars in malpractice suits to pay for Terri's rehabilitation and nursing expenses shortly after her mysterious collapse at home in 1990 during which oxygen was cut off to her brain for several minutes.
WorldNetDaily has reported that during court testimony last year, Victor Gambone, Terri's attending physician hired by Michael Schiavo in 1998, testified he was unsure whether his patient had even had her teeth cleaned in recent years and said she hadn't received therapy. He said he accepted Michael Schiavo's word that therapy had been deemed unnecessary.
"Although severely disabled, some believe that she does have the capacity to communicate a desire to live. The husband has obstructed efforts at rehabilitation or independent assessments of his wife's true state," continues Orient.
WorldNetDaily reports the family has been blocked by Michael Schiavo from visiting Terri at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla., where she was transferred. Their inability to verify she is being rehydrated per Bush's order concerns them. As of yesterday morning, they reported she was awake and appeared alert, although shrunken.
Felos told reporters yesterday Terri was showing signs of massive organ failure and said the reinsertion of the feeding tube was just prolonging her death.
AAPS, a non-partisan, professional association of physicians dedicated to protecting the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship put out a warning to colleagues: "The ethical question for her nurses and physicians is whether they will cooperate in carrying out a death warrant.
"And the ethical question for all of us is whether we will allow the state to obstruct the efforts of people who want to provide medical care to a patient who wants to receive it," said Orient. "If we go down that path, who's to say what treatment the state will prevent you from getting?"
Updates and other information about Terri's fight for life are posted on the family's website.
Actually, within minutes he issued the EO. It took hours to implement it because that bastard Mikey's lawyer spewed intimidation everywhere.
"without first undertaking rehabilitation therapy to ascertain her ability to swallow and digest nourishment" constitutes "depriving her of life without due process of law,"
About the above, though, I take issue. Not good enough, I say! Doesn't matter if rehab is or is not successful, and they should be saying this. It remains a cruel death and is still killing of the disabled.
Schiavo, who maintains his wife is in a persistent vegetative state and would want to be allowed to die with dignity, has been locked in a 13-year legal battle with Terri's parents and siblings who argue Terri is alert, wants to live and, given appropriate therapy, can be rehabilitated. Terri left no written directive.
No wonder people are so misinformed on this case if this is all the background info we get on MS from this article! You'd think there would be a couple more details that would explain some of the acrimony between him and the parents...
And I don't see how a feeding tube is such a big deal. They can be dealt with at home relatively easily. My Cousin-in-law had two babies fed by tube at home until they were about three. And she had 5 other children the same age. She managed it.
Very true...my dad, who suffered from a Parkinson's-like disease called PSP, made the conscious decision to die this way 2 years ago after his body rejected the feeding tube and the doctors said IV feeding would only prolong his death a few weeks at best. They kept him on pain medication to keep him from suffering, but it 10 days of pure agony for him and the whole family. I still have not recovered from the trauma of watching him die in that manner, we could not give him any food or water, we could only swab his mouth with a special solution. I normally stay away from these threads because I cannot bear to relive it, this just breaks my heart.
"It is unconscionable that the state ordered removal of her feeding tube in the first place – it's nothing less than state-sponsored euthanasia," maintains Orient. "She is not dependent on advanced medical interventions. Nothing is mechanically pumping her blood, or forcing oxygen into her lungs. She is simply being fed through a gastrostomy tube."
Thank goodness, someone with some brains actually speaks up...this is exactly what I told my hubby last night about this situation. A feeding tube is NOT life support, it is merely sustenance.
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The only thing I see here that is a persistent vegetative state is Schiavo's conscience.
Judge Demers has been ordered by the legislature and the governor to "divorce" MS from the situation by appointing a guardian ad litem. But the judge appears to be stalling and may have to be "encouraged" by the legislature with a threat of formal impeachment proceeding.
Never underestimate the strength of the death culture. Many of us support her right to life, but just as many want this woman dead yesterday -- eg. the Florida supreme court.
"And the ethical question for all of us is whether we will allow the state to obstruct the efforts of people who want to provide medical care to a patient who wants to receive it," said Orient. "If we go down that path, who's to say what treatment the state will prevent you from getting?"
I could not agree more with the AAPS statement. I am someone who could be persuaded that euthanasia might be the kindest and most humane thing to do in some cases, given strict laws and monitoring. But what was happening in the Schiavo case prior to Jeb Bush stepping in was nothing short of state-sponsored murder. The method of withholding food and water is also a gutless, cowardly way to perform euthanasia. We are more humane to murderous thugs who get the death penalty, for heaven's sake!
Another attorney who believes he can practice medicine better than physicians.
A disturbing trend, particularly here on FR, wouldn't you say?
Because she has to die in order for him to collect what is left of the $1.5 million settlement.
Although it would seem that he could be bought. I wonder if the Schindlers have tried to come up with some money to give him to get him to get lost.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) issued this statement from Jane M. Orient, M.D., in response to the emergency action of the Florida legislature to reinstate feeding and hydration of Terri Schindler-Schiavo:
"Terri Schindler-Schiavo has won a temporary stay from execution by a method too cruel to be used for convicted criminals. And yet her husband's attorney is trying to spin it into a 'death with dignity issue' with his comments on Tuesday.
"He says it's cruel to begin rehydration. The opposite is true -- dehydration is a cruel, painful death. It is unconscionable that the state ordered removal of her feeding tube in the first place -- it's nothing less than state-sponsored euthanasia.
"She is not dependent on advanced medical interventions. Nothing is mechanically pumping her blood, or forcing oxygen into her lungs. She is simply being fed through a gastrostomy tube. Would we allow a retarded child to be starved to death?
"Some physicians believe that Terri could be rehabilitated to some extent, at least so that she could swallow oral feedings and eliminate the need for the tube. She should be allowed to try, but so far her husband has blocked every attempt to see whether she can swallow. Doctors have offered pro bono treatment, if money is the barrier for her husband.
"Although severely disabled, some believe that she does have the capacity to communicate a desire to live. The husband has obstructed efforts at rehabilitation or independent assessments of his wife's true state.
"Where are the 'compassionate end-of-life' groups such as the Robert Wood Johnson 'Last Acts' initiative, and why aren't they weighing in on this?
"The ethical question for her nurses and physicians is whether they will cooperate in carrying out a death warrant.
"And the ethical question for all of us is whether we will allow the state to obstruct the efforts of people who want to provide medical care to a patient who wants to receive it.
"If we go down that path, who's to say what treatment the state will prevent you from getting?"
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=125-10222003
Florida Cruelty to Animals Statutes
FLORIDA STATUTES
TITLE XLVI. CRIMES
CHAPTER 828. ANIMALS: CRUELTY; SALES; ANIMAL ENTERPRISE PROTECTION
828.12. Cruelty to animals
(1) A person who unnecessarily overloads, overdrives, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance or shelter, or unnecessarily mutilates, or kills any animal, or causes the same to be done, or carries in or upon any vehicle, or otherwise, any animal in a cruel or inhumane manner, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.
(2) A person who intentionally commits an act to any animal which results in the cruel death, or excessive or repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering, or causes the same to be done, is guilty of a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or by a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.
(translated from the Greek)
(excerpted for posting purposes)
"I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgement.
"I will keep the sick from harm and INJUSTICE.
"Whatever house I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional INJUSTICE and all mischief.
"In purity and holiness, I will guard my life and my art.
"If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy my life and my art, being honored with fame among men for all time to come.
"If I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot".
Of course, many physicians and surgeons now use the "Modern Hippocrates Oath" which is a mealy-mouthed, washed-down version making a lot of sound and fury, and signifying little.
Leni
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