Is Terri Schiavo Dead? Eat, drink, and vegetate

Reason ^ | 10-23-03 | Ronald Bailey

[ambrose]

Terri Ping

(don't be offended if I left you out, I don't keep ping lists)

[tallhappy]

What a creep.

These bloodthirsty freaks are nasty.

They want to torture people to death because they are seriously injured.

If they want to kill her just do it. Why the torture of long drawn out starvation? It is a fig leaf to hide their nakedness.

[EllaMinnow]

A BUMP for clarity. Thank you, ambrose.

[Gringo1]

These bloodthirsty freaks are nasty.


Your christ-like attributes are in the hall closet, go get them back.

[T'wit]

Better a damaged brain than this writer's dead soul.

[TheAngryClam]

BTTT

[Gringo1]

Double bump.

You cannot face the "lets make her suffer for another 13 years" crowd with firm medical FACT, they prefer to operate only on emotion(they become liberals when it comes to interfering with the lives of others it seems).

[MarMema]

posturing in response to noxious or other external stimuli.

In watching the short video clips and the much longer one that was circulating here for a time, I have yet to see even the slightest glimpse of posturing in Terri.

[onyx]

Thos looks to be the moost comprehensive compilation of facts posted thus far.

BTTT for reading after my nap.

[Lokibob]

My thoughts exactly. Starvation is a hell of a way to kill somebody.

We treat death row prisoners more humanely then they want to treat Terri.

[incindiary]

"Better a damaged brain than this writer's dead soul."

Hear hear!

[ChemistCat]

Thanks for the ping.

My mother and I are bitterly divided over this. :-( I know her heart is in the right place. She sees this as a "right to die" hill to die on.

I see it as right-to-kill. I cannot get her to see the evidence. For her it is a one-way issue and anything that contradicts her position must be false.

I can see both sides. If Terri had a living will that said what Michael claims she said, I would fight for her right to die just as hard as I've fought for her to receive food and drink. I just do not believe a Catholic girl would want it, and I think Michael shouldn't be her guardian because he's moved on to make another family, and has misused money he swore to a jury he'd spend on her rehab. There are assistive communicative technologies that have never been tried--because he has refused to allow her to even TRY them. And I think everybody has a human right to clean teeth!

My mom is afraid that my support for Terri's parents means that I will ignore her own living will, which explicitly says she doesn't want food or water if she's in a similar state.

Well, I wouldn't let my mom go without pain meds or cleaned teeth. No way, no how, and I'd do everything in my power to let her communicate any change of mind.

This is very painful, and we are just not discussing it anymore.

[TrebleRebel]

I have yet to read anywhere what the prognosis might be of anyone who has already lived this long in a PVS.

The article defines in a cogent and clinical manner the exact definition of a PVS. But it still doesn't present a decent argument for ending or continuing a patient's existing state of living.

[MarMema]

Cranford only has one opinion in any case he sees. It is always 100% predictable. Therefore he is wrong on occasion, but it is rarely reported. This is from a link on my FR page.

"Dr. Ronald Cranford, the euthanasia advocate who hopes to help Pete Busalacchi take care of Christine when she is brought to Minnesota, had a similar case in 1979. Sgt. David Mack was shot in the line of duty as a policeman, and Cranford diagnosed him as "definitely...in a persistent vegetative state...never [to] regain cognitive, sapient functioning...never [to] be aware of his condition." Twenty months after the shooting Mack woke up, and eventually regained nearly all his mental ability. When asked by a reporter how he felt, he spelled out on his letterboard, "Speechless!"

[TheAngryClam]

However, most of the shrill "Save Terri" types here refuse to understand what her condition means, and think there's still a "there" there.

[HiTech RedNeck]

But if she has no cognition as alleged, how can she suffer?

[ambrose]

Thos looks to be the moost comprehensive compilation of facts posted thus far.

Are we still allowed to post facts?

[Dog Gone]

I don't think this story is going to have a happy ending for the hundreds of Freepers who been actively supporting Terri and her parents.

I suspect that the recent law sparing her will be ruled unconstitutional, but even if it isn't, she's not going to ever get better. Perhaps I'm wrong on both counts, but I think there is a lot of hoping going on that has led to some false expectations.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well maybe angry clams aren't there either.