Posted on 10/25/2003 2:49:21 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Don't make me kill.
Again.
So, you post an excerpt of an article to support the contention that Schiavo cannot experience suffering, then in the SAME BREATH you turn around and try to claim that keeping alive is "making her suffer".
You lack of intellectual honesty is obvious and, given the gravity of this issue, repugnant.
According to the article, he never examined Terri.
This is from Seeing Signs Of Life:
On Sept. 3, 2002, Mary and Bob Schindler, Terri's father, readied their daughter for Dr. William Hammesfahr, a Clearwater neurologist who would spend three hours tugging at Terri's limbs, reading her expressions and movements, searching for evidence of the awareness the Schindlers, their other children and friends swear is still very much inside Terri's body.
The doctor began the examination by playing a recording of an up-tempo, jaunty version of "The Christmas Song," one of Terri's favorites from years earlier.
As the song started, she looked faintly confused and uncomfortable. By the end of the first verse, her expression suddenly changed into what looked like surprised recognition. She made a noise that sounded like laughter, and she seemed to smile. She tossed her head back. She listened to the rest of the song, her expression more relaxed.
These and other reactions she would have later are not those of a vegetative person, her parents said. Dr. Hammesfahr concluded the same.
See my #43.
The physical/mental therapy took a while but significant results were obtained. It is the lack of this effort by the husband, who is accused of foresaking physical therapy, which should be examined.
The old saw says that we only use 10% of our brain's capacity. Was this capability squandered, or worse still, destroyed by the husband's plan?
Sir Valentino, check this link:
'I don't think it's possible to teach an immobile person, particularly, one that is not able to communicate to operate a wheelchair and do even the simplest math problems on a computer. What good would that person be to society? Show me one person that ever accomplished that.'
"Call for Stephen Hawking. Pick up on Line One!"
A picture is worth a million words
You posted this so much more nicely than I was going to :')
There are times, like these, that I feel I've dropped into
some liberal democrat's forum....
There isn't a decision to "kill" anyone. There was a decision
to take her off an external life support system. That life
support system is for her nutrition.
She cannot be spoon fed without her choking; she cannot
drink liquids without choking; choking that leads to asphyxiation;
regurgitation that leads to asphyxiation; either, leading to
lung disease and/or heart failure.
She cannot and has not been able to eat or drink without
the system that she's been using for 13+ years. There is
no hope that the condition will change, due to the loss of
her Cerebral Cortex and that area being filled with spinal
fluid. The Cerebral Cortex cannot "re-grow" or "be repaired".
Once the cortex is gone, it is gone.
Terri has been in a coma; a vegetated state, for the past
13 years. Nothing has changed.
The court had to determine if the legal guardian has the
right to decide if Terri should remain on that life support
system or not.
In the absence of a "Living Will", the state of Florida gives
the next of kin; the legal guardian that right to decide.
The court found in the only manner it could, and in the only
moral manner it could. It is the individual's right to decide
to live on life support or not. In lieu and lack of the ability
to make such decision, the legal guardian has that responsibility.
To remove that right from the public's hands, is to deny the
right to life or death to every individual. If it worries you,
make out a "living will" tomorrow.
I'm not sure if I could have the courage to pull the plug on
my wife, but I hope she has the courage to yank mine.
I would not want to be a vegetable; to have a body alive
and a dead mind. I would not want to bring such sorrow
to my family for such an extended period of time, when
no hope exists.
Why would anyone want to forcibly subject their partners
to such sorrow and grief unnecessarily.
Terri's gone. Let her soul rest.
Follow your name and take off.
The words were:
"The hype about Terri's case is akin to the hype over UFOs or religious belief."
Hype: propaganda, hard sell, advertisement, excitement. And yes, there
are similarities in the hot-headed belief in either.
And for the record sir, there is a vast difference between the belief in God,
and the belief that one religious practice or belief is better than another.
Again:
The hype about Terri's case is akin to the hype over UFOs or religious belief.
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