Posted on 11/13/2003 4:34:02 AM PST by Prov1322
The entire article is posted at the head of the thread.
Wrong - It's about money.
Note: non-religious individuals and individuals belonging to liberal or "middle-of-the-road" religious groups have come out supporting Terri. Gloria Allred, for example, refused to remove the feeding tube for her father and felt Terri should be kept alive.
If a person has a living will, stating their strong desire to not live in a persistent vegatative state, do you think their guardian (e.g. their spouse)should be allowed to order dicontinuation of life-supporting measures? Do others have a right to interfere in a decison like this? I went to the time and expense of having a living will made out and I'm wondering if it would prevent the interference of total strangers.
What I really fear is being somewhat responsive and quite possibly aware of what is going on around me at all times and just being unable to communicate. And then being starved to death because someone wants to make money off of my death. Now that's scary.
That and the Oompa-Loompas.
The woman's parents are not total strangers.
If the "family" had been in agreement, the courts and the law would not have become involved. If she had a living will, she could have designated her parents as guardians, as easily as designating her spouse. But, in the absense of a will, there is disagreement over who should be guardian.
I thought it was implied in the Headline...
Good advice!
Despite what Michael Schiavo and Felos (and their ilk) would like you to believe, starvation is NOT a painless way to die. What follows is a short excerpt from an interview Bill O'Reilly did with Kate Adamson, a lady who was in a so-called "persistent vegetative state" after a stroke. She was TOTALLY unable to respond, but was FULLY cognizant of EVERYTHING that went on around her (including being operated on with insufficient anesthesia). She had her feeding tube pulled for 8 days until her attorney husband "convinced" the doctors to restore the tube. She has since recovered. You can read the full transcript previously posted on Free Republic.
O'Reilly: So, ahh, in the Schiavo case, Ms. Adamson, you must have VERY strong feelings about that?
Adamson: I do. I have a HUGE perspective about what Terri is going through.
O'Reilly: What would that be?
Adamson: Well especially after having gone thru this myself, and the doctors assuming I was in a vegetative state, ahh when in fact I was TOTALLY aware of what was going on around me.
O'Reilly: Could you hear? Could you hear people, and see...
Adamson: I could hear, and see everything going on around me, and I had NO way to commmunicate with anyone.
O'Reilly: So you were like, paralized in every way, but you could HEAR the words, you KNEW when your husband was in the room when he was there, and all of that?
Adamson: Exactly. I KNEW what I wanted to say, ahh, I was completely PARALIZED. I had NO way of communicating at all.
O'Reilly: This is amazing. Its like an Edgar Allen Poe story...
So when they took the feeding tube out, what went thru your mind?
Adamson: When the feeding tube was turned off for eight days, ahh I was... thought I was going insane. I was screaming out, "Don't you know, I NEED to EAT!".
Adamson: And even though, until that point, I had been having a bagful of Ensure as my nourishment that was going thru the feeding tube, at that point, it sounded pretty good. Ahh, I just wanted something, ahh the fact that I had nothing, the hunger pains overrode EVERY thought I had.
O'Reilly: So you were feeling PAIN? when they removed your tube?
Adamson: Oh, ABSOLUTELY. Absolutely... To say that, ahh, especially when Michael on national TV had mentioned last week, that its a pretty painless thing to have a feeding tube removed... Its the EXACT OPPOSITE. It was SHEER torture, Bill. Sheer torture... and then having it ripped out.
End of Excerpt
Pulling the feeding tube = "SHEER torture."
If you'd like, you can read more about Kate Adamson at her website: Kate's Journey
If you had a stroke or head injury that left you in what the doctors considered a "persistent vegetative state", how could you be so sure you'd want ANY life support withdrawn from you? (this assumes that you still have recordable brain activity via EEG, like Kate did, and like Terri Schiavo does)
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