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TERRI NEEDS YOU NOW... Thanks, FV
Posted on 12/29/2004 7:16:22 AM PST by floriduh voter
The Terri Schindler Schiavo Daily Threads are created month to month as we watch local and national news regarding Terri and her family.
Since Terri's supporters are in every time zone, you may see something FIRST. Please share news with us that you don't see here already. Now, why would you want to do that? Terri's Daily Thread for September/October of 2004 was viewed over 15,000 times. Terri's November Daily Thread was viewed over 6,000 times. December's thread is over 3,000 views.
More and more good folks are finding out about Terri and that judicial tyranny would take her life, but for lots and lots of prayer and non-stop lobbying of relatives, friends, clergy, our leaders, the media, a passerby, a cashier - ANYONE who you feel comfortable chatting with.
Folks always want to know how can this be in America or on earth for that matter? Unfortunately, this is really happening to an innocent woman who just celebrated her 41st birthday. She's not the only one but she's the one with devoted parents and siblings who knows what's in Terri's heart. Terri has a strong will to live. That's apparent. It's been 14 years.
Besides, feeding tubes have been around practically since the Civil War. They are not high tech devices. Terri is "not hooked up to machines". Her feeding tube is the diameter of a piece of spaghetti.
Talkin' about Terri is the best way to lobby for her. It is a salespitch to save her life and subsequently, many lives. If you've never sold anything in your life, START NOW. START WITH TERRI.
See Terri's flash movies if you need more information. You can see for yourself that's she's interactive and follows the doctor's instructions.
Visit: http://www.terrisfight.org
NOTE: Terri's December Dailies are noted as a source above. There are lots of important links at the very top of that thread. If you missed Terri's Celebration of Life, you can click on it from there.
Let's STORM the Bastille!!!
Strange isn't it how things pop up from nowhere!? I think the Good Lord is telling us something - anyone got a generator?
Strange how they forget the basics - with ONE step the journey begins!
KEN MEHLMAN IS THE NEXT NATIONAL GOP CHAIR. Tampa was where they kicked off President Bush's 04 campaign. Ken Mehlman spoke to a large audience, including FV. He did such a great a job (credit should go to bloggers & web site sinking Kerry like a stone). KEN MEHLMAN IS THE NEXT GOP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN. Be's a pretty young guy.
In a recent article in this space, “Feeding Tube Decisions: The Real Ballot Box,
http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=25719
I examined some of the arguments that families are hearing from health care counselors. A virtual campaign to minimize the use of feeding tubes is going on.
Decoding the Specialized Language
Although actual research findings are used by these counselors in their arguments, I showed how some of these research findings are being taken out of context and misapplied.
The correspondence I received in response to this article was remarkable.
Although I have heard it said that people don't change their minds about death and dying issues, in my experience, this does not seem to be the case. I received letters from health care professionals who are carefully reconsidering the bias against feeding tubes that they may have had in the past.
One critically important question came up repeatedly. Readers mentioned, almost in the very same words, the following concern. They asked whether once a patient enters what they called the "dying process," "food and fluids" become harmful rather than helpful. They wondered whether they interrupt the "dying process" in some way, complicating it, causing only "discomfort" but no "benefit."
Most interestingly, these readers all set this question apart from their other thoughts, specifically mentioning that they had learned this from hospice, and asking if it is true.
There are four important terms used in this question, "food and fluids," "benefit," the "dying process," and "discomfort." It is important to realize that these terms have special meanings to many hospice professionals. If you are unaware of these special meanings, statements by hospice professionals can be misinterpreted.
When religious families hear from hospice that their loved one is in the "dying process" and that "food and fluids" will henceforth not "benefit" him at all and only cause "discomfort," this is very intimidating. Families who wouldn't dream of deliberately starving their loved one may not object to the discontinuation of his food and fluids.
Families might think that the hospice nurses' determination that their relative is in the "dying process" is a rigorous medical diagnosis and that his death is imminent and inevitable. However, this may or may not be the case. It could mean that his energy is fading and he has no appetite because of his pain-killers, and since at their hospice they may not believe in "artificial feeding," the staff is simply predicting that under their regimen he will soon die.
Defining Benefit and Discomfort
When the hospice workers tell the family that the "food and fluids" they have been giving him will no longer be "beneficial," the family might misunderstand what the hospice workers mean by "beneficial." The family might think that the previous "benefit" the patient was deriving from the "food and fluids" was to receive adequate nutrition, and that now, the patient is no longer capable of being nourished.
This interpretation of the hospice workers' statement might be true under some conditions. But, on the other hand, it might really mean that the "food and fluids" they have previously been giving him were for comfort only, and now that he has faded to the point where he himself is not asking for food, they no longer see any reason to provide it.
When the hospice workers tell them that further "food and fluids" will cause "discomfort," the family might think that "discomfort" means that their family member will choke or have pain or become distended.
This interpretation might be valid under certain circumstances. On the other hand, it might mean that he is starving and dehydrated, and if they leave him alone he will fade and die without further complaints, but if they continue giving him some limited "food and fluids" to please the family, he may experience the "discomfort" of hunger!
In 1993 Dr. Robert J. Sullivan wrote an influential review of the literature on starvation, emphasizing that the "absence of hunger and a sense of well-being" reported by some could be due to "ketonemia provoked by the fast." He cites "laboratory studies" that show that "hunger rapidly reappears when ketosis is relieved by ingesting small amounts of carbohydrate." He cites another investigation showing that "hunger disappears with total starvation while semi-starvation makes food an omnipresent obsession."
This has implications for those deliberately starving a patient. He writes, "The administration of even small amounts of carbohydrate can block ketone production and rekindle hunger. Intravenous mixtures of 5% dextrose and water provide ample carbohydrate to cause this metabolic shift."
He writes as well about "anecdotal reports of cancer patients in their final hours" who experience "an improved sense of well-being" following "cessation of fluid therapy with reductions in secretions and coughing, nausea and vomiting, urination, pulmonary and peripheral edema, and diarrhea."
Even proponents of deliberate starvation admit that these anecdotal reports cannot be considered conclusive. Byock writes, "while the heightened probability of a gentle passing by PRNH [Patient Refusal of Nutrition and Hydration] is intriguing, at present, it remains speculative."
>From Sullivan's review, however, we can see the context that hospice workers may be referring to when they talk about "discomfort" in the dying. If your loved one is not a cancer patient in his final hours, the "discomfort" hospice workers have been schooled to expect might very well be hunger! Of course, the individual hospice worker that you are talking to might not know this. She might have been trained in the belief that "food and fluids" cause "discomfort" but not know what sort of "discomfort"!
There is much room for misunderstanding and confusion. Nowhere is the language barrier more of a problem than when hospice proponents speak of weighing the risks and benefits of removing hydration and nutrition. It is extremely surprising to see what they include and do not include in their risk-benefit analysis!
It is not, as a family might think, that they weigh the possibility of "discomfort" from the feeding process versus the risk of an early death. Not at all. Dr. Ira Byock, a proponent of removing nutrition and hydration, writes, "These clinical reviews, case reports and new research data lend credence to the clinical impression that, among the terminally ill, the risks of uncorrected malnutrition and dehydration are few. (In this circumstance, death is not properly regarded as a risk, since it is a principal expected outcome.)"
In other words, the fact that death will be caused by the removal of food and fluids doesn't count at all for Dr. Byock's risk-benefit analysis!
Another peculiarity of the risk-benefit analysis described by Dr. Byock is that he counts as a "benefit" the possibility of avoiding a different type of death. He writes, "In the process of informing and obtaining consent from patients — and, perhaps especially, in discussions with the legal surrogate(s) of an incapacitated patient — it must be remembered that the decision to prevent malnutrition or dehydration is a de facto decision to have the person die of something else. Stated another way, the euvolemic [well-hydrated], nutritionally supported patient may live longer, but is probably more likely to die from acute systemic infection, from acute respiratory failure, from acute cerebral or myocardial ischemia or from abrupt blood loss."
In other words, when Dr. Byock weighs the risks of "discomfort" from feeding a patient, he is not specifically talking about the sensations caused by the feeding process, as a family might well think. Instead, he is adding up all the possible pains the person might experience later on in his life if he survives!
Informed Consent Requires Clear Language
The sad truth is that these arguments as ridiculously slanted as they are are worded in such a way as to sound ordinary, and they are very intimidating to religious families. The families, not appreciating the unusual meaning of what they hear, don't quiz the counselor about the exact details of what he means. They dutifully weigh the pain they imagine their relative will suffer against the pain their own consciences will inflict upon them, and they unselfishly choose to endure the pain of conscience rather than make their relative suffer physical pain.
Little do they realize that the counselor is speaking in riddles, and that almost nothing that he says can be understood in the normal manner.
They don't realize that literature on deliberate starvation may be the context for their health care counselor's remarks about "discomfort" and the "dying process."
The concept of patient autonomy is based on informed consent. Informed consent requires clear language. Does the average patient who signs a hospice consent form choosing "palliative rather than curative" treatment understand that this might result in his dying earlier maybe much earlier from starvation and dehydration? Does his family understand this? Would they make a different choice if they understood?
Dr. Olevitch
maolevit@artsci.wustl.edu, is a clinical psychologist and author of Protecting Psychiatric Patients and Others from the Assisted-Suicide Movement: Insights and Strategies (Praeger, 2002).
FLORIDUH VOTER SAYS: TERRI DOES NOT HAVE ANY DISEASE PROCESSES, SHE IS ALERT & AWARE OF HER SURROUNDINGS. SHE WASN'T AFFORDED ANY OF HER RETAINED RIGHTS INCLUDING INFORMED CONSENT.
Even if someone has a disease process, bad hospices do their best to convince the family that starvation and dehydration is preferable to a natural death.
TERRI IS NOT JUST THE SLIPPERY SLOPE. What they've done with her life and are trying to do is a FALL FROM THE HIGHEST PEAK. They seek to exterminate the disabled in their culture of death for the bottom line.
The CEOs of Hospices have related businesses and there's a lot of money to be made from private donations and through Medicaid Fraud. THESE ARE STATE SPONSORED HITS thanks to Judges like Greer and Baird, our 2nd dca and the Florida Supremes.
WHAT WILL THE US SUPREME COURT DO? Will they grant Governor Bush his day in court re: Terri's Law or will JEB be DENIED DUE PROCESS to protect a ward of his state whom he's sworn to protect under his OATH OF OFFICE? Will Judge Greer order something immoral and sinister MUCH SOONER, as in ONE WEEK? FV
FV SAYS: Terri's Exit Protocol and all crimes previous fit the United States of America's Definition of Torture.
AN OUTRAGE! Terri is not hooked up to machines. She breathes on her own, laughs, cries, ponders, loves - Terri is alive but needs the rehab she was denied when her rehab monies were ROBBED.
WHERE'S THE F.B.I.? Where's the Civil Rights Commission? Where's the USAG? Where's the President?
Ya think the bad guys aren't going to take advantage of the inauguration while the focus is on those preparations? SURE THEY ARE. Puppet Judge Greer who IS NOT A FAIR MAN, contrary to the Pinellas GOP's belief, wants to close the file and wants to close it ONLY ONE WAY.
JOIN TERRI'S FIGHT TODAY. Email: fight4terri@aol.com.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1319019/posts
FOR FRIDAY. CALL TO ACTION AT 712 and 721. Easy projects for Terri. (Note to self too).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1242797/posts
6:13 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
In comments before 7,000 people attending the General Papal Audience yesterday at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II commented on the Apocalypse, saying that the increase in violence and injustice in the world is the work of a furious Satan who doesn't have "much time left" and ultimately will be defeated.
According to a report in the Italian website AGI online, the pope said, "God and the Lamb, Christ, surrounded by the 'Council of the Crown,' are judging human history in good and evil, but showing us however the ultimate end in salvation and glory. The songs which are found in the Apocalypse and which serve to illustrate the issue of divine glory which regulates the flux, often disconcerting, of the tide of human events."
Replying to 666.
In his book "Litigation as Spiritual Practice" attorney for Michael Schiavo, George Felos, openly reveals his dark side and his thoughts on feeding tubes. His book reveals his insecurities as a child and the nightmares he experienced while going through his divorce. Felos also claims to be God.
About the now deceased Mrs. Estelle Browning, Felos wrote, "...I carried with me the resolute determination to sever the artificial cord (feeding tube) that bound Estelle Browning to this earthly realm. Her agonized cry for release ran though my mind over and over again, and I felt OUR SPIRITUAL BOND."
Felos describes his feelings about his ex-wife,"To her, I seemed unattractive, sexually unexciting, balding, boring, and just not enough fun to be with....she didn't need me anymore. For her, marriage to me inflicted a fate worse than death. She admitted that for the past year or so she had wished for my death, and whenever I flew hoped the plane would crash."
About his separation from his ex-wife, Felos wrote "that weekend I experienced rage. Savage, unadulterated, and murderous rage. I was on fire, fueled by thoughts of bludgeoning and tearing her apart."
Speaking of another attorney: "...this other attorney is of low moral character, a real slime."
Describing the period he was recuperating from his divorce, "it consisted mostly of dreams of being tormented in some inferno."
His feelings about feeding tubes: "Why not bypass the nursing home and the court, bring your loved one home, and pull the tube yourself? At approximately $2,000 per month per patient for the priviledge of basic nursing home resident, feeding tubes indeed were a financial windfall in Florida to the probably tune of tens of millions of dollars per year."
While on a plane trip, Felos thought "I wonder what it would be like to die right now?"
Felos claims that God told him, "You are more powerful than you realize."
About seeing his image in the media, "I still got a kick that evening seeing myself on the TV news, notwithstanding my frequently displayed countenance in the media of late."
Felos describes himself as a "master of self control" and a god.
676 posted on 01/13/2005 11:21:59 AM EST by amdgmary
FLORIDUH VOTER SAYS: This GRIM REAPER is death obsessed. He's convinced Florida's Judges to "join him".
PLEASE SEE MY TAG LINE and sign up to help at: fight4terri@aol.com.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1320580/posts
I found out if you get UP EARLIER, TERRI'S THREADS ARE AT THE TOP OF NEWS/ACTIVISM. So, freepers, if you happen to get up before dawn, please drop by here and bump the Terri January Thread to the top of news/activism. It's raining here so I woke up earlier than usual.
(Terri can hear the rain from her solitary confinement).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1320580/posts
I found out if you get UP EARLIER, TERRI'S THREADS ARE AT THE TOP OF NEWS/ACTIVISM. So, freepers, if you happen to get up before dawn, please drop by here and bump the Terri January Thread to the top of news/activism. It's raining here so I woke up earlier than usual.
(Terri can hear the rain from her solitary confinement).
TERRI DID NOT CHOOSE TO BE HELD CAPTIVE FOR 14 YEARS, BE ROBBED OF HER REHAB MONIES AND TO HAVE DEATH VULTURES SEEK TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF HER. TERRI CAN BREATHE ON HER OWN, IS ALERT AND AWARE OF HER SURROUNDINGS, KNOWS DAY FROM NIGHT. She's a person, not a vegetable. FV
NEWBIES TO TERRI'S THREADS, PLEASE JOIN TERRI'S FREEPERS. Get on "ohioanfromflorida"'s PING LIST.
TERRI NEEDS YOU NOW... Thanks, FV
The decay of modern civilization is happening right now.
The Terri Schiavo Case
Expert: Schiavo's feeding tube likely to be removed
A noted bioethicist says courts will ultimately side with Terri Schiavo's husband and remove it.
By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer
Published January 14, 2005
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/14/Tampabay/Expert__Schiavo_s_fee.shtml
TAMPA - The law is clear on what should happen to Terri Schiavo, a noted bioethicist said Thursday: Her feeding tube should be removed.
Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist and author, predicted the tube that has kept Schiavo alive for 14 years will be taken out by the end of the year.
"That is what the courts ultimately will go to," Caplan said. "I know what they're going to decide."
Caplan said he sympathizes with the family, and that both Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her husband, Michael Schiavo, seem to be acting with "loving motives."
"This is a bad case in the sense that you have a family torn apart," Caplan said.
Still, Caplan said, courts have consistently ruled loved ones can act as surrogates in such cases, and say what a person who can't respond would have wanted.
Those decisions also have spelled out an order in which family members are called upon: spouse, parents, siblings, other relatives.
In other words, Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael Schiavo, who says she would want the tube removed, takes precedence over her parents, who want it to stay.
The case shows the importance for everyone, young and old, to put their wishes in writing, Caplan said. People should say what treatment they would want, or who they would want to make such decisions if they no longer were able.
"If you don't like your spouse, parents, siblings or other relatives," he said jokingly, "you better write that down."
Caplan is director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, author of several books and a regular commentator on questions involving medical ethics.
In Thursday's presentation, sponsored by the University of South Florida Health Sciences Center and Tampa General Hospital, Caplan also predicted that the debate over how Americans die will shift ground over the next few years.
Before long, Caplan said, people will find themselves fighting doctors and hospitals not for the right to refuse costly medical interventions and die quietly, but for the right to receive them even when doctors think it would do little to prolong their lives.
"The next round of court cases is going to be hospitals coming in and saying, "She's 87 (and gravely ill) and you can't order us to treat.' ... I think we're going to see them flip to the other side."
Fears that hospitals and health insurers may prefer not to treat is part of the reason that the Schiavo case has become so controversial, Caplan said.
Past cases drew controversy because people feared hospitals' refusal to stop treatment, but he believes people's views have shifted.
"There's a tremendous fear of undertreatment," he said. "The cultural attitudes have changed."
Caplan laid out a history of the laws governing the right to die. As recently as the 1950s, doctors' decisions were absolute: they treated patients. Among the first to challenge such treatment were Jehovah's Witnesses, who do not believe in blood transfusions.
Gradually, that right to refuse treatment expanded until people could refuse any treatment for any reason. A series of court cases, however, limited parents' ability to refuse treatment for their children.
In 1976, Karen Ann Quinlan became the center of a right-to-life fight after her parents asked the hospital to remove her ventilator. The hospital refused. Eventually, courts ruled in favor of the parents, although Quinlan lived for several years after the ventilator was removed.
"Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist and author, predicted the tube that has kept Schiavo alive for 14 years will be taken out by the end of the year.
"That is what the courts ultimately will go to," Caplan said. "I know what they're going to decide."
IN JESUS AMEN.
And of course, the other side of this horrid nightmare never sees the light of day, like Terri being caged at Hospice of the Suncoast. Terri's the HOSTAGE OF THE SUNCOAST.
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