Rights Groups Mum on Schiavo's Torture

NewsMax.com ^ | March 12, 2005 | Carl Limbacher

[Carl/NewsMax]

Court approved plans to starve a brain damaged Florida woman to death later this month have prompted no outrage from human rights groups - even though, under international law, forced starvation is considered a form of torture.

A Lexis Nexis search on the case of Terri Schiavo, whose starvation-execution will begin when her feeding tube is removed on March 18, failed to turn up a single reference to complaints by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The two groups have vehemently protested what they say is the abuse of terrorist suspects detained at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, calling tactics employed by U.S. interrogators, such sleep deprivation and the playing of loud music, forms of psychological torture banned under the Geneva Convention.

Articles 14 and 54 of the Geneva protocols, however, also expressly prohibit the starvation of non-combatants - even in wartime conditions:

"Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited," states Article 54. "The prohibition on using starvation against civilians is a rule from which no derogation may be made. A form of words whereby it would have been possible to make an exception in case of imperative military necessity was not adopted."

Article 14 of the Geneva protocols states: "It should be noted that even if starvation were not subject to an official legal prohibition, it is nowadays no longer an acceptable phenomenon, irrespective of how it arises [natural disaster or induced by man]."

According to medical experts, after her feeding tube is removed, Ms. Schiavo's will experience extreme pain and significant psychological distress during the two weeks that her starvation-execution is expected to take.

Her skin, tongue and lips will begin to crack due to dehydration. Schiavo will likely suffer chronic nosebleeds as mucous membranes dry out, followed by heaving and vomiting as the stomach lining dries out.

Her mouth is expected to develop painful ulcers. As Schiavo's brain is deprived of fluid, she is expected to suffer grand mal seizures.

Because the 41-year-old woman is in good health with a normal body weight of 138 lbs, she could linger longer than a patient who was already terminally ill.

Cheryl Ford, a former oncology nurse-turned-Schiavo activist, says that doctors supervising Schiavo's starvation-execution plan to take extreme measures to mask her physical agony, including the regular application of skin moisturizer and pain killing drugs.

[trisham]

Cheryl Ford, a former oncology nurse-turned-Schiavo activist, says that doctors supervising Schiavo's starvation-execution plan to take extreme measures to mask her physical agony, including the regular application of skin moisturizer and pain killing drugs.

**************

I simply cannot imagine anyone who calls themselves a "doctor" doing this. It's incomprehensible.

[alloysteel]

Apparently, some lives are just worth more than others. Now if Terri had just gone on a rampage and shot up a convenience store, killing five persons in the course of a robbery, and had been convicted with a sentence of death, they would be bending heaven and earth to keep her from being executed.

But Michael is convinced that absolutely NO course of therapy or treatment may ever permit Terri to live a semblance of life with any degree of awareness. Therefore, she must DIE. Worse, a judge agrees with this conclusion.

Maybe Michael does know any better. But the judge should.

Terri must never, ever, be allowed even the possibility that she could regain the power of speech.

[expatpat]

The rights people believe in a creed: "We must kill innocent women and babies, but don't dare harm a vicious killer in any way". Crazy, isn't it?

[Honestfreedom]

They can moisturize her skin while dehydrating her to death. How odd?

[watchdog_writer]

The starvation issue is a distraction and subterfuge. The real issue is how insurance companies will be saving billions of dollars in the future by disconnecting very costly policyholders from life support, feeding tubes, or whatever you want to call it. You see when a person has 24/7 care, in most cases the healthcare carrier is footing the bill.

Let me say this one more time – The insurance companies are not in the business of pay your medical bills, they are in the business of collecting your premiums. The best spin I can put on Terri’s case is that there is a 2% chance that your medical premiums will be reduced by a small or even insignificant amount. But don’t count on it.

I’m well aware that Terri is not a vegetable that she can communicate to some extent, more so than anyone in a vegetative state, but the case has not been made that she will feel pain or be aware of impending death if her feeding tube is pulled. Most people in my opinion realize that starving Terri is not the same as starving a person who is completely aware.

How come I am practically the only one who has been asking the question: Who has the most to gain financially from Terri’s death?

Surely it is not a conspiracy as such that economic factors enter into decisions made by judges. If you want an example, then read the opinion of Judge Blackmun and the other pro-choice judges who decided Roe v. Wade. You will find that one of their considerations was population control.

Does is seem strange to you that a judge who is deciding life an death issues will consider that it would be a good thing to kill a unborn baby because it will “reduce the surplus population”, to borrow a line from Scrooge.

[watchdog_writer]

One more interesting note Schiavo in Italian means "slave", for whatever you would like to read into it?

[DManA]

The only reason the judge is judging this issue is because her parents demanded that he judge it. And yes I do find it strange.

As to forcing insurance companies or anyone to pay to support warehouses of people on life support indefinitely, this is called slavery, also immoral.

[MarMema]

That's because she is a not a person. They have dehumanized her into a mass of tissue with no brain function.
And we have seen that kind of dehumanization before....

[e2la]

well if she doesnt have any Brain Tissue as testified to by ALL her doctors......

[gopwinsin04]

Imagine that! Amnesty International is speechless...

[MarMema]

How come I am practically the only one who has been asking the question: Who has the most to gain financially from Terri’s death?

Because Terri is only one in many. In every state a few people are killed with deliberate dehydration every day. Ask around and you will find coworkers and friends who have already done this to grandma or a parent even. I did.

I work in the medical field and I see it happening there as well. Feeding tubes are on the way out, after a hundred years of use.

[MarMema]

well if she doesnt have any Brain Tissue as testified to by ALL her doctors......

The medical field is in the process of redefining death to be centered on a stopped heart, rather than brain function. One reason for doing this is because we are so limited in our ability to understand brain function.

The authors of the article describing Karen Quinlan's pathological findings draw attention to the limitations of our understanding of the neuroanatomical basis for human consciousness. At one time consciousness was though to reside in the cortex, then came our understanding of the limbic system and the role of the brain stem reticular formation in cerebral arousal. The findings in Karen Quinlan's brain suggested that the thalamus played a more crucial role in consciousness and awareness than was previously thought.The variability of damage to different parts of the brain described in case reports of patients diagnosed as suffering from PVS, highlights the limitations of our understanding of human brain function.

[MarMema]

The other reason for doing this is because a stopped heart is a quick and easy way to declare death so that organs can be harvested.

Unknown to most of the public, hospitals are now already required to report every death to the local transplant organization even when tissue or organ donation is refused.

"....Dr. Robert Truog, who recently proposed that "individuals who desire to donate their organs and who are either neurologically devastated or imminently dying should be allowed to donate their organs, without first being declared dead". In other words, Dr. Truog wants to eliminate even the controversial NHBD protocol in favor of just taking organs from incapacitated or dying patients while they are still very much alive."

[tygershark]

I would venture a guess that after over ten years of around the clock medical care that her insurance benefits have long since expired and that she is in fact receiving medical care via Medicare or Medicaid etc. I remember that when my Father in Law had a stroke and was diagnosed as being brain dead that we a strong Christian Catholic family agreed with the doctors and had life support removed as was his wish. They administered morphine so that he would not gasp for air and appear to be in pain as he passed away.

[TheDon]

AI and HRW are far from caring about human rights.

[watchdog_writer]

The only reason the judge is judging this issue is because her parents demanded that he judge it.

You are as wrong as rain is for an open top convertible. Terri's parents didn't ask the judge to judge. As a matter of fact her estranged husband who had fathered children with another woman to whom he is not married petitioned the court to allow him to pull the feeding tube out of her and let her starve to death. Since he is still legally her husband he gets the life insurance money.  

As to forcing insurance companies or anyone to pay to support warehouses of people on life support indefinitely, this is called slavery, also immoral.

Insurance is a contract of adhesion, as it is known in legal circles. Which means that the insurance company has an unequal bargaining position, which means that they are calling the shots. No one is "forcing" insurance companies to pay for hospitals and doctors, that's what they do. That's their business, but that's not how they make their money. They make money by betting that their policyholders are not going to need so much medical treatment that it will cost them more than the policyholders pays in premiums.

"Warehousing" people? Strange choice of words, but it does connote a certain disconnect from humanity, if you get my drift? 

"Slavery"? actually Schiavo in Italian means "slave", but I'm sure you already knew that. You seem very erudite and incredibly iconoclastic. So much so that you completely lost me on that last point. We all agree that slavery is immoral. We just don't all recognize it in all its forms. You may remember from your advanced classes in etymology that one definition of slavery is: The condition of being subject or addicted to a specified influence. Like for example, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, Nancy Palosi, and especially Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.

[watchdog_writer]

In every state a few people are killed with deliberate dehydration every day... I did.

So you are saying that a person who is incompetent can be starved to death as long as the family wants to do it? Well I'm not a legal expert, but that sounds like premeditated murder to me.

I work in the medical field and I see it happening there as well.

Then you should report it to the local police.

You made my point for me, thank you.

[watchdog_writer]

Not all major medical benefits expire, some are unlimited coverage for ICU. In any event, once the policy limit is reached the company's net earnings reduced considerably. But you're argument, while I respect it, doesn't negate the fact that it will be financially advantageous to pull the plug before the policy limit is reached. My prayer is that your Father in Law is with God in heaven. Thank you for replying to my post. May God continue to Bless you and your family, and may you have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

[Principled]

I wonder what would be said if the US began starving the GITMO detainees. Certainly Terri Schiavo is "more innocent" than they.

If it's OK to starve an innocent woman, why not starve guilty terrorists?