Posted on 03/19/2005 8:00:19 AM PST by beyond the sea
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Friday that subpoenas issued by Sen. Mike Enzi compelling Terri Schiavo to appear at a March 28 congressional hearing made it a crime to disconnect her feeding tube - and threatened anyone who interfered with her testimony with jail.
In a statement issued by the majority leader's office, Frist said:
"Federal criminal law protects witnesses called before official Congressional committee proceedings from anyone who may obstruct or impede a witness’ attendance or testimony."
"More specifically," said the Senate's top Republican, "the law protects a witness from anyone who - by threats, force, or by any threatening letter or communication - influences, obstructs, or impedes an inquiry or investigation by Congress.
"Anyone who violates this law is subject to criminal fines and imprisonment," Frist said.
His comments appeared to be directed at Florida state judge George Greer, who brazenly defied the Enzi subpoena on Friday and ordered Schiavo's starvation to commence.
Frist's statement echoed comments by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who said late Friday that he intended to charge Greer with contempt of Congress.
"No little judge sitting in a state district court in Florida is going to usurp the authority of Congress," he complained.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
He should be let loose into the general prison population as well as wearing orange for this depravity of ruling.
Frist - get to work on federal issues and but out of this case. There won't be another republican sent to congress from Florida if you keep feeding this circus.
Threatening isn't doing.
"I have seen two of these "death by dehydration" things go down in a hospital, and both involved morphine every one to two hours around the clock. It's my understanding that this is rather standard. It relaxes the patient, prevents pain/discomfort, and depresses respiration, which typically, as a side effect, hastens death.
We did administer other meds, such as motrin, tylenol, etc for fevers (because the patient often spikes a temp. as the dehydration progresses), or other things as needed for comfort."
My experiences have been similiar to yours.....Roxanol and Ativan every 2 hours as needed for pain/shortness of breath....that was our typical hospice order. I worked in a typical long-term care unit that ocassionally had hospice patients. I will say that most of the nurses that I worked with, me included, were careful to count the resp. before giving the morphine and held it if the resp were 12 or below. While we wanted the patient to be comfortable, no one really wanted to feel that they were the one the caused resp to cease.
I had morphine on the list! Morphine sulfate!
As Cheryl Ford notes:
(b) Dyspnea — nebulize low dose 2-5 mg. Morphine sulfate Q4 prn [four times a day as needed].
“Dyspnea is when you have difficulty breathing. What they’re going to do is use a nebulizer the way you might use for asthmatics — only instead of giving a histamine to help her breathe, they’re going to give Terri morphine sulfate, which only suppresses respiration more. In the later phases she’ll start gasping for air.”
If I left it out of the post, I surely didn't mean to!
Dear Knitting,
I guess I don't know what we're debating then...I misunderstood your meaning going way back. I thought you were saying there wasn't going to be morphine in Terri's protocol. (Though I must say, I have never heard of it being given by nebulizer...that's ok, I've been off the career track for many years.) We gave it through a hep lock (IV).
As I said before, I'm concerned that Terri's doctors will push the morphine protocol to speed things up. Is that ethical, probably not, but how ethical has this group been up until now.
I apologize for the misunderstanding. I'm a conservative Catholic too, we are on the same side.
Who is Cheryl Ford? Is she with Terri's Hospice? I have never heard of giving it by neb either. We gave by mouth; very small amount, was absorbed through mucous membranes if they could not swallow.
I don't like this at all....poor Terri.....not even being given an opportunity to relay if she is uncomfortable and needs it or not....
Does anyone know if her family, the one that loves her, is being allowed any visitation at this time. To die alone without the people that love you there.....how awful.
Yes! We are on the same side!
I just saw someone wondering about the drug protocol, and I had been hearing some people wondering if they would use morphine, and I suspect morphine is sop...and like you, I wonder if they are going to be liberal with its usage to hurry things along.
I have made a promise to God to go down fighting if I have to, but I will not be quiet about the inhumane things done like this!
What's next, putting down Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients?
I agree with you. What COULD it all lead to? Will courts be telling nurses they have to do this to any patient that court decides just doesn't need to live any longer?
If you really want Terri to live, go to DU, sign up and post how this is an abuse situation with all the documentation you can find (X-rays, Protective custody orders etc.)
Focus on what their hot button issues are and be positive.
There are a number of threads so just pick one.
"...to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part."
How did the law become that there was no *assumption* that a patient would choose to live rather than to die unless explicitly expressed?
What you're really saying is that Terri can't speak for herself so we are going to legally presume the ex-husband would speak on what is best for Terri rather than what's convenient for the ex-husband.
Judge Greer is ignoring the right to life guaranteed in the preamble of our Consitutuion and should be presumed to be true of all life in all circumstances except when the law expressly states otherwise (such as the death penalty).
My mind is not changed. He is not correctly interpreting the law and he should be arrested and tried for attempted murder.
Big Brother
There is a document on the Thrown Back blog, it belongs to a priest whose name escapes me, but there is a document there regarding the "exit protocol" with commentary *I think* by Cheryl Ford.
I have looked at it but not closely. I think someone else brought up Cheryl Ford, I don't know much about her.
I'm very upset about Terri's plight....I'm praying for her, right now that's all I can do. God bless Terri and her family.
What's next, putting down Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients?
****
That's exactly what I've said on other threads. Folks, there are thousands of people who can't feed themselves and mentally disabled for one reason or another--senility, retardation, Alzheimers', Parkinsons, quadriplegia due to accident or MS --on and on goes the list.
Are we as a society going after them next?
Cheryl Ford has worked with the Schindlers on trying to help Terri. I think she was a nurse at the nursing home Terri was at. She is the Action Volunteers Coordinator at Fight4Terri, and is a registered nurse.
I was relating it to the Judge leaving his church, which seemed to mean to some on here that he did not beleive in God.
I think First has learned the lesson that politics will not tolerate idle words. If he is shown to "shoot blanks" then voters will WRITE and VOTE accordingly.
GWBush won big because he meant what said and said what he meant. Not perfectly but a new politician for a new era.
Kennedy and Kerry and Clintonian puffery will not work in this day and age over the broad populace.
Leaving a church doesn't necessarily mean anything. Leaving a church because one is at odds with the church's stance on the sanctity of life does, especially when that one is ordering an innocent person to die. That was my point.
Oops, sorry. I'm new to this format. *blush*
From what I understand, the USAG can order the Marshals in, but congress may not.
RFK used his power to send Marshals down south to ensure that black students were allowed access to recently desegregated schools in Mississippi, for example. Mississippi had chosen not to uphold federal law, so Marshals were sent in to enforce it.
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