Posted on 03/22/2005 3:58:24 AM PST by billorites
Shameful! There's really no other word to describe what is now both the Terri Schiavo ``case'' and the Terri Schiavo ``law.''
Before there was a ``case'' or a ``law,'' Terri Schiavo was just a 26-year-old woman, wife to Michael Schiavo, daughter of Bob and Mary Schindler. Then in 1990 a heart attack, likely resulting from an eating disorder, cut the oxygen to her brain, putting her in what doctors describe as ``a persistent vegetative state.''
Since then Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers have played dysfunctional family - neither willing to relent on who should have the last word on Terri Schiavo's care. They have fought out their battle over 15 years before 19 different judges in six different courts and the Florida Legislature, which attempted - ultimately unsuccessfully - to intervene. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to intervene in the case on three separate occasions.
Common sense has long since gone out the window as politicians, first at the state level and now in Congress, have shamelessly used the case to pursue their political agendas - and as the equally shameful relatives of Terri Schiavo have allowed themselves to be so used.
Ah, but there's so very much shame to go around here. The U.S. Senate, of course, passed the Schiavo bill ``unanimously'' on a voice vote with only three members present Sunday because, well, all of those future Democratic presidential contenders like Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry [related, bio] wouldn't want to actually put this to a debate and roll call.
Then, of course, there's the utter shamelessness of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - Dr. Frist, a heart surgeon, remember - who insisted after watching a video that Terri Schiavo ``has a level of consciousness.''
Most doctors actually examine a patient before rendering a diagnosis, but not when that doctor ends up in Congress.
And then, of course, there was the 203-58 vote in the House, in which a lot of good Republicans who as a matter of philosophy want to keep the federal courts out of people's lives were perfectly willing to make an exception in this case where the political stakes were high.
The only question is whether Terri Schiavo's due process rights were protected. And the answer is more than those of any patient, anytime, anywhere.
The electrodes shouldn't even be there... if they are, there's a whole new malpractice suit waiting to happen.
Judge Greer has repeatedly allowed Michael Schiavo to skirt his statutory duty to file mandatory annual guardianship plans to establish a ward's approved plan of care for the coming year. This appears to be a direct violation of the applicable Florida Statutes
Frankly, politics should have nothing to do with this. Terri Schiavo is alive, awake, and breathing on her own. She should have the HUMAN RIGHT not to be starved to death. As for the politics of it, she is supposed to have the right to LIFE under the Declaration of Indepence.
There's a big difference between a shunt and electrodes.
You know, if you're going to post on such a contentious subject, at least have ONE of your facts straight.
Is this the Manchester Union in New Hampshier? Aren't they supposed to be conservative?
...Progress can be slow, but I think we're starting to turn things around.
Good. Then be prepared to be impolite as I have for many years.
Sigh. I thought so. Maybe there are pods in their cellar :(
That's why they wear the big D with pride, which stands for Democrat and Death.
Nice try. But I wrote stents. Small metallic mesh tubes inserted into coronary and other arteries to keep them patent. And stents are a contraindication for MRI for a period of six-twelve months. My point being that though Terri could not have had the MRI in the past, it would be feasible today, and would define the damage done to her brain. A PET scan would have given more information than did the CT scans which were done.
Have you actually asked a doctor if someone with electrodes can have an MRI? Try it.
Ironic that many of the same forces that want to allow a single judge to starve a woman to death are using the concept of shame to attack those that want to keep her alive.
It was these same forces that criticized conservatives for using the concept of shame in criticizing Bill Clinton and his disrespect of the Oval Office.
Their claim was essentially that the concept of shame died a long time ago, that it is an old-fashioned concept and we need to be more progressive.
What year and from what school did you receive your MD?
Hey, if you don't want to hear the truth, that's fine. We'll stop communicating.
Apparantly that has already happened. You keep repeating the same cant without change. But if you wish to terminate our cross-purpose monologues, I shall be happy to oblige.
When you start sending me snotty remarks like "when did I get my MD", I think it's time to stop discussing this matter.
I can read court documents as easily as the next person and certainly don't need a medical degree to do it.
Only because of the actions of euthanasia advocates. That doesn't make it right, or desirable. These death advocates really have me scared, because their ultimate desire is to remove all of those who are less than perfect in every way.
That such over the top hyperbole that I can't respond.
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