[Wolfstar]

Why all the passion over the Schiavo case, and not over all the other comparable cases?

[Wolfstar]

Pinging you FYI

[cripplecreek]

We'll be seeing more of them. Count on it.

[TheDon]

Agreed. I was unaware that starving the mentally disabled to death was already standard practice in the US. Pretty scary stuff!

[rocksblues]

I believe the passion is due to the fact that her husband received a monetary award because he promised to take care of her for the rest of his life and after receiving same he stopped all therapy for her chances of recovery!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[queenkathy]

In the case of Quinlan...Was she also taken off of all nourishment? Or just life support machines?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

google cranford+Cruzan+schiavo

[A CA Guy]

I had pointed this out for the whole month stating what about the passion for the many who don't get press coverage?

Doesn't make this any less a horror though.

[Lion in Winter]

I remember well the HUGE outcry about the Quinlan case. In fact, I remember sending a letter of support to the hospital oficials who DID NOT want to take her off the respirator.

I do not know how old you are, but I REMEMBER this case well.

I was quite pleased that she lived WITHOUT that respirator... for 9 years or so.

[muawiyah]

Why the different levels of concern ~ probably because the Schiavo case is different.

[Peach]

Good questions. Most cases are handled quietly between family and doctor.

Our local newspaper has headlined for a couple of days now families faced with similar decisions and what they did and why.

It's an intensely personal decision for a family and their stories have been gut wrenching and never easily made.

The Wolson Report submitted to Jeb Bush, which was formatted into HTML tonight, makes extensive mention of this matter with the full understanding that there are slippery slopes in both directions.

A national conversation will result from this and that's a good thing. I had not realized until earlier in the week that people did not understand that a huge number of people are taken off feeding tubes in this country in hospitals and nursing homes every day of the week. So people need to pay more attention to the various kinds of life support including feeding tubes.

For those interested, this is the official position of the Unitd States Conference of Catholic Bishops. There are a great many instances, including Terri's, where death by starvation is permitted within church doctrine.
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/euthanas/nutqa.htm

I understand the Vatican has released a different statement and one would hope there would be some commonality between them but if there is, I haven't seen it.

[muawiyah]

But, as an earlier poster noted, there was a great deal of concern with the other two cases that made the news. YOu just don't remember.

[onyx]

IMO, this case has garned all the media attention for two
primary reasons:

1. inability to confirm her wishes
2. the release of the culled videos

Sadly, this matter should have been resolved within her family.

[YourAdHere]

This has been my point from the beginning. These decisions are made rather often, and they don't get publicity at all. Family matter.

Bradypalooza

[donbosco74]

Terri has the benefit of three things: a family (parents and brother) that wants to care for her, a Pope who dares to support her moral right to receive the care, and faithful Christians who support the good intentions of the Pope and Terri's family. She also has the unfortunate disagreement of her husband, his brother, and a culture of death that desire to advance the agenda of the New World Order.

There might be other cases thus similar to Terri's, however. If you know any, why don't you list their names and locations so local sympathizers can do something about it? We don't know what we are not told. Terri's in the news. She didn't get there because people are hypocrites. And if we lose the fight for Terri's life, the fight for other, similar lives will be all the more difficult.

[blackdog]

I was in high school during the Quinlan event. We all talked about it for months. One needs to swallow an awful lot of valium and booze to go into a coma. At least ten valiums and a six pack just put you in a dopey state and you experience a loss of short term memory. In the early 80's I remembered the Quinlan event again as she came close to death. The story was in the news every day and on early talk radio nonstop. She kept getting recurring bouts of pneumonia due to her immobility and shallow breathing. The pneumonias became a monthly thing. It was at least six months of suffering from pneumonia and antibiotic treatments until the lungs just gave out.

She was not ignored and it was quite controvercial in the Philadelphia area. News wasn't 24/7 and there was no internet. Granted CNN had just gone on air, but it wasn't their cup of tea.

[yldstrk]

Hello, the difference is there is an issue in the Schiavo case whether she is in a PVS or not.

[jdhljc169]

Why all the passion over the Schiavo case, and not over all the other comparable cases?

****
One, her wishes weren't clear. Two, we have husband's motives are very suspicious. Three, there is controversary among doctors of whether she is PVS or is aware. Four, when in doubt, you err on the side of life, NOT DEATH!
Anybody else?

[Deb]

Maybe you weren't around, but the Karen Ann Quinlan case was as big as any "baby-down-the-well" story at the time. There was huge "passion" over her case. The question is absurd.

[TASMANIANRED]

This is the dirtiest case I have ever heard of.

Brain injured woman.

Husband comes into cash and suddenly remembers she wants to die.

Husband wants to have control over her death even though he has shacked up and made babies with another woman.

Husband doesn't want her but won't let parents take custody of her.

In most of the other cases there wasn't a dispute that a husbands right to kill superseded a parents right to want to protect.

[D-fendr]

A) We don't know her condition or chances for improvement. She's been denied basic diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
B) We don't know her wishes.


There's a great deal more, but these are the basic answers I have to your question.

This is a very unusual case, not that similar at all to the ones in the article.