Posted on 03/25/2005 6:36:42 PM PST by SusanD
CNot Dead at All Why Congress was right to stick up for Terri Schiavo. By Harriet McBryde Johnson Posted Wednesday, March 23, 2005, at 4:50 AM PT
1. Ms. Schiavo is not terminally ill. She has lived in her current condition for 15 years. This is not about end-of-life decision-making. The question is whether she should be killed by starvation and dehydration.
2. Ms. Schiavo is not dependent on life support. Her lungs, kidneys, heart, and digestive systems work fine. Just as she uses a wheelchair for mobility, she uses a tube for eating and drinking. Feeding Ms. Schiavo is not difficult, painful, or in any way heroic. Feeding tubes are a very simple piece of adaptive equipment, and the fact that Ms. Schiavo eats through a tube should have nothing to do with whether she should live or die.
3. This is not a case about a patient's right to refuse treatment. I don't see eating and drinking as "treatment," but even if they are, everyone agrees that Ms. Schiavo is presently incapable of articulating a decision to refuse treatment. The question is who should make the decision for her, and whether that substitute decision-maker should be authorized to kill her by starvation and dehydration.
. . . 7. In addition to the rights all people enjoy, Ms. Schiavo has a statutory right under the Americans With Disabilities Act not to be treated differently because of her disability. Obviously, Florida law would not allow a husband to kill a nondisabled wife by starvation and dehydration; killing is not ordinarily a private matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.msn.com ...
Michael Schiavo is the only person cited in regards to relaying her 'wish to die' in such a scenario; any debate should consider this, as it appears that the left is stating this as if it were fact.
This arguement is going to go on long after Terri is no longer with us. I want to see hearing in congress about this and I want this nation to look starkly into the face of what they advocated.....before knowing the facts.
ping
It appears that Micheal has taken lessons from the great "Flip Flopper" himself.
Clear and convincing evidence my butt.
Nice, but it's kinda late for them to be weighing in.
They would have been very useful a week or two ago.
Now it's just about too late. . .
Here is the one thing I don't get. They say she is vegative because she must have the "life support" of a feeding tube. Yet they have made it a crime to feed her by mouth, or to offer her a drink. If she can't eat or drink by mouth, why do they need guns and jails to keep people from even attempting to give her sustenance by mouth? [Note: I know the answer, but I'm just really frustrated about it.]
LOL, how long did that last? What was it, a day or two after he cashed the check he dumped her in the hospice?
Lawrence Tribe did this very thing the other night on Fox News. A so-called constitutional law "expert" didn't even discuss the legal issues or the legal procedure involved. He simply vomited the left mantra.
I am really happy that W's elections knocked out his getting to the Supreme Court bench.
That's all you hear.........."Terry wants to die"..........it's more accurate to say, "Michael Schiavo, the only supposed witness to her wishes".........and to be frank, he's sorely lacking in the credibility department here.
I would want to see the body autopsied regarding previous broken bones and all the other things that might have happened to Terri.
My understanding is that right away Michael gets to whisk her off and cremate her and any evidence of previous foul play.
"...The lapse of time between the various offenses and the indictment of defendant on July 27, 1967, is considerable but is adequately explained by the record. The murder weapon in each case was unique, insulin. The deaths of each of these victims were initially attributed to causes other than a criminal agency. Suspicion of insulin and of defendant as the person administering the insulin was not aroused until the death of Zella in 1956. It was not until years later, after much painstaking and persistent investigation by law enforcement officers, and the discovery of advances made in {Page 3 Cal.3d 621} medical knowledge and techniques, that sufficient evidence could be accumulated to charge defendant with these deaths. Unfortunately, by then other of defendant's victims had lost their lives. This is the only known reported case of murder by insulin poisoning in the United States. Only one other, reported world-wide, occurred in England in 1956. ..."
"...Dr. Grace Fern Thomas, a psychiatrist and an expert in insulin shock therapy, and director of the insulin shock department at the time defendant was at Camarillo, testified as to the procedures on the ward. A precise dosage of insulin was measured for each person at a particular time. At a specific level that patient would go into shock in approximately two hours after the injection. Patients do not progress at the same level. Careful watch must be kept of the pulse, color, blood pressure, general condition, and neurological signs, such as pupillary changes and body motions. When a patient is going into progressive stages of coma he sweats very profusely and breathes very heavily. Saliva is secreted in large amounts, mucous flows freely and mixes with the saliva, and the patient must be carefully watched, turned, or assisted so that he does not aspirate the fluid into his lungs. Otherwise bronchopneumonia may develop, leading to death. The gag reflex and the cornea reflex are lost. Convulsions may occur, and medication is given to prevent this. The extremities may stiffen. At a relatively deep level of coma the Babinski test (scatching the sole of the foot in a certain manner) will cause a reflex known as the Babinski response (toes fan out). The patient must be brought out of the coma within 10-15 minutes thereafter. This is done by administering glucose through gastric tubes, and if this is not effective, glucose is administered intravenously to raise the blood sugar.
If anyone should be screaming about this, it's the Disability Rights Advocates! I mean they are next, right? Got Cerbral Palsy? Hands drawn up, can't feed yourself? Can't control your muscles to speak? Too bad, you gotta die. No hope for you to 'GET BETTER' so you gotta go.
Didn't you know? Disabled people are inconvenient. They cost money. They are reminders of what might happen to us. Now that we can no longer hide them in the attic it's best that we put them in a hospice and starve them.
What, they didn't ask the follow up question about the children he has had with his mistress? Gee, I wonder why not?
Exactly. I suppose they may have thought that the system wouldn't fail Terri.
"This is not about end-of-life decision-making. The question is whether she should be killed by starvation and dehydration."
Spot on. To be more correct, IMHO, it should read, "This is about an ENDING-of-life decision-making."
Our neighbors' daughter has severe cerebral palsey and there would be WWIII if she were in hospice being starved. Her father would be loaded for bear and taking no prisoners and her mother would be doing the reloading.
I wonder have they filed any statement with the courts on her behalf. I think they should be very afraid if this comes to the death of Terri. The question then becomes who's next?
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