Posted on 03/26/2005 3:08:40 PM PST by ma bell
When Johnson arrived, a police officer demanded identification; she had none. And after a hospice employee cleared her, another officer halted her for a search with a metal detector.
The delays lasted three to four minutes — the last of her grandfather's life.
"It's a terrible, extra obstacle to put in front of a family. ... Everything is about Schiavo," Johnson said. "It's all about her and in my family's case, it cost us dearly."
Woodside Hospice has 70 patients besides Schiavo, whose parents are desperately trying to have her feeding tube reconnected. Dozens of protesters have arrived from across the nation since the tube was removed March 18, and at least 15 have been arrested, prompting a police barricade around the facility and unprecedented security.
Family members visiting patients must pass through a police checkpoint to park, then show identification outside the door before another security screening inside. They also must walk by scores of signs decrying Schiavo's "crucifixion," "torture," and "starvation," plus navigate around hordes of media who have been camped outside.
"To have to maneuver through all of this and have a hostile environment outside when all they want is peace and quiet and to enjoy those few days they have left with a loved one is a horror," said Dr. Morton Getz, executive director of Douglas Gardens Hospice in Miami.
Getz said many people with a family member in a hospice have to make the same excruciating decision that courts have made for Schiavo.
"It's causing a lot of grief and questions in their own mind on whether they did the right thing," he said. "It's unconscionable to have a family member to be near the end stages of life and to get there, you have to walk through signs that say, 'Murderer.'"
Most protesters direct their signs and their chants against the courts and Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, who insists she would not want to be kept alive artificially.
But walking through a hostile environment can only add stress to what's already an emotionally draining situation.
"It probably has the same psychological effect on the residents' families as it does on someone who is walking into an abortion clinic and facing signs and aggressive behavior," said Elizabeth Foley, a Florida International University law professor who specializes in bioethics.
Over the past few days, as Schiavo's parents' attempts to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted repeatedly failed, signs outside the hospice have grown more desperate. Doctors have said Schiavo would probably die within a week or two of the feeding tube being removed.
Messages compare Michael Schiavo to Scott Peterson (news - web sites), convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in California, and John Evander Couey, who allegedly murdered a 9-year-old girl in Homosassa.
One woman in a wheelchair regularly moves up and down sidewalks in front of the hospice yelling in a megaphone, "We're disabled, not disposable!" and "Terri is a person, not a vegetable!"
Relatives of hospice residents say the clamor — intended to rattle Michael Schiavo — rattles their patience.
"It's a real pain in the neck," said Bill Douglass, whose mother-in-law is a resident. He said the only consolation is that she is "oblivious" to the outside scene.
Police and hospice officials say they are trying to minimize the intrusion on hospice residents and their families, and that the security measures are meant to protect the privacy and safety of all residents, not just Schiavo.
But Johnson, 24, said her 73-year-old grandfather, Thomas Bone, was restricted from moving freely around the hospice grounds during his final days. He died just hours after Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed and protests intensified.
"They've taken away hospice's greatest quality, that it is peaceful and serene and quiet and calming — and it's not fair," Johnson said.
whoa, wait a minute there nor lights......I never ever said anyone can't be emotional at all......I said that when emotion overtakes our reasoning and logic and makes some espouse anarchy like last nights thread, well there it is where I would draw the line......
Just like airport security, I've nothing to hide.
We don't need hospices.
Do a little research on hospices and the mistreatment and abuse of the elderly and the sick before you cannonized the lot.
That very hospice is currently being investigated.
Call them yourself as you apparently don't have a clue why this woman was running around in her PJ's 4 minutes before her grandpa died. And the idiots that blocked her were the cops, not the protesters. Try getting some info before posting silly claims just because some MSM hitpiece says so.
hey lightening..the cops were there becuase of the unruly protesters, get it? lay off your whiskey!
Huh?
Welcome to Earth.
The Schindlers are stripped searched and scanned with a wand before they can get to Terri's room. It takes 10-15 minutes for them to go through the process,which was explained by the brother on Hannityon Wed.night.
I was just kidding ;0)
"Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great... and if a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate..."
;0)
Not telling the whole truth.
No 'slack' coming from here! - She sent him there to die, rather than be restored to health.
That hardly qualifies as an intelligent refutation of his opinion.
Name calling is not serving either side well.
Security, doncha know. This dangerous woman must be prevented from escaping her execution. < /sarcasm >
"To have to maneuver through all of this and have a hostile environment outside when all they want is peace and quiet and to enjoy those few days they have left with a loved one is a horror,"
Not nearly as much of a horror as having to stand by helplessly watching your child be murdered at the pleasure of an adulterous husband and a black-hearted robed dictator.
"It's causing a lot of grief and questions in their own mind on whether they did the right thing,"
Yes; we certainly wouldn't want anybody rethinking the acceptability of killing.
"It's a real pain in the neck,"
How tragic for you. I'm sure you will get a personal apology for your inconvenience from the almighty judge when this is all over. < /sarcasm>
"They've taken away hospice's greatest quality, that it is peaceful and serene and quiet and calming — and it's not fair," Johnson said."
Well, you're right about that. It's not fair. It is also not fair that Terri should have been taken to a place of death when she was very much alive. It is not fair that our culture which traditionally cherished and valued life is being swallowed up by one that has an obession with death. It is not fair that that the courts violate the Constitution to pronounce a torturous death sentence on an innocent woman. There are a great many things not fair about this whole sorry, wretched mess, but I guess you'll just have to suck it up and deal with it like the rest of us are being forced to do.
Well, yes....after a bunch of people 'took the law into their own hands.' I'm sure there were many, many colonists who took your view back before the Revolution.
Just an illustration that your silly 'tut-tutting' about 'taking the law into your own hands' is simply dependent on your view of the issue. I'm sure you revere the founding fathers for their principled stand, especially when they 'took the law into their own hands.' Frankly, it's the reason they're the 'Founding Fathers.'
if you are ready to pick up arms and defy the laws of the land, then by all means, fire the first shot......again, the fringe element generalizes to areas not relevent to the discussion......hell, I could find any synopsis or dissertaion refuting any and all opinions you offer on any subject.......but of course, cooler heads will prevail......nice pics though......good job
Do I advocate revolution? No, primarily because it wouldn't work and now it really doesn't matter. IMHO America is finished, and the Schiavo milemarker just shows that it's moved that much closer to collapse. We are now no better than Europe, because we have sacrificed our moral authority.
Whose choice? The father's choice? Are you openly advocating the right of people to euthanize the infirm simply because they are a guardian? This is exactly why the Schiavo case is so important.
That's what I thought after reading this article, too. Look at me!! The protesters chant, "look at ME. ME ME ME."
Wrong. They can be a viable place for end of life care...I know several terminal cancer patients that spent their last hours in hospice care - and they were treated very humanely. The staff was very respectful, and was there for the families before, and after their loved one's death.
In Terri's case, she should have been in a skilled care-rehab facility, not her husband's lawyer's death warehouse.
That's the point of protesting, to change one's mind about a situation.
You are completely out of line in making this statement.
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