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Protests Outside Schiavo Hospice Chaotic
AP via Yahoo ^ | 3/26/05 | JILL BARTON,

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: schiavo; terri; terrihysteria; terrischiavo
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To: ma bell

----"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.-----


What a selfish egotistical do-gooder brat.


401 posted on 03/27/2005 12:57:08 AM PST by geopyg ("It's not that liberals don't know much, it's just that what they know just ain't so." (~ R. Reagan))
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To: thomaswest

"The moral and spiritual issues about Terri are not about her sex life nor her husband's."

True. Although I did hear a snippet on a news show saying Michael got a settlement of ~$300,000 dollars for not being able to have relations with Terri anymore. Didn't catch why there was a settlement. If it was an insurance thing - or did some doctor mess up in the initial treatment of Terri or what.


402 posted on 03/27/2005 1:03:10 AM PST by geopyg ("It's not that liberals don't know much, it's just that what they know just ain't so." (~ R. Reagan))
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To: The Red Zone
You know, maybe they could have fed something to gramps so he would hang on a few minutes longer???

You Sir, or Madam are one sick individual.!!!

403 posted on 03/27/2005 1:19:28 AM PST by Irish Eyes
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To: ma bell
her parents can not be trusted either. they are selfish for prolonging her life when she has no hope to live a half normal life. those that want her to live a half-normal life are extremely selfish people that only self-serve their desire to be seen as "doing good" for selfish reasons only.

What do you consider a "normal" life? How many people are disabled, parapalegic, quadrapalegic, Down's syndrome, retarded? Are there loved one's "selfish" for refusing to help them survive day to day?

What is your definition of "half-normal"?

We take on horse rescues. Animals who are no longer "useful" or living "half-normal" lives but they are loved and fed to the end of their natural lives. It's an act of compassion. At what point would someone like you just put a bullet through their head?

404 posted on 03/27/2005 2:38:19 AM PST by N. Beaujon (I)
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To: ma bell
from your comments, it is all about 'terri'... she is nothing special, people.

You're nothing special. In fact, you're revolting.

405 posted on 03/27/2005 2:41:10 AM PST by N. Beaujon (I)
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To: 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.

Courtesy of Michael Schiavo, Judge Greer, and the ghoul Felos.

406 posted on 03/27/2005 2:47:11 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (IMPEACH ACTIVIST JUDGES!!! WHOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!!!)
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To: ma bell
oh please, you are an idiot for that statement, lightening.

You don't think that we're defined by the innocents we torture and murder?

407 posted on 03/27/2005 2:48:00 AM PST by The Duke
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To: isrul
"You must cut hospice a little slack. After all, live discharges cost them money. I'm sure it was nothing personal, just business."

Of course it is just "business" to them. Their business is death. When Terri has died, they'll have someone else in her bed before you know it. Terri had NO business in Hospice. Hospice is for those that have 6 months or less with a TERMMINAL disease. Terri was NOT terminal. She was brain damaged. I think Hospice should have refused her on THOSE grounds. Also it's HOW they kill people. There is nothing "beautiful" about starving a person to death. Nothing. It's inhumane. I put my cats down who were terminal with cancer when they could no longer eat. Terri was eating through a feeding tube. No, Hospice has dirty hands here and whenever they starve a person to death. There is also mixed HEARSAY on IF Terri wanted this. You ERR ON THE SIDE OF LIFE.
408 posted on 03/27/2005 4:55:55 AM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: rwfromkansas

He doesn't seem very rich to me. Most of the million dollars went towards attorney's fees. Anyway, a million doesn't go that far. I dont' think he is in the lap of luxury.


409 posted on 03/27/2005 5:19:00 AM PST by merry10
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To: vishnu6
Clearly?

yes, clearly.

however, if you go into denial mode, for gawd knows what reasons spurred on by what personal issues, then you might begin to wonder if your eyes are playing tricks on you.

but if you're capable of viewing the video without any media, emotional or ideolgically induced delusions, it's plain as the keys on your computer that Terri Sciavo was conscious in the film.

John Kerry might try to tell you it was all a gruesome fabrication, but who'd believe him?

410 posted on 03/27/2005 5:54:31 AM PST by the invisib1e hand ("remember, from ashes you came, to ashes you will return.")
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To: Javelina
She's upset because she missed the last moments of her grandfather's life. Chill out. The world doesn't revolve around Terri Schiavo. There are other tragedies out there. Oh wait, no there aren't.

cry me a river. some things are bigger than personal convenience or preference. uh, nevermind.

411 posted on 03/27/2005 5:56:55 AM PST by the invisib1e hand ("remember, from ashes you came, to ashes you will return.")
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To: vishnu6
Give me a break.

with my blessing. adios.

412 posted on 03/27/2005 5:57:30 AM PST by the invisib1e hand ("remember, from ashes you came, to ashes you will return.")
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To: editor-surveyor; All

I don't have all the facts on hospices, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were grossly overused. I think this topic struck a nerve, among other reasons, because we ALL have to face our own (physical) mortality eventually.

If the legal principles of this case are that the spouse (husband) has the final say on a person's treatment and that his evidence as to her wishes is given the greatest deference, then let's test it with a hypothetical. Do you think we'd be hearing the same people defending this situation as "a private matter, in which government should not get involved" if a woman were in this state and pregnant, and the parents wanted her to have an abortion for health reasons? What if the husband told the court that his wife would rather not have an abortion, even at great risk to her own health or even life, and had "medical experts" who said she would probably not recover anyway? What if the husband allowed her communion but not morphine, rather than the other way around?

I don't know.

Best Easter wishes. God help us all.


413 posted on 03/27/2005 7:43:01 AM PST by cvq3842
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To: Cicero
"Well, if you don't want scenes like this around your hospice, maybe you shouldn't allow your hospice to be used as a prison and killing ground. Maybe you shouldn't fire your nurses for talking to a patient. Maybe you shouldn't violate your Hypocratic Oath by allowing patients under your charge to be maltreated."

And maybe, you shouldn't admit people who ARE NOT DYING!!!!

414 posted on 03/27/2005 9:25:25 AM PST by jackibutterfly
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Comment #415 Removed by Moderator

To: geopyg

HEY. I'm divorced, can I get money for going without sex too?
Would I have to move to Florida?
Seriouly, though, has anyone heard of a settlement where you got money for loss of sexual priviledges? Especially where you weren't doing without anyway?


416 posted on 03/27/2005 10:05:11 AM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: Javelina

Bottom line. With food and water she lives. Without it she dies just like everyone else in the world. That is murder. Short and simple.


417 posted on 03/27/2005 10:08:57 AM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: the Deejay
By your comments I would venture to say you are the type that when subjected to a full search at the airport, gets a lawyer and goes to the media screaming about the injustice, your time that was wasted, the embarrassment, the inconvenience, and it has ruined sex for you the rest of your life, so now you want $20,000,000 in compensation.

But, that's just an opinion.

418 posted on 03/27/2005 10:15:37 AM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: ma bell

ANd the cop at the door searches the parents for video equipment. Because?


419 posted on 03/27/2005 10:17:05 AM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: UCANSEE2
Not at all.....I have no objections to security searches at airports, courts, etc., etc.

You have me pegged 100% wrong.

420 posted on 03/27/2005 10:28:25 AM PST by the Deejay ( I'LL RESPECT YOUR OPINION....IF YOU'LL RESPECT MINE.....)
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