Playing God [Robert Schindler Yanks Plug on Own Mother]

Guardian Unlimited (The Guardian Online) ^ | Tuesday November 4, 2003 | Suzanne Goldenberg

[ohioWfan]

It doesn't matter if you 'believe' Terri is terminal. She only became terminal when they took away her food and water.

You'd be terminal too, in that case, wouldn't you?

MS's word is NOT proof. It's hearsay. There is no proof that Terri wanted to die. NO LEGAL PROOF.

[Mrs.Nooseman]

Pardon me,but you are new here,so let me guide you to the Terri information Page!

His testemony is hearsay and he only remembered this after 7 years and after he won a settlement for melpractice on her behalve!

I am not sure how familiar you are with this case,but I've been following this from the beginning and I disagree with you.

[DollarCoins]

"MS's word is NOT proof. It's hearsay. There is no proof that Terri wanted to die. NO LEGAL PROOF"

Evidently there is legal proof and several courts have ruled so. Moreover, it is not just MS who has said it was Terri's wish, there was also testimony from friends.

[DollarCoins]

"I am not sure how familiar you are with this case,but I've been following this from the beginning and I disagree with you."

Well then we disagree. I am sure we agree on mant other issues

[ohioWfan]

Read up on the case, DC, and get back to us.

(And don't just use the mainstream media to get your 'facts,' OK? They lie).

[Mrs.Nooseman]

We shall see!

BTW,How come the other people that testified , were all friends of MS and no friends of Terri?

All of Terri's friends said that she never did say anything like it!

If I wouldn't want to live like that, I would make sure that my parents,brother and sister would know about it as well,especially if I was that close to my family as Terri is to hers!

[Gondring]

Uh, do you know what "hearsay" means? There are plenty of threads that explain that this is NOT hearsay.

[Gondring]

All of Terri's friends said that she never did say anything like it!

Hmmm...so you tell your friends everything you tell your husband? They know your thought processes and preferences as well as he?

[ohioWfan]

If it's not in writing, signed by Terri Schiavo, it's only what Michael SAID she said.......not documented legal evidence, but only hearsay, and should not be legal grounds to murder her. Period.

No one should be denied life based on one person's word that it's "what she would have wanted" when other people who know her well strongly disagree.

The laws that allowed this travesty of everything that is right and good in this country, need to be changed so that this can never happen again.

[RGSpincich]

failed kidneys and a respirator call for EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES

Kidneys can be transplanted. Did Bobby boy consider giving Mumsy one of his? Nooooo. Just got mad at God. One lousy week was all he gave to consider his Mom's options? It's been 15 years with Terri. This is absolute proof that this whole thing is driven by those who are financially supporting the Schindler clan. Bob Schindler probably hasn't had a payday like this since he collected his mother's life insurance benefits.

[sittnick]

failed kidneys and a respirator call for EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES

Kidneys can be transplanted. Did Bobby boy consider giving Mumsy one of his? Nooooo. Just got mad at God. One lousy week was all he gave to consider his Mom's options? It's been 15 years with Terri. This is absolute proof that this whole thing is driven by those who are financially supporting the Schindler clan. Bob Schindler probably hasn't had a payday like this since he collected his mother's life insurance benefits.

A kidney transplant is an extraordinary measure.
One more time:
Florida law notwithstanding, food and water are NOT medical treatment. Nor are they extraordinary measures.

And, of course, the big payday goes not to the Schindlers but to the husband who has worked incessantly for his wife's death after spending the malpractice money for her treatment on lawyer to kill her.

The Schindlers behavior is consistent with orthodox Catholic teaching, and they took on financial hardship for eight years or more to help Terri.

If you believe that Robert Schiavo not donating a kidney is "absolute proof" that he is not acting on principle but out of a desire for money, you either do not know what proof is, or you have yet to study logic.

This argument is a "red herring." Schiavo not taking extraordinary means (and we don't know for a fact that he did not investigate it, we are just assuming that. Often blood types don't match, etc., or the woman may have been to frail to survive a transplant.) has nothing to do with the ordinary means of food and water.

Oh, and finally, don't assume his mother had any life insurance benefits. My own mother took care of my grandmother for the last 10 years in her own house, suffering from dementia. She did not even know who my mother was for the last two or three years. But her teeth were taken care of, she was "changed" regularly, and she never, ever wanted for food or drink. There was no insurance, and grandma's old house sold for $65,000, split among three siblings after my grandmother died piecefully at 97. I don't think my mom was in it for the money.

Not everybody is in it for the money. The Schindlers loved their daughter, and it shows how weak the Mike Schiavo supporters arguments are when they attack the Schindlers instead of asking the fundamental question, is it right to dehydrate a person to death. Even if the Schindlers were in Mike Schiavo's corner, the answer is no. The fact that they suffered greatly for their daughter simply reflects well on them.

[youngtory]

"But, given the vehemence with which he has been fighting to prolong Terri's life, it is a little surprising to learn that Robert decided to turn off the life-support system for his mother. She was 79 at the time, and had been ill with pneumonia for a week, when her kidneys gave out. "I can remember like yesterday the doctors said she had a good life. I asked, 'If you put her on a ventilator does she have a chance of surviving, of coming out of this thing?'" Robert says. "I was very angry with God because I didn't want to make those decisions."

Ahem- a feeding tube is not the same as life support, given the fact that the English language came from Great Britain, you would think that they understand their own language. Terri was not on life support she used a feeding tube to eat.