Posted on 03/28/2005 6:41:56 PM PST by Former Military Chick
PINELLAS PARK - Jennifer Johnson, barefoot and in her pajamas, ran to her grandfather's bedside once a hospice worker said his death was moments away.
She got there - one minute too late.
Johnson said the chaos surrounding the hospice where Terri Schiavo lies dying kept her from saying goodbye. When Johnson arrived, a police officer demanded identification; she had none. And after a hospice employee cleared her, another officer halted her for a metal-detecting search.
The delays lasted three to four minutes - the last minutes 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 in addition to Schiavo, whose parents have been desperately trying to have her feeding tube reinserted. Dozens of protesters have arrived from around the nation since the tube was removed March 18; at least 22 have been arrested, prompting a police barricade around the facility and unprecedented security measures.
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 the facility.
"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. "And unfortunately, that is the price you have to pay in a free society."
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. Messages compare Michael Schiavo to the likes of Scott Peterson, convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in California, and John Evander Couey, who has been arrested on charges of kidnapping and murdering a 9-year-old girl in Homosassa.
I agree with you there too......too many liberal activist judges.....we are not in disagreement about that....but we don't take 'em out and lynch them either....we get rid of them legally, or change the laws or their terms
That's an argument often repeated by the press who tells their viewers what to think. And frequently, people just reguritate what the press tells them.
Stirring the pot.
I think you got it right there.
I totally believe it after this weekend
Changing the laws won't do it. Congress passed a law For Terri to get a new trial and the courts refused to enforce the law.
It's called Congress nullification.And it is not good.
As discussed above by others, the purpose of the article was very likely to divide those who support Terri by pointing out that the protests were inconveniencing those who wanted to visit loved ones in the facility. And yes, she has a right to be upset that she was not able to get there on time. On the other hand, think about how you try to prepare if you have to get to a hospital, say on a military base, on the other side of town where an injured solider is being treated, or maybe dying. You just don't run off barefoot and with no ID. You know you have to have these items to get in to see him and prepare. In this case, anyone living locally had to know there were going to be checks and also prepare accordingly. I'm sorry she didn't make it in time, but to blame the protesters who were assembling lawfully and for the most part peacefully is incorrect.
Whoa, Nellie....there you go off on a tangent again. THAT hospice is not the issue here. There are dozens of Alzheimer's patients in virtually every nursing home & hospice in this country & they are NOT (though you may wish to believe it) being hastened to their end by unscrupulous administrators, rogue judges, & evil family members.
It is obvious to me that you have never personally had to deal with the death of a loved one - particularly someone who oft repeated the statement that they wouldn't want to live under such circumstances & insisted that the family take no extraordinary measures to prolong their life. I have. When my sister died, had I been confronted by a protester when I left her deathbed, I'd have probably punched somebody in the nose.
Jeb Bush personally, should have led an army of Law Enforcement officers straight to the FRONT door of Terri's hospice and gone in and removed her. I don't think anyone would have shot anyone in that scenario.
Instead, she should be angry that a corrupt judge has sentenced a disabled woman to death by starvation.
No, she should be angry with the protesters of whom too many have been totally obnoxious, and have held up disgusting signs. I feel so sorry for those who have loved ones in that hospice at this particular time.
I appreciate the exchange, I suppose we just disagree... :) And it actually may be the most civil disagreement I've had on FR in weeks....
have a good night....
A hospice can make the decision to accept a patient that does not meet the normal criteria for their services.
One of my closest friends has a 11 year old child with Cerebral Palsy, last year his son suffered a type of stroke that some CP patients suffer from. This time, the child lost his ability to swallow foods and a feeding tube was inserted (no, his father will NOT starve him to death). Because the stroke caused other neurological problems as well as the adjustment to the feeding tube, he was placed in hospice care to stabalize his condition prior to returning home. He remained for 45 days then went home.
We are in Florida and I do not know if hospices in other states can do the same. The hospice he was in isalso a private facility which might have something to do with it.
"Why not ask the hospice to move a non terminal patient like Terri to the proper facillity since it is really illegal for her to be there and get federal funding for it."
Just to improve on your ignorance, it's been partial funding by the hospice (along w/Medicaid paying for the drug costs) that has been picking up the bulk of the tab for Terri to stay there, so don't knock them too much. They've been very good to her.
Then we can agree to stay out of one another's way.
Get real this is fraud, a non terminal patient is not supposed to be in there, like many other patients there, it is all a big scam to get federal funding for elderly people who are not dying and are being warehoused. Terri was warehoused there by the ghoul lawyer because a hospice is a place you go to to die and a hospital is a place you go to to get better.
I.e. you pile more ignorance on, to make it better.
Just like Terri gets so much more beautiful as she succumbs to thirst and starvation.
OK, it is a tit for tat situation. Then who would allow their children to defy the court and try and take water to Terri. I have no doubt the reason was of good intent but using your child to gain media attention is well a bit over the top. But hey it might just be hype.
Do you feel so sorry for the patients being felosed to death?
yikes comment #131
Go wipe your arse -- or is it your nose -- impossible to tell FRom here.
Hospices are where the dying are cared for and therefore her grandfather's death was expected.
Terri Schindler, on the other hand, is being cold-bloodedly murdered.
Meanwhile you expect me to pretend sympathy for an absolute stranger who is quoted as whining pissing and moaning about the fact that the police are strip searching those seeking entry to the place to which people are sent to die -- in case one of them takes a drink of water to a helpless woman in whose murder they are complicit?
Go plait it, 'arse.
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