Posted on 04/01/2005 8:05:46 PM PST by FairOpinion
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Polls leading up to the death of Terri Schiavo made it appear Americans had formed a consensus in favor of ending her life. However, a new Zogby poll with fairer questions shows the nation clearly supporting Terri and her parents and wanting to protect the lives of other disabled patients.
The Zogby poll found that, if a person becomes incapacitated and has not expressed their preference for medical treatment, as in Terri's case, 43 percent say "the law presume that the person wants to live, even if the person is receiving food and water through a tube" while just 30 percent disagree.
Another Zogby question his directly on Terri's circumstances.
"If a disabled person is not terminally ill, not in a coma, and not being kept alive on life support, and they have no written directive, should or should they not be denied food and water," the poll asked.
A whopping 79 percent said the patient should not have food and water taken away while just 9 percent said yes.
"From the very start of this debate, Americans have sat on one of two sides," Concerned Women for America's Lanier Swann said in response to the poll. One side "believes Terri's life has worth and purpose, and the side who saw Michael Schiavo's actions as merciful, and appropriate."
More than three-fourths of Americans agreed, Swann said, "because a person is disabled, that patient should never be denied food and water."
The poll also lent support to members of Congress to who passed legislation seeking to prevent Terri's starvation death and help her parents take their lawsuit to federal courts.
"When there is conflicting evidence on whether or not a patient would want to be on a feeding tube, should elected officials order that a feeding tube be removed or should they order that it remain in place," respondents were asked.
Some 18 percent said the feeding tube should be removed and 42 percent said it should remain in place.
Swann said her group would encourage Congress to adopt legislation that would federal courts to review cases when the medical treatment desire of individuals is not known and the patient's family has a dispute over the care.
"According to these poll results, many Americans do in fact agree with what we're trying to accomplish," she said.
The poll found that 49 percent of Americans believe there should be exceptions to the right of a spouse to act as a guardian for an incapacitated spouse. Only 39 percent disagreed.
When asked directly about Terri's case and told the her estranged husband Michael "has had a girlfriend for 10 years and has two children with her" 56 percent of Americans believed guardianship should have been turned over to Terri's parents while 37 percent disagreed.
Terri could not swallow since 1990.
And don't starve your dog. In Florida, that'll get you a year in prison
"I'm proud to announce the formation of 'the Justice for Terri Committee' today in Pinellas Park, Florida.
The JFTC is dedicated to a full investigation of Terri's case, exposure of, and appropriate prosecution of, all who were responsible for the events that resulted in her brutal torture and death, the impeachment of George Greer, and bringing about appropriate legal and judicial reform in Florida and nationally to insure that no American citizen must face the horrors Terri was forced to endure ever again. "
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I advocate nothing more than Courts stand by the laws enacted by the legislatures, that if these laws are found unacceptable by the people, then the people should elect legislatures who would craft more acceptable laws for the Courts to base their decisions on.
And more importantly...I advocate for the right of family members, spouses included, to reach life and death decisions, within the letter of the law, for their loved ones without the meddling interference of politicians and complete strangers.
Any murder would be "God's will" in your definition.
God chose not to intervene with the laws of nature by allowing this woman to live through complete starvation for 13 days, following 10 years of intentional, court-ordered neglect,a long period without dental care or even tooth-brushing at the order of her husband and backed by a judicial order, lack of antibiotics during infections by judicial decree, previous periods of starvation when the tube was pulled while oral hydration was forbidden at threat of arrest, and sensory deprivation by forbiding her family to take her out of her room in a wheel chair and long periods when her family was not allowed any visits at all.
The misery was inflicted on Terri by her husband and enforced by the guns that Greer sent in his name.
She could swallow her saliva since the day she collapsed.
If you look at the case legally it was done technically the right way. The way they got to be able to present this case as legal was nothing more than disgusting. Bottom line they were able to twist Florida law to make it legal.
Legal on face value. Hell yes. That's how it got through so many courts. The way they got there, immoral as hell!!
p.s. They have never explained how a person who can not swallow doesn't drool and why one of her death docs testified she could shallow. Bet he was fired.
The courts determined that this was Terri's wish per her husband's testimony...several times over many years.
I don't know if they were right or wrong and neither do you.
The more the public knows about the facts of the Schiavo case, the more support appears for the parents' case. This was a tragic miscarriage of justice and the media is culprit in the disinformation that they disseminated.
If you can't tell the difference between Terri Schiavo's medical state and that of an abandoned baby, you have serious cognitive issues.
You're kidding, right?
MS refused to allow swallowing tests for Terri, and nurses testified, that she did indeed swallow.
Let me go off on a little tangent -- during the Elian ordeal, weren't you frustrated, because you knew that truth, but there were all these people who kept explaining to you, that "Elian is better off with his Father" and that Elian was illegal and therefore should indeed be returned to Cuba?
Well, why don't you allow for the possibility, that the apparent "obvious answer" isn't the right answer here either? And that this is even more heartbreaking, than what was done to Elian in the name of "the rule of law", that Janet Reno kept saying?
While Florida law does count PEG tubes as artificial life support, it does not count oral hydration and nutrition as "life support."
The judge infringed on the right to life of Terri Schiavo and the right of all of us not to be killed.
But by all means don't look at the courtocrats behind the curtain!
Also why shouldn't the law allow for your "private family decisions" to be made with a bullet to the head? If you can deify bare naked law, then literally anything can go.
Unquestionably fairer questions.
When I first saw the questions in the ABC poll, I thought April Fools Day came a week early for them -- and didn't think anybody could take them seriously. But in the subsequent week, every major mainstream media source quoted them as though they couldn't tell the difference between obviously flawed questioning and legitimate ones. At that point, I knew the end was imminent for them. They honestly can't tell any meaningful difference anymore -- even if they tried to. It's over for them, kaput, brain-dead, hopeless, pull the plug, finito.
I just picked up a living will form so that I can make one out. On it is a question, "Would you prefer to die at home than a hospital, if it is an option?" Actually, I have no preference either way on that. But I do plan to put in a caveat that, under NO circumstances, am I to be moved to a hospice. I sure don't trust them at all, any more.
"the right of family members, spouses included, to reach life and death decisions,"
But here there was a major disagreement between family members, which would have deserved a serious look.
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