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.
People in comas show brain activity in the cerebral cortex is what I was trying to say - if I used wrong terminology so be it. Being in a coma is recoverable - PVS almost never is - cases where there is recovery means that the person was not ina PVS and it was a misdiagnosis.
Heh.. I'd think someone who claimed to care about facts would care. My mistake. You don't care whether saying food=medical treatment makes sense: got it!
Someone had to make a determination as to the wishes of the patient. Florida law commanded Judge Greer to make that determination if he had "clear and convincing evidence". He said he did.
And, he was wrong.
Who cares if the feeding tube is a "machine" or not? Or if food is "medical treatment" or not.
Well, I do. As you can see others do as well. You're saying you don't. Message received. Why are you commenting on this thread then, one wonders?
Judge Greer determined that Terri would not wish to live with a feeding tube and ordered it removed.
That is correct. That is what happened. Thanks.
Whoa! Remembered? So you're saying that Michael forgot Terri's wishes, then "remembered" them 7 years later?
He made no mention of the alleged statement for X years and then mentioned it at the end of those X years. Whether he "forgot" the statement in the intervening time has no bearing on my point.
Oh, this should be good. Where did you get your information that Michael forgot? Something he said? Some statement he made? Something he wrote down?
You invented this "forgot" thing and are now busy attacking your straw-man. Having fun?
What's scary is that people like you would force spouses to care for their brain damaged loved ones
That's just a lie. Nobody was proposing to "force" Michael Schiavo to care for Terri. Indeed, Terri's parents were proposing to care for her, because they wanted to. Weren't you paying attention? You don't appear to know the most basic facts about the Schiavo case.
That they would suffer financially and emotionally because nosy do-gooders like yourself know better as to what's good for the patient.
So you wish to have the right to kill people for "financial" and "emotional" reasons, I take it?
Get a life. Your own.
Hold old are you?
But PVS is misdiagnosed 43% of the time.
That's why MRI and PET scans should be done, to assist the diagnosis.
MRI was not possible in Terri's case because of an impant to the brain that was designed to stimulate it years ago. It was a failed treatment so MRIs were no longer possible.
"How much money did he receive from the malpractice suit?"
$2.1 M, before lawyers fees. The lawyer who represented them said that on TV.
In other places I read that out of that, the net was around $1M put in trust for Terri's care ( the award was based on Terri living out a normal lifespan, which doctors testified to in court), and some $600,000 given directly to MS for "loss of companionship".
But after Terri's death, MS was going to inherit the trust fund as well.
MS figured it may cost him some money to get Terri legally killed, but he'll keep the rest. But as Terri's parents fought for her life, he had to keep spending more money -- and the Judge actually allowed MS to use the money, that was supposed to be to keep Terri alive, to pay to lawyers to sue to kill her.
That implant could have been removed. The doctor told Michael to have it removed. He didn't. I don't wish to speculate as to why.
Terri was judged to be in this "permanent" state based on 45 minutes of observation by a strongly pro-euthanasia doctor.
We need to make sure that this will never happen again to anyone.
1. People need to be educated about the facts.
2. Demand that Congress take action.
Analysis: Lawmakers ponder Schiavo case
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1376124/posts
4 hours of tape - the parents only edited and used the 45 minutes you have it backwards. Brain operations are delicate things - there was risks to going back in and removing implant.
No, 45 minutes is how long Dr. Cranford spent with her. As opposed to the "evil" Dr. Hammesfahr who spent 10 hours with her. Judge Greer ruled Terri to be PVS based on Cranford's testimony.
The judge ruled on the findings of a court appointed medical team - Dr. Cranford was the husband's medical expert. Sorry - you are distoring what happened and Dr. Hammesfahr is not evil - he is a quack.
I'M distorting what happened? I have to keep correcting you at every turn. It was only 45 minutes, as I said. I wasn't referring to the tape, but the time actually spent assessing her. Brain operations may be delicate, but Michael was told by her doctor to have the implant removed. It wasn't supposed to stay in.
Come on, all this stuff is available in every thread for you to read, surely you've read it by now. Dozens of reputable neurologists were aghast that these tests were not performed yet a definitive diagnosis was still made.
The judge heard the evidence and concluded there was.
If a judge were to find that two plus two is five, would that make it so?
Doctor Hammesfahr was accused of a whole litany of things by the medical review boards. Almost all the charges were found to be without merit, except for a billing mistake of which he was cleared on appeal. It might have been reasonable to believe him a quack while the charges against him were being investigated, but since he's been cleared of them what basis is there for your continued claim?
[note 1: Yes, I'm aware of the Nobel Prize Nominee nonsense. Doesn't help his credibility, to be sure, but I've on occasion over-trumpted what I thought were prestigious awards. So what?]
[note 2: The billing error occurred when a patient who prepaid for one treatment regimen showed up and asked for a different (cheaper) treatment regimen. He should have been either credited the difference or else told that his prepayment would be nonrefundable and he should use the more expensive regimen since it was already paid for. Clearly either Dr. Hammesfahr or his billing staff made a mistake, but of a likely-accidental nature.]
That includes FOX.
With the exception of "personalities," such as Sean Hannity, Fred Barnes, and John Gibson, Fox's OFFICIAL stance was "whatever Greer said is the truth, is the truth." Hence, Fox reported half-truths as truth en toto, which is INTENTIONAL MISREPRENTATION OF THE FACTS of the entire case.
Fox has lost my viewership because of their intentional lies and misrepresentations, and many others for the same reasons.
the doctor that decided the question was the court's doctor not the one you mentioned.
God does NOT WILL evil. He permits it.
Cranford's diagnosis was one of the ones Greer cited as reason for ruling PVS, whether you're honest enough to admit it. And I see you do not know why his asserting that Terri's EEG was flat is damning of his professionalism and perhaps his competence to diagnose her. Nice try though ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.