Posted on 04/06/2005 5:03:58 AM PDT by johnny7
I spent much of last Thursday trying to sort out my feelings about the death of Terri Schiavo. Had I been her mother I would have done my utmost to preserve my daughter's life, just as Mary Schindler did. I would have fought the doctors and the courts and Terri's husband, Michael. I would have railed and screamed and prayed. To watch your precious daughter die by starvation is far more painful than accepting your own mortality: this is a child you have nurtured and played with and shepherded through the turbulence of teenhood and dressed in a wedding gown.
Had I been her husband, Michael, I would have found it equally painful to watch my beautiful wife descend into a form of torpor and to remain in this state for 15 years. Michael has been vilified for starting a relationship with another woman and having children with her. But for the first years of Terri's hospitalization he did his utmost to seek special therapies for her; he bought her comfortable, stylish clothing so she would look her best; he enrolled in nursing school so he could understand the complexities of her medical care. I can't judge him for entering another relationship. He was a young man; he wanted children. Why he didn't divorce Terri, I don't know. Clearly he still felt responsible for her.
The reasons for Terri's death, however, go beyond the removal of a feeding tube and family and court battles. They go beyond medical ethics and religion. Terri suffered from an eating disorder that led to dangerously low potassium levels that led to cardiac arrest. Her brain was not fed with enough oxygen and this led to severe damage to her cerebral cortex, the seat of reason and emotion. She lapsed into a vegetative state. Her brain could make her heart beat but it couldn't make her sensible to her surroundings. Terri had been an overweight teenager, at one point weighing 250 pounds. Didn't her loving parents worry when they saw their daughter shrink to 110 pounds? Didn't her husband notice she ate very little and purged after meals? Did her family or her friends question her extreme eating habits?
It is likely Terri was complimented by how terrific she looked and this would have encouraged her to continue to deprive her body of food. It is true the bloated features in her high school class picture had been transformed; the bulimia had allowed her to become a delicate beauty. She resembled the young Elizabeth Taylor. Her weight loss was validated, at a horrible cost. Terri Schiavo's case, like that of singer Karen Carpenter who died of anorexia, is an excruciating reminder to parents to be vigilant about their children's eating habits -- even if those children are young adults and tell us to mind our own business. We need to persist in helping them. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, "anorexia and bulimia affect nearly 10 million women and 1 million men (primarily teens and young adults)." That is a huge number of our children.
If Terri's parents or her husband or her family doctor had stopped for a moment and wondered about her swanlike transformation, maybe she never would have suffered that cardiac arrest and lapsed into catatonia. But our society admires thinness -- the Rubenesque Marilyn Monroe likely would be considered too plump these days -- and so some of our children, in the quest to look attractive, may starve themselves. Even to their death. That is what Terri Schiavo's story has communicated so clearly.
Everett Rice should have interviewed any nurse he was hiring, especially a male nurse.
Not quite the same. Not every male who holds a driver's license has a job in which he is supposed to be concerned about the health of a "captive" group of people.
I'd like to ask that you please don't smear males in health care
I didn't mean to offend you.
I'll bet you had to undergo a job interview.
Michael didn't.
>>>>>I had never seen this 250 pound figure before. I saw 200 pounds written in various articles, I wondered where this extra 50 pounds came from.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
EVERY article and every interview with Terri's friends I saw they say Terri was 200 lbs at her highest in her senior year.
Now it is 250, huh?
Soon it will be 300 lbs.
Unbelievable.
Perhaps it depends on height, but ten years ago I was 5'3" and 110 pounds. This was after the birth of my first baby. I like food too much to have an eating disorder.
Okay...I am truly going to blow a gasket if I read one more blurb about Michael's diligence and the reponsibility he felt toward his wife.
REAL MEN - do not give up after one year and go on to another girlfriend - whom they also attempt to batter. It is clear this author has not done one ounce of homework - or she would have read the affadavit by Cindy Schook (? - cannot remember correct spelling) - and she would have realized that the Bulemia - if it is true as doctors who first examined her after the collapse has claimed - was a symptom of a much bigger problem. It always is - and she would KNOW this if she remembered Psych 101 from college.
Things are not always as black and white as they appear - and this is yet another attempt to sway the American public - both through her naivete' and her loyalty to the MSM.
Two things we must be committed to breaking through our writings, postings and rallies.
To reduce Terri to an 'eating disorder' is coming to be another miscarriage of justice, that we as FReepers, cannot allow. I suggest for every article we find like this one - we bombard them with the FACTS - found at Terri's Fight.org, and other sources from which we have posted. At least then - they will be choosing their information with equal knowledge - and then God will reign over their conscience - NOT OURS. JK
The portion in BLUE say "IF" she gets treatment... Hey Michael, you mean in 1992 you already KNEW you might withhold treatment?
The portions in RED shows there WILL BE testimony by Michael and his witnesses that Terri is NOT in PVS.
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/terri.html
She's subhuman (a vegetable). It's her own fault (eating disorder). These statements are designed to make it easier to kill her. It worked on about 9% of the people. That's scary.
About which, let's think out loud for a moment. Terri had her "event" very late at night. Nobody has said anything about her running to the bathroom all night because of those 10-15 glasses of iced tea. Nor have I heard anyone wonder how she could still be potassium deficient at 5:00 in the morning? If she was in critical condition after six or eight hours of sleep, why didn't she collapse earlier?
***Un-PC question alert***
Why are so many of the people who condone Terri's murder women??
A lot of bulimics/anorexics start out by losing weight normally - cutting back on desserts, for example. Then they might cut out breakfast. Then lunch. Before you know it they are cutting out all meals.
There is a "high"that goes along with losing weight. For some people there is also a huge fear of gaining it back. If Terri liked her food before going on Nutrisystem, I imagine she missed some of her favorite foods. Maybe she started to "cheat" by eating some of them in addition to nutrisystem. Then she purged to get rid of them.Also, if she were having problems in her marriage, then getting bulimia would make sense. Bulimia/anorexia begins when there are big stressors in your life that you feel you can't cope with on your own.
IIRC, the Schindlers didn't learn that the bone scan existed until 2002.
Not to members of this forum.
>> Who could have done such a thing?
The other person in the apartment?
>> OR, are you just content to spread your rumors and gossip and innuendo then leave the thread?
Cut the crap.
>> Does CPR count as "beating the crap out of her"?
"Not a chance."
So you disagree with Dr. Walker of bone scan fame?
ATTY Question. The abnormalities in the multiple bilateral ribs, ****could that have occurred during an attempt at resuscitation by the paramedics or hospital staff?****
Dr. Walker
Answer. A vigorous resuscitation could do that, *****yes.*****
First of all...learn to spell it B-U-L-E-M-I-C or B-U-L-E-M-I-A...second - you need to realize you are treading on ground that us FReepers fought very hard for - life is sacred at any stage - it is life. Third - where does YOUR TRUTH come from? Have you channeled and talked to Terri and recieved confirmation this was the case?
It is dangerous to generalize. To make assumptions and conclusions based on biased opinions - without checking out all the facts.
Generalizations, assumptions, and conclusions without facts are the things which have brought the Judicial system to the level of playing God - which is not their job.
Just a suggestion to educate yourself before you slam someone else. JK
Read more carefully, please. That's only the ribs. Not a chance CPR will also break her back, break her ankles, injure her knees and snap her right femur in two.
However, all of these severe injuries could be explained by domestic violence.
:-) :-)
If Terri was assaulted, I want to know why you believe that to be true. If you can't back up your statements, then why are you posting?
You have no credibilty. You're an empty shell. A gossiper, that's all.
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