For many, Schiavo's life was an inspiration

Miami Herald ^ | April 6, 2005 | Phil Long

[Dave S]

I would appreciate it if you could show some respect for the dead, instead of continuing to bash Terri. She was abused more than enough and suffered more than enough and I would appreciate it if you would stop the abuse.

I would appreciate it if you would come back down to earth and quit dumbing down the language by using inapproriate words like "inspiration" and "hero". Firemen that run into a building when everyone else is running out and soldiers who fight our wars are heroic and an inspiration. Not someone that lays in her own feces unaware of the world.

For your own knowledge, Terri is well beyond being able to affected by any "abuse" you think I am inflicting. She is at peace.

As far as "will to live", my 80 year old mother who had advanced parkinsons and had suffered three strokes, was in the hospital with pneumonia, a urinary tract infection, an intestinal blockage and she lasted a week from the point when she asked that efforts to keep her alive cease.

[La Enchiladita]

The language is in the article. I did not write the article. And, once again, you are requested to take your abuse elsewhere...

[Dave S]

Dave - have you NEVER seen any of the videos of Terri??? Have you seen the one with her father making her laugh regarding her lazy eye? UNCONSCIOUS??? I HARDLY think so!

Come on. Get real. They filmed four or more hours. During most of that time they got no response. A few times they got lucky and they filmed what looks like a response to something that they did but it was a random action. so the video you see is at most a few minutes. Where is the other four hours?

There is also a lot of acting where the parents seem to move to where Terri's eyes are moving to make it look like Terri is tracking them. There is a saying that you can put 25 monkeys in a room with typewriters and if they had an infinite amount of time they could create the entire works of Shakesphere.

Even the doc from the Mayo Clinic that Jeb Bush was so hot on said that in the time he was with Terri he couldnt find any action that was anything but random. Same thing with Terri's Guardian Ad Litem and most of the doctors who actually examined her, except for those being paid by the Schindlers as expert witnesses.

[Dave S]

you are requested to take your abuse elsewhere...

And you are requested to start posting about serious things like Taxes, Social Security Reform, the War, fighting terrorism, and getting conservative judges (not religous whackos) on the bench. As far as abuse, you seem to come from a very sheltered life. Grow up.

[Ohioan from Florida]

As I said before on an earlier post, without using the proper diagnostic tools to determine the extent of Terri's brain damage, it is not known whether or not she was aware. You have no idea if she was or wasn't. If all we have to go on is the videos of her, then I would say that she was at least aware some of the time, albeit sporadically.

FWIW, 'hero' can be applied to anyone who saved the life of another, then Terri would qualify in that she may have saved many spiritual lives, not to mention any of those who come after her who will be saved from their own untimely deaths, that is, once we get this country back on track.

[PhilDragoo]

Please see the purple heart that a Vietnam veteran sent to the family as a memorial to Terri...

[.38sw]

I followed the links on your profile page. I don't see any military bashing. What are you talking about? Are there other links?

[BykrBayb]

You saw them. Every time one of you posts a denial, several people read your denial and go look at the posts. Thank you.

[.38sw]

Denial? Are you sure you aren't delusional? And what do you mean by "one of you?" Thanks.

[daylate-dollarshort]

"...without using the proper diagnostic tools to determine the extent of Terri's brain damage, it is not known whether or not she was aware."

PVS is a clinical diagnosis which does not require fMRI's CAT scans or any other radiological study. The diagnosis has already been made based upon the clinical evidence and the EEG.

[BykrBayb]

Do you have something inspirational to say about Terri, or are you just trying to start a flame war?

[.38sw]

Not trying to start a flame war, just trying to figure out what "military bashing" you are talking about. I read the posts you linked, and I don't see any military bashing, as you keep insisting.

[Ohioan from Florida]

I didn't say PVS, I said awareness. Since that is part and parcel of the term PVS, it would be wise to include that sort of diagnostic testing as one of the criteria, better than a CT scan or an EEG, which show nothing of awareness. However, you are correct that sometimes awareness does not need to be measured by a machine if it is obvious that a person exhibits that behavior, much like Terri did on her videos from time to time. I don't care what you say, Terri was not PVS according to the Florida statutes even though Greer ruled that she was. He was wrong, IMHO. It won't bring Terri back, but maybe we can help someone else in the future.

[Smartass]

"Please explain to me how you can be "inspired" by someone that isnt there, that is unconscious 24x7x365?"

I'm equally confused by those of you who claim to treat "Terri as your "hero"? What the heck is heroic about someone that cant act or even decide and has the same level of consciousnes as a tree? Is a tree heroic in your world?"

Before you condemn the handicapped, someday you become a tree yourself, and be a favorite stopping off place for dogs!   Because that's exactly how she was treated.

[BykrBayb]

Does that mean you agree with the insults they made about an unknown soldier? Are those the kinds of remarks you make when you see a photo of an unidentified soldier in uniform?

Now, I've had enough of your nonsense. Regardless of any disagreements you and I have about respect for soldiers, disabled people, or anyone else, this is not the time or place to argue about it.

[daylate-dollarshort]

4 1/2 minutes of might be out of 4 1/2 hours of isn't.

[PhilDragoo]

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[Ohioan from Florida]

For those who want to express condolences to the Schindlers:
http://theresa-schindler.memory-of.com/about.aspx

For those who are into "dancing" as real people grieve, please do not insult the Schindlers by visiting the memorial page for Terri. These good people have been through enough.

[Ohioan from Florida]

Yes, it is. The statute says *no* response of *any* kind. The fact that she did at all made her ineligible for having her feeding tube pulled.

[silverleaf]

Even the doc from the Mayo Clinic that Jeb Bush was so hot on said that in the time he was with Terri he couldnt find any action that was anything but random

You're referring to Dr Cheshire, neurologist, from the Mayo Clinic? The Dr Cheshire who said that when he entered Terri's room on 1 March, she immediately turned her head and looked at him? The Dr Cheshire who said that, unlike the many PVS patients he treated, he could sense that there was a cognitive person there (something all Terri's nurses also knew)?

The Dr Cheshire who said Terri could likely be better diagnosed as "minimally conscious", a new medical diagnosis that recognized the fallibility of assigning irreversible PVS diagnosis on patients whose brains manage to heal, to some degree (neuroplasticity being a failry new and little understood phenomenon). "Minimally Conscious" being a medical diagnosis that was unavailable when Terri was initially evaluated, and a diagnosis that woud have excluded Terri from the the Fl Statute on PVS euthansia...."PVS" doomed her in the courts...that Dr Cheshire?

The Dr Cheshire who said Terri hadn't been reexamined or re-evaluated in OVER THREE YEARS and that she should be before a final decision was made to let her DIE? The Dr Cheshire who said that Terri should be given the therapies that had been suggested to see if she could further improve her alertness and ability to communicate, as many doctors and a speech therapist felt would happen?

The Dr Cheshire who said, having observed Terri for 90 minutes (twice as long as "Doctor Death" Cranford and Greer's other medical experts)...and having seen the evidence presented on her behalf by others, that were HE her physician, he would NOT approve removing her feeding tube...because of his significant DOUBT that she met the clinical and legal standard of PVS....that Doctor?