Posted on 04/07/2005 5:34:06 PM PDT by News Hunter
Edited on 04/07/2005 5:39:05 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
In a situation recalling the recent death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo in Florida, an 81-year-old widow, denied nourishment and fluids for nearly two weeks, is clinging to life in a hospice in LaGrange, Ga., while her immediate family fights desperately to save her life before she dies of starvation and dehydration.
Mae Magouirk was neither terminally ill, comatose nor in a "vegetative state," when Hospice-LaGrange accepted her as a patient about two weeks ago upon the request of her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, 36, an elementary school teacher.Also upon Gaddy's request and without prior legal authority, since March 28 Hospice-LaGrange has denied Magouirk normal nourishment or fluids via a feeding tube through her nose or fluids via an IV. She has been kept sedated with morphine and ativan, a powerful tranquillizer.
Her nephew, Ken Mullinax, told WorldNetDaily that although Magouirk is given morphine and ativan, she has not received any medication to keep her eyes lubricated during her forced dehydration.
"They haven't given her anything like that for two weeks," said Mullinax. "She can't produce tears."
The dehydration is being done in defiance of Magouirk's specific wishes, which she set down in a "living will," and without agreement of her closest living next-of-kin, two siblings and a nephew: A. Byron McLeod, 64, of Anniston, Ga.; Ruth Mullinax, 74, of Birmingham, Ala.; and Ruth Mullinax's son, Ken Mullinax.
Magouirk's husband and only child, a son, are both deceased.
In her living will, Magouirk stated that fluids and nourishment were to be withheld only if she were either comatose or "vegetative," and she is neither. Nor is she terminally ill, which is generally a requirement for admission to a hospice.
Magouirk lives alone in LaGrange, though because of glaucoma she relied on her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, to bring her food and do errands.
Two weeks ago, Magouirk's aorta had a dissection, and she was hospitalized in the local LaGrange Hospital. Her aortic problem was determined to be severe, and she was admitted to the intensive care unit. At the time of her admission she was lucid and had never been diagnosed with dementia.
Claiming that she held Magouirk's power of attorney, Gaddy had her transferred to Hospice-LaGrange, a 16-bed unit owned by the same family that owns the hospital. Once at the hospice, Gaddy stated that she did not want her grandmother fed or given water.
"Grandmama is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus," Gaddy told Magouirk's brother and nephew, McLeod and Ken Mullinax. "She has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?"
Gaddy's telephone is not in operation and she could not be reached for comment.
According to Mullinax, his aunt's local cardiologist in LaGrange, Dr. James Brennan, and Dr. Raed Agel, a highly acclaimed cardiologist at the nationally renowned University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, determined that her aortic dissection is contained and not life-threatening at the moment.
Mullinax also states that Gaddy did not hold power of attorney, a fact he learned from the hospice's in-house legal counsel, Carol Todd.
On March 31, Todd told Ruth and Ken Mullinax during a phone conversation Georgia law stipulated that Ruth Mullinax and her brother, A.B. McLeod, were entitled to make any and all decisions for Magouirk. Ruth Mullinax immediately told Todd to begin administering food and fluids through an IV and a nasal feeding tube.
Todd had the IV fluids started that evening, but informed the family that they would have to come to the hospice to sign papers to have the feeding tube inserted. Once that was done, Magouirk would not be able to stay at the hospice.
Ken Mullinax recalled that Todd said the only reason Magouirk was in the hospice in the first place was that the LaGrange Hospital had failed to exercise due diligence in closely examining the power of attorney Beth Gaddy said she had, as well as exercising the provisions of Magouirk's living will.
Todd explained that Gaddy had only a financial power of attorney, not a medical power of attorney, and Magouirk's living will carefully provided that a feeding tube and fluids should only be discontinued if she was comatose or in a "vegetative state" – and she was neither.
Gaddy, however, was not dissuaded. When Ken Mullinax and McLeod showed up at the hospice the following day, April 1, to meet with Todd and arrange emergency air transport for Magouirk's transfer to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, Hospice-LaGrange stalled them while Gaddy went before Troup County, Ga., Probate Court Judge Donald W. Boyd and obtained an emergency guardianship over her grandmother.
Under the terms of his ruling, Gaddy was granted full and absolute authority over Magouirk, at least for the weekend. She took advantage of her judge-granted power by ordering her grandmother's feeding tube pulled out, just hours after it had been inserted.
Florida law requires that a hearing for an emergency guardianship must be held within three days of its request, and Magouirk's hearing was held April 4 before Judge Boyd. Apparently, he has not made a final ruling, but favors giving permanent guardianship power to Gaddy, who is anxious to end her grandmother's life.
Ron Panzer, president and founder of Hospice Patients Alliance, a patients' rights advocacy group based in Michigan, told WND that what is happening to Magouirk is not at all unusual.
"This is happening in hospices all over the country," he said. "Patients who are not dying – are not terminal – are admitted [to hospice] and the hospice will say they are terminally ill even if they're not. There are thousands of cases like this. Patients are given morphine and ativan to sedate them. If feeding is withheld, they die within 10 days to two weeks. It's really just a form of euthanasia."
Ken Mullinax does not want that to happen to his aunt. He pointed out that one of the ironies in this tragedy is that the now-helpless woman worked for years as a secretary for a prominent local cancer doctor.
"She devoted her whole life to helping those who heal others, and now she's being denied sustenance for life," he said.
Mullinax said he has begged Gaddy to let him take on full responsibility for his aunt's care.
"If she would just give us a chance to keep Aunt Mae alive, that's all we ask," he said. "They [Beth and her husband, Dennis Gaddy] have a family and Beth is a teacher, and it was just getting to be a lot of trouble. But I'm the caregiver for my mom, and Aunt Mae could move in with us. We'll buy another house with a bedroom and we'll take care of her. She can move in with us once she can leave the hospital."
But her health becomes more precarious by the hour. Her vital signs are still good, but since admission to hospice she has not been lucid – "but who would be since nourishment and fluids have been denied since March 28," Mullinax remarked.
Attorney Carol Todd could not be reached for comment; a message on her voicemail said she would not be gone the entire week of April 4. Hospice-LaGrange did not return phone calls.
Do we know he didn't. We know he held a second hearing at which all parties were in agreement. So I don't know any details.
If the Schindlers had left it alone, the end of the malpractice suit would have been the end of it. Period. I'm beginning to think that you're being deliberately obtuse.
THEY were the ones to start the whole circus. Try actually reading a timeline of events sometime. The malpractice suit has ZERO to do with the Schindlers' petitioning for guardianship, etc, etc, etc.
Unless - as I metioned - you're saing that they only got involved to get their hands on the money. That would be the ONLY way the malpractice settlement had anything to do with the next three steps in the whole circus - which were initiated by the Schindlers.
The simple minded simply cannot understand such complexities. You are no different from those DU idiots you would condemn on the left for their rants. I apologize for thinking that you could comprehend the full story rather than your simple but stupid yes/no.
It is interesting how no self-proclaimed "turkey" has yet been able to honestly answer the question "Was it wrong to kill Terri Shiavo?"
Not sure what a self proclaimed turkey is. I would envision a turkey as having a very simple mind, one that could not comprehend any complexities...one that could not get past a yes/no without completely using up what little gray matter it had.
You remain disingenuous, even if I spelled it wrong the first time.
When you decide to insult someone, at least spell it correctly.
Interesting. Hope someone checks it out. That would be a hoot.
Hopefully, a bit more independent than Beck and WND...LOL!
Information is contained in an article, not knowledge. Knowledge is in your mind, hopefully.So yes, I have other information.
Now that the philosopy lesson is over, would you care to share the other information so that all of us here in search of the truth can learn?
Communicate with others rather than with you.
So I presume a cheap insult where none was given you is your response to a thoughtful post?
THAT is worth checking into. The guy on Glenn Beck said he used to work in Washington, D.C.
Maybe the story is a trap afterall. Then again, every Democrat was NOT a proponent of killing Terri Shindler-Schiavo. Sometimes a person changes his/her mind when an issue hits home.
IIRC, Mike is the one that petitioned the court in the very first place. He had to, because the doctors won't ordinarily (short of a mistake) cause natural death by starvation unless the paperwork is in order. It is true, however, that the Schindlers opposed Mike at the hearing.
Not a great analogy, but some building or use regulations require that neighbors be given notice of intent, and an opportunity to object. THe person with the proposed building or use initiates the process.
I'm not comfortable with that.
I think it's okay that there is some form of legal check on terminating basic care. What is the alternative, dueling?
Why is it that insults seems to be your only conversational tool? No one, to my knowledge insulted you.
You are much the same about this story. You either: 1. Fear that it is true...... or 2. Your senses do not permit you to read the story and sense who is telling the truth.
I know this may be difficult for you to comprehend, but some of us here are in search of the truth and simply do not take a first story, especially one put out by an agenda driven organization as gospel. And of course, the newspaper story that followed contained information significantly different from the WND story. But then, apparently you know it all, and do not need any further information.
This 81 year old lady, by the way with a history of longevity in her family, is most likely being killed because others are tired of dealing with her. Plain and simple.
The only thing plain and simple here is you.
It's possible that he is BOTH, a DEM political operative, and wanting to keep his Aunt Mae alive in accordance with her wishes, and against the wishes of Gaddy.
It bothers me that anybody would be subjected to natural death by starvation, DEM or GOP.
And you know this, how? Oh, yes, Glenn Beck told you. How sweet.
Right, let's assume that is correct. Fire the judge immediately and arrest Gaddy. Oh darn, there's that pesky old question of accuracy again. Was it ex-parte? Was the judge aware of other parties to the issue? Why were all parties in agreement at the following Monday's hearing? Why did Mullinax' attorney say that everyone was on the same side here? Why did WND fail to mention that Gaddy was hand feeding granny at the hospice? Or is none of that worth you time, since you have made up your mind?
We need to be careful until we know. But you are right, this is neither a Democrat or Republican issue. After all, Greer is a conservative and highly religious Republican, and he has been branded as the anti-Christ here.
I believe Mike petitioned the court for permission to schedule a natural death by dehydration, and the cases mushroomed from there.
Who, after all, would force the losing party to pay?!
Please don't confound the "circus" with government involvement!
It appears to have been so, as the only potential opposing parties were unaware of the proceeding, being at the hospice and not called to the court.
Was the judge aware of other parties to the issue?
Irrelevant. His awareness of other parties has no effect on the order. Gaddy has the order that grants her guardianship. Obviously, the judge is now aware there are other parties, because he has held hearings with them.
Why were all parties in agreement at the following Monday's hearing?
"Agreement" is a broad term. Agreement about what? SOmetimes people "agree" in the general, but object to the specific. E.g., I had a neighbor agree to pay half of the price of some trees to make a natural barrier at our property line. He refused to pay half, because $500 was too much. In this case, the parties may have "agreed" that Mae would be fed, but Gaddy's interpretation is "as much jello as Mae can take by mouth," while the others pictured intubation. Also, the agreement may have been on the narrow question of what course of medical action would be taken to address the dissection; surgery vs. medication and rest. I think, FWIW, that the agreement was limited to letting 2/3 doctors decide how to treat the dissection.
Why did Mullinax' attorney say that everyone was on the same side here?
See above. "On the same side" is also indefinite. You and I are "on the same side," even though we may have vigorous disagreements.
Why did WND fail to mention that Gaddy was hand feeding granny at the hospice?
A fair question. Maybe they didn't know. But, I wonder what "hand feeding" consists of, and whether it is adequate to nourish Mae's body. That issue isn't settled with the observation that Gaddy is hand feeding Mae.
We need not get past that part to be concerned. After all the implication is that a living will has no impact on the privilege of the guardian to create legal conditions that can result in your death.
That's the real issue here. After all, none of us are the guardian, and it's not likely we will ever be directly involved in this case.
We really have to do something about these legal shenanigans that can trick us into being killed.
first degree murder
Well, Greer may be a maniac, but he is a registered Republican and a Baptist, and is known for his conservatism. Additionally the 40 plus judges who reviewed this case come from all across the political spectrum.
"Potential" opposing parties may not be sufficient in some jurisdictions, and thus the Friday hearing may not have been ex-parte. But in any case, the Monday hearing should have cured that.
"Agreement" is a broad term. Agreement about what?
Well, as I understand it, that Gaddy would be the guardian, and that 3 doctors would be assigned to review the case. Other parts of the agreement are as of now not public.
See above. "On the same side" is also indefinite. You and I are "on the same side," even though we may have vigorous disagreements.
It was reported that he also stated that all parties to the conflict had only the best interests of Mae in mind.
A fair question. Maybe they didn't know. But, I wonder what "hand feeding" consists of, and whether it is adequate to nourish Mae's body. That issue isn't settled with the observation that Gaddy is hand feeding Mae
No it isn't, but it is relevant information and was overlooked by WND. Also, if you can believe WND and Mullinax, this would be the 12th day Mae is without nurishment. If so, she may be close to the record.
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