Terri Schiavo’s case in Chicago ( 30 days without food, only water)

LaRaza ^ | April 15, 2005 | La Raza

[FR_addict]

In a house on Chicago’s southeast side, a Mexican family is going through a heartbreak like the tragedy that befell the American Terri Schiavo’s family and deeply affected both those who defend the right to life and partisans of euthanasia. But no voices had been raised so far in this case because very few knew about the situation concerning the 39-year-old Latin woman whose husband decided to disconnect the tube that had been feeding her during her three and a half years in a vegetative state.

As of the close of this edition, Clara Martinez, 39 years old and mother of two children aged five and seven years – had been almost 30 days without food and was still alive, taking only water. For the last year she has been cared for in her home, with special medical equipment installed in the living room, while the rest of the family try to go on with their lives.

This woman has remained in this condition since suffering a stroke. She was cared for in the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Medical Center, later at an intermediate care facility, then at the hospital again, and finally she was taken to her home. At that time the physicians had judged her condition to be irreversible.

Under these conditions her husband Salvador Martinez, 35 years old and also Mexican, resolved that his wife should not live artificially. He signed a “Do Not Resuscitate” order to keep her from being revived artificially and disconnected the feeding machine. Under these conditions the woman should have died by withdrawal of feeding and the case would have gone unnoticed, had it not been for the intervention of a pastor of the Hispanic Evangelical Church at 4340 W. 87th St.

The wife’s mother, Gregoria Ruano, who has lived 33 years in the US after coming from the state of Durango in Mexico, attends this church. She disagrees with her son-in-law’s decision and spoke about the situation with Pastor Guillermo Espinoza.

Indeed, family and members of this church seem to be against euthanasia, which has led the husband to refuse an interview with La Raza, saying he doesn’t want to go public with my troubles. “My problems are mine, I will take care of them, and when I need you, I will call you,” was his reply.

According to Pastor Espinoza, who is from Bolivia, “The husband made a decision and will not change it, even though the family does not agree.”

Just as in the much-discussed case of Terri Schiavo, in which even the Vatican has called death by withholding feeding “an offense against life,” the Evangelical pastor feels that withholding feeding is “a form of hastening a death that definitely was not occurring.”

In the interview he said that when he was with the wife, “she moved, opened her eyes, and when we prayed and sang together by her bedside, she blinked as though she was listening.” He said it was also significant that, in spite of her condition, the woman was still “able to take water.”

Espinoza said that his was not a personal opinion on the right to life but from the Bible, which establishes that “God is the one who gives life and takes it away at such times as He sees fit.” According to Espinoza, “We conceptualize life in the context of a perfection, and when perfection is lacking, we feel it is incomplete.”

And so, “The husband’s ideal is the sublimated ideal of life. He wants to see his wife healthy like always and can’t conceive of seeing her like this.”

Court battle

Schiavo was disconnected per court order on March 18 from the apparatus that was keeping her alive. The so-called “Schiavo case” took a seven-year court battle between the husband, Michael Schiavo, who argued that she did not want to live artificially, and her parents, who maintained the opposite, and carried it into political terrain.

Even the President of the US, George W. Bush, took part in the dispute, taking the side of the conservative and religious groups opposed to euthanasia. He declared that “Those who live by the mercy of others deserve special concern.”

The tragedy involving Terri Schiavo began in 1990 when she was 26 years old. She has been in a persistent vegetative state after suffering a hear attack caused by a sudden drop in her body’s potassium levels, brought on by a strict weight-loss diet.

She was fed artificially for eight years until 1998 when her husband, who exercised legal guardianship, became convinced that there was no hope for her to live normally and asked for her feeding tube to be withdrawn. He claimed that his wife never wanted to live that way, although there was no legal document expressing such a wish.

That was the year the long and drawn-out court battle between Terri’s husband and parents began, during which the woman’s feeding tube was disconnected and reconnected on three occasions.

After the second disconnection in October of 2003, Terri’s parents appealed to the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, who presented a special bill to the state legislature which passed the so-called “Terri’s Law” which allowed the governor to order the feeding tube to be reconnected again.

Michael Schiavo brought suit claiming that law to be unconstitutional, and in September of 2004, Florida’s Supreme Court struck down the law. The feeding tube was disconnected anew.

Terri’s parents appealed for intervention by the US Congress and President Bush, who promulgated a bill in Congress with majority Republican support for “relief for the parents of Teresa Marie Schiavo.”

And so the case went to the US Supreme Court, which finally denied the claim and decided in favor of disconnection. The woman died fourteen days later.

At that time, L’Osservatore Romano (the official publication of the Holy See) published an editorial expressing fear at the wave of devastation that will, as a result of this case, erase established values and wildly distort people’s beliefs. It lamented the quality of life being judged inadequately when under guardianship, when a patient is in no condition to relate and comprehend. It also rejected the woman’s vegetative state as being synonymous with brain death or incapacity to feel the “slow agony” of being without food and water.

Living will

Comparing Terri Schiavo’s case with that of the Mexican family, Pastor Espinoza told La Raza he is worried about laws that could be passed. “If we allow a law to determine who will or will not live, it will be an offense against God’s principles of ethics.” In his opinion, nobody should be allowed to determine that “this person is not a living human being, so I decide when I give life or take away life. It’s a sophisticated way of murdering somebody.”

The “Schiavo Case” points to the need for people to make arrangements for having a “living will” in which they set forth their wishes for not being resuscitated or kept alive by artificial means, although opinions have been expressed that feeding and hydration – with or without tubes – are not considered artificial. As for the Catholic Church, its followers cannot request in a living will that denied water and nutrition be withheld, “as that is starvation, a deliberate mutilation of the body.”

[Regulator]

Whahhhhh. Cry me a river. That Mexican family should have been seeking their succour in their homeland...and NOT in the Americans' homeland

I caught that too. Interesting that they make the distinction that they are "Mexican" and not American, yet living on American soil. At least they're honest.

But having said that, there is no reason to allow someone to be killed like Terri Schindler was, regardless of the nationalist attitude's of the people involved. No one should be killed the way Terri was. Not in our country.

[ExPatInFrance]

Saundra & Addict,
I gotta go to bed. it is almost 1am here in France. I hope you two are able to take sme initiative and if you are not willing or able to do any investigation at least try and find other Freepers who will.

On Mae Magourilk's thread, the 81 year old woman who got removed form hospice and is now in a hospital, we had people volunteer for specific tasks. As soon as this can be vlaidated and a contact to the fellwo who wrote the article, find out if his news organization is legit etc. would be all the validation I would need to get involved.

I wish I could stay and help but I gotta go to bed I am so tired. But I can work while you guys are sleeping so it even out.

If you could see to it that someone checks out the story and then that you have a definate volunteer to file and abuse report, that would be a good first few steps, IMHO.

FR_Addict KUDO's to YOU for bringing this to our attention. Again, HUGE thanks for taking the time to psot this.
g'night

[ExPatInFrance]

Pahleeeeze, this thread should be about the Human Right to Life and not be murdered. Threads like this can deteriote very quickly once Ethinc remarks are bandied about.

I see no need for them on this thread. The topic is about a woman being starved to death, her ethnicity is not relavent.

[ExPatInFrance]

ooops, I meant to compliment you for statiing the same.
I was re-inforcing your commnets but I see by posting it to you it doesn't read that way. Sorry, hopefullly you know my intetions, I'm jsut tired.

[yellowdoghunter]

I plan on emailing the story to my senators. I have a good friend at work, she is an American from Mexico whose family lives in Chicago. I will relay this story to her first thing Monday morning. I know, I wish it was sooner but she is gone this weekend, I have no idea how to get ahold of her. She speaks spanish of course.

I will email this story to everyone I can think of. I will do all I can with what time I have. Hopefully, since it is at least being reported on, and a church knows about it, others who live in the area will get involved.

I will also do the most important thing and pray.

[Fred Nerks]

May I recommend caution? The comparison between Clara Martinez and Terri Schiavo in the article posted is somewhat shallow IMO.
Terri was denied therapy, denied stimulation, denied basic medical care in a hospice.
Terri's parents wanted to take her home and care for her.

Clara Martinez spent the majority of time since her heart attack in a medical facility where therapy would be have been part of her treatment, then was cared for at home.

[Fred Nerks]

Ask the Priest if his congregation/community has a facility such as a nursing home where Clara Martinez can be taken and cared for. My guess is the answer is No.

[floriduh voter]

I just heard about this woman being starved by her husband. I suggest we find the threads on Mae and ping those people.

The people in Illinois are freaking out that they now have their own Terri.

[floriduh voter]

ILLINOIS STARVATION CASE. 30 days no nutrition

Don't they have a Dept. of Health in Illinois? I'm not so sure if the Governor of Illinois is like Jeb or not. If he's like Jeb, he won't do a thing.

I didn't read the article carefully but I doubt this Mexican woman had a living will. Husband is starving her but hydrating her. How generous of him.

[hershey]

Just caught part of the Abrams' Report on cable. The topic was Judge Greer's decision to release all documents in the court battles over Terri Schiavo's care/death. Abrams was extremely sarcastic and nasty. Michael Schiavo, according to Abrams, was persecuted by evil people wanting to keep his wife alive.

[MACVSOG68]

Hoo boy...now they're going to come out of the woodwork.

Well, the militia is mobilizing. It sounds as if some of them may at least try and do some verification in hopes of preventing another Magouirk fiasco. But unfortunately, I notice a number of judgements already solidifying.

That having been said, on it's surface, it sounds rather bad. But at least this time it doesn't sound like the story was written by a political operative, leaving out 9/10 of the relevant facts. Be interesting to see if it is valid, but I suspect it probably is.

[Dean Baker]

Well, let's just hope for two things (Unlike what happened in the Schiavo case)...

1) The woman's wishes are adhered too without a huge family fight.

2) The government stays the hell out of the way.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hoo boy...now they're going to come out of the woodwork. The pastor has no right to intervene. Like the courts and the governmental entities in the Schiavo matter, he should butt out.

I agree. I really don't think we belong in the room.

[MACVSOG68]

Well, let's just hope for two things (Unlike what happened in the Schiavo case)... 1) The woman's wishes are adhered too without a huge family fight. 2) The government stays the hell out of the way.

Amen to that!

[little jeremiah]

Moral Absolutes Ping.

Gotta get this one out to you all.

Will be doing most of my pinging in the late evening for a couple of weeks; do not be alarmed!

It looks as though the starvation and dehydration of helpless people is the next battle. How "civilized" human beings can starve their fellow humans to death is beyond me. But, if they can rip unborn babies from the womb piece by piece when the babies are not "wanted", the next logical step is to kill them when they are no longer useful, and thereby also not "wanted".

The culture of death is indeed here, and will not go away without great effort from those who recognize it for what it is.*

Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.

*Those who love death hate the Author of all life. If we want to be on His side, we should be ready to actually serve the cause of Life with a capital L with our words and actions - whatever we each can do. Large effort or small, whatever we can do.

And prayer is doing something, too.

[unbalanced but fair]

written by a political operative

Well.. this Mederos, who is credited as the author, did write an article praising Michael Moore and his "movie." Mederos is the editor of the Chicago edition of LaRaza.

[MACVSOG68]

Well.. this Mederos, who is credited as the author, did write an article praising Michael Moore and his "movie." Mederos is the editor of the Chicago edition of LaRaza.

Well, guess he's not on our side of the political fence, but then I don't know if that puts any stain on the story...yet.

[FR_addict]

I get the google searches for Terri Stories delivered to my email.

[EternalVigilance]

Let me know what you hear about this, will you?

[Salvation]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Euthanasia

2276 Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.

2277 Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.

Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.

2278 Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of "over-zealous" treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one's inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.

2279 Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted. The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable Palliative care is a special form of disinterested charity. As such it should be encouraged