Disabled fear Schiavo death may hasten euthanasia

Florida Baptist Witness ^ | April 21, 2005 | TOM STRODE

[amdgmary]

WASHINGTON(BP)-Disabled Americans feel vulnerable in the wake of Terri Schiavo's death and need societal and legal changes if their lives are going to be protected, leaders of two disability organizations said.

In the hours after Schiavo died March 31, both Joni Eareckson Tada and Diane Coleman said the brain-damaged Florida woman's death and the events leading to it do not bode well for other severely disabled people unless some changes are implemented.

Schiavo, 41, died nearly two weeks after the tube that provided her with food and water was disconnected at a state judge's order. For years, her parents and her husband had been in a legal struggle over whether she should live or die. Acting as her guardian, Michael Schiavo, her husband, gained court approval for the removal of the tube, saying she did not want to live in a severely disabled state, though no written direction from his wife existed.

Though Tada said she prays God will use Schiavo's example "to stave off this terrible culture of death and give us a fresh re-energizing to build a culture of life," the popular evangelical Christian author and speaker also said her death "alarms me deeply."

"The death of Terri Schiavo will adversely impact literally thousands of Americans who have severe mental incapabilities whose legal guardians might not have their best wishes at heart," Tada said on the April 1 radio broadcast of Focus on the Family.

Coleman, president of Not Dead Yet, told Baptist Press, "[W]hat we are seeing here is the dismantling of the constitutional rights of people in guardianship. No longer will there be the presumption for life.

"The social presumption that [Schiavo] would be better off dead appears to have influenced the decisions in the case," Coleman said. "We feel threatened by this, almost as if there is a cognitive test for personhood under the law."

Joni and Friends is a Christian ministry to the disabled that Tada started in 1979. She became a quadriplegic in a diving accident at the age of 17. Her testimony of God's work in her life has become well-known among Christians throughout the world.

Coleman, a lawyer, founded Not Dead Yet in 1996 to combat assisted suicide and euthanasia on behalf of the disabled. She was disabled at birth and has used a wheelchair since she was 11.

Both of their organizations agree some steps need to be taken to protect the rights and lives of the disabled. They recommend, in statements on their Internet sites, there should be:

• Federal review in state cases of contested decisions about withdrawing feeding tubes when there is no advance directive or personally chosen guardian.

• State-by-state reform of laws governing guardianship and healthcare decisions in order to protect against involuntary euthanasia.

• A moratorium on the removal of food and water from severely disabled people when the latest diagnostic procedures are unavailable.

In all, Not Dead Yet has listed eight steps on its Web site, www.notdeadyet.org, that it says need to be taken to guard the disabled. Joni and Friends also calls for a change in terminology in a statement on its site, www.joniandfriends.org. Society must stop using the phrase "persistent vegetative state," Tada said.

"There's just too many people with significant disabilities who have been called vegetables, and this must stop," Tada said on Focus on the Family, which was taped the day Schiavo died. "That is beyond demeaning. It is dehumanizing, and when people with significant disabilities are labeled like that, then the discussion all too quickly next turns to death, pulling their feeding tube or warehousing them in a hospice.

"Something else that has bothered me as I have listened to the national media - everybody has been talking about whether or not Terri is 'going to get better someday,' as though that fact was a criteria for her life," Tada said. "However, millions of Americans with disabilities will 'never get better' by today's standards, and we believe that a quality of one's life should never be a criteria to put them to death. Life is the most irreplaceable and fundamental condition of what it means to be human. It's a gift of God, the Author of life; and disabled people, no matter how significant their handicapping condition, have that right to life."

Coleman told Baptist Press her organization would not have filed three friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of Terri Schiavo had she chosen her husband as her guardian and made clear her intentions regarding her care. The court's willingness to grant the guardian his request in the Schiavo case contrasts with reports of parental abuse and neglect when society expects the government to intervene, Coleman said.

"Unfortunately, people with disabilities are not so valued [as are children]," Coleman said. "We share a social devaluation that is so strong that most people are sure we are living a fate worse than death and that they would never want to live" that way.

"[W]hat we've learned like any other minority group, you might say, is you can't trust majority culture... In some cases you can't even trust your own family ...," she said. "While many caregivers are wonderful and value us, not all do.

"The most telling thing is [Schiavo's] guardian forbade qualified people from giving her swallowing tests, swallowing therapy" the last seven years, Coleman said. "She might not have needed a feeding tube really. A lot of people in nursing homes are on feeding tubes, not because they cannot eat but because there is not enough staff to feed them. That's the context we are in."

For Not Dead Yet and at least some other disability organizations, this is a civil rights issue, not a sanctity-of-life or culture war issue, Coleman said. Her organization is as concerned about conservatives cutting Medicaid and Medicare funds as it is about liberals wanting to kill the disabled quickly in the name of compassion, she said.

A bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide has been introduced in California, and Tada fears what happened in the Schiavo case will embolden its supporters in the state legislature.

"There will be those who will look at the situation of Terri Schiavo and turn it on its head," Tada said. "Pro-euthanasia advocates ... will say, 'Oh how awful that this woman had to linger so long toward her death. She should have been aided with a lethal injection of three grams of phenobarbital to hasten her death more quickly and more compassionately.'"

Tada said she was lying on her back as she was interviewed for Focus on the Family. She had recently recovered from pneumonia and had been mostly in bed for four or five days with a pressure sore. Shortly before the interview, a friend had fed her by hand.

"It underscored how much people like me and people like Terri Schiavo depend on strong advocates to be by our bedside to fight and to protect and to safeguard the protections around people with severe disabilities," Tada said.

[ClancyJ]

Great post!

That generation will be sorely missed as one of the greatest IMHO. They went through wars, depression, and did it honorably with the great American values still intact.

Look at what we face today - euthanasia promotion (beginning of selective cleansings), removal of God from all aspects of American life, child molestations/rape/murder, mistreatments. Pornography, drugs, depravity being forced down the throats of the young.

We should be very ashamed of what this generation is up to.

[ClancyJ]

That judge committed murder. You do not remove a feeding tube without offering food by mouth. To not do so, means you have chosen to starve that person and deny them food.

Same as locking a child in a cage and not feeding or providing water - murder.

And, based on not offering her food by mouth, he should be impeaced and removed from the bench.

We won't allow a U.N. ambassador to slam the phone down on a foreign dignitary but we allow a U.S. county judge to willfully kill a woman.

Another case of wrong is right, right is wrong - and a sign of the end times.

[MHGinTN]

By forbidding ANY food or water, not just ordering the gastrotomy tube removed, Greer, a probate judge, issued an order to execute Terri. He isn't supposed to have that authority under state law and Jeb was told that by many yet he decided to stand aside and allow a probate judge to order the execution of Terri. Shameful, at the very least; the governor is unfit for leadership just as much as Greer is fit only for impeachement and removal.

[cubreporter]

They'd have to get past me first!!

[ClancyJ]

When my father was sick, they said he would not really recover (bad prognosis). They asked what nursing home I wished. They advised he had to be moved out by Fri. I had not located one that quick and told them he still needed to be hospitalized, but Fri - they sent him to a nursing home of their choosing.

When completing the entrance forms, I did not like the wording of the "living will" because it gave them too much right of death. I said, that before any action, I wanted discussion with doctors and family to make any decisions, so we adjusted.

Yet, the very next day my dad died and I cannot help but believe that he should have had oxygen administered and they forgot or failed to order it for him. It haunts me that I did not think to check on his orders. He was in the room with a man getting oxygen and how horrible if he was denied it.

Also, to show how cold they were, they called me in the middle of the night to let me know he died and immediately wanted to know what to do with the body. I could not even think so said I would call them back. In 10 minutes, they again called and demanded an answer as to what to do with the body.

Absolutely despicable behavior.

[ClancyJ]

No, you are wrong. Any politician has to weigh their actions seriously. What is the point of taking action and inciting more damage than good, when that action will not succeed.

Anything Bush had done would have been overturned as was shown by the Supreme Courts actions. The laws the legislators put into place insured that his efforts would fail. He cannot ignore the laws the legislators enacted no matter how much he disagrees with them.

Also, the state's rights issues come into play. If the federal government had overturned Florida law, it would mean every other case in any state could be overturned by the federal government based on the majority opinion.

As explained to me by another FR - why should all states be under the opinions generated by the more population centers such as Florida, California, New York. Majority could easily overtake Kansas decisions.

This is why abortion has had such a horrendous affect on government - a federal law that overrode an individual state's right to choose where it stood. Now the whole U.S. is trapped under abortion and all political manueverings hinge on the abortion issue.

It was a simple polite explanation of why some disagreed with the federal government getting involved with Terri's case. And, it made great sense although it would have been nice to save Terri and I wish they had. But, I then understood some hesitation expressed by others.

[floriduh voter]

The bottom line is that Terri was murdered via judicial homicide. Can't get around that. Leaders don't bow to lawless judges.

[ClancyJ]

I agree definitely about Greer - but you are wrong about the Bush boys.

We have been blessed with them in power but they are not supermen. Did you want Gov. Bush impeached? George Bush impeached?

Just what reaction do you think they would have gotten AND it would have come down to the Supreme Court over-ruling them. Do you want that?

Anyway - the offices of president and governor did the best they could do. I wish they could have flown in and swooped Terri up as much as you do. But, the end result would have been a more firm decision stating that they were powerless and the law stood.

Don't worry, they hate this decision as much as we do and they will do all they can to get such situations prevented because one is a Catholic and one a Christian and neither believe in the actions that killed Terri.

We have seen Pres. Bush uphold his faith, and Gov. Bush is the same as we saw when he fought so hard for Terri's law.
They haven't changed.

[ClancyJ]

Why in heck did he not do anything about it then? Just cannot understand that. There had to be a strong reason because we know and have seen how hard he fought for Terri earlier when he did not have to.

[floriduh voter]

Jeb hid in his office and would not meet with Alan Keyes but he met with Jesse Jackson and then Jesse got up to speed that Terri was going to be martyred. Jesse said on CNN "Terri's death will save thousands of lives." Jeb said he was not running for President so that's like when Hitlery says it. They don't really mean that they aren't running.

There was no reason for Terri to be murdered except the death lobby is so entrenched with Tallahassee and the inability of the governor to convince some of the nine GOP senators who voted against Terri to vote to save her life. Jeb failed with his own GOP legislators or did he even try to talk to them? I believe he hid in his office from everyone.

The US Congress unfortunately trusted the courts which was their huge mistake when they sent their signed docs back to Florida. Many mistakes were made and Terri paid with her life. She suffered a horrible death.

But, I'm back to Greer bashing now which ties in with your last post.

A lawless judge tells the United States to stuff it.

[ClancyJ]

I'll help all I can on Greer bashing - I want him impeached. We don't need judges that commit murder with their decrees.

He should have allowed Terri to be offered food and water by mouth - to not do so, means he condemned a non-dying woman to death - murder.

We also need the names of the Senators that voted "no" to aiding Terri. They might as well get a little exposure to their votes. Maybe we need to investigate who they are tied in with also - the public might need to know. We need the dems as well as the gop because they are just as guilty of murder.

[floriduh voter]

The nine who voted against Terri in the Florida Senate, their names are on the Terri April thread.

I'll see if I can find the list and post it here. 1. Jim King and 8 others.

[floriduh voter]

Pls direct me to the list of the nine GOP Fla Senators who voted against Terri this time. I misplaced my list. Thanks, FV

[MHGinTN]

There is no easy answer, dear Lady. There is the political aspect and the points to be gained for 'trying'; there is the fear of a showdown between legislative and judiciary, with the legislative showing in advance that they are not on the side of reining in the out-of-control judiciary, so the governor should have acted before asking permission and then allow the chips to fall with the distinct possibility that things would have developed differently and Terri would still be alive; there is the fear of upsetting the incorrectly polled voters of the nation and Florida (a trick that worked and the media must be very pleased with their evil selves, especially ABC, that bastion of liberal demonic manipulation).

[floriduh voter]

In summary, words from Mary Schindler: 4/22/2005 3:00 PM ET

"My heart aches over the loss of my daughter. She was a part of my daily life for the last 41 years. She would have been residing in our home with us for the last fifteen years had she been allowed. She was, and will always be my baby. I will never forget her. I miss her terribly. The pain and distress she was in during her final days because of what they did to her will never leave my mind. Bob has a difficult time sleeping at night. The last we were told was Michael cremated Terri. This week, our attorneys told us she is still here in Florida. Michael will not tell us where, or what he will do with her and this breaks my heart. As her Mother, I want my daughter to be buried where our family may visit her gravesite. Our only relief right now comes in knowing they can bring no more harm to her. We know that she is safe and in the protected hands of God."

FV SAYS: I'm emailing this to Jeb Bush (who is at the Vatican for the Investiture of Pope Benedict XVI.) and other leaders who trusted this country's broken judicial system with Terri's life. They think we will forget that Terri was tortured and murdered by men in black robes and some women too, not to mention GOP reps. They should think again...

[amdgmary]

[blueriver]

No, you are wrong. Any politician has to weigh their actions seriously. What is the point of taking action and inciting more damage than good, when that action will not succeed.

Someone needed to act according to the oath of office they took. As far as I can see the Florida judiciary has made the Florida Legislature and the Florida Executive branch moot. Florida is run by the Florida Supreme court - might as well send the legislature home - they are useless - anything they do can be found unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme court - such as what happened to Terri's law. It is a mess - and Bush just allowed it to happen cause he did not have the guts to cause a confrontation. Now it is really to late - the game is over and the judges have complete control.

[ClancyJ]

I agree it is over. But, I wonder if it is not the power of the Scientologists and the euthanasia movement in Florida that has its hooks all through the government.

Think about it - Florida is a retirement state and a prime target for those that wish to absorb the assets of the weak. I have heard that maybe this is the tip of the iceberg in that the corruption involves property accumulation, Medicare fraud, on and on.

When a state with a powerful euthanasia interest has an end-of-life panel established by the legislators that allows it to recommend AND all recommendations are immediately input into law, one becomes suspicious. When this panel has euthanasists on it, and when there are connections back to the hospice that held Terri, one becomes suspicious.

When the county judge ignores a federal subpoena, thumbs his nose at the governor's efforts to save Terri and ignores a federal law asking only for a new look at the case, he felt pretty sure he would succeed or he was forced to act by powerful interests.

When the Florida supreme court upholds state murder, we find that the entire state is corrupt.

It needs to be cleaned out of all legislators (especially the ones voting no to helping Terri and the ones that installed an end-of-life power with legislative power without election).

Maybe Jeb Bush realized that the whole system is corrupt. Which is not a very good recommendation of his leadership ability.

[doppelganger]

I value people. Not potatoes. Get real.

[pc93]

You must not have ever communicated with his office by voice, etc.