Profound questions from the Schiavo case

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | 6/16/05 | Katherine Kersten

[rhema]

. . .People of goodwill may disagree about Terri Schiavo's case. Yet as our society strays from its traditional belief in the essential dignity of every human life, we all must grapple with the implications of the notion that some lives are "not worth living."

Today, assisted suicide is lawful in Oregon. In the Netherlands, according to the New York Times, prosecutors no longer pursue cases against doctors who kill severely impaired babies after birth. The temptation to deal with the defective and incompetent by eliminating them is likely to grow as our society ages. Today, approximately 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. In coming decades, projections suggest that about 40 percent of us will spend roughly 10 years in an infirm, demented condition. The way we deal with this situation will say much about us as a society.

Currently, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is staging an exhibit . . . called "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race." It examines the idea of "lebensunwertes Leben" -- lives not worthy of life --which the Nazis used to justify their elimination of thousands deemed unfit to live: the retarded, the defective and the seriously ill.

Some German intellectuals championed this idea well before the Nazi era began. A 1920 book, for example, decried "the meticulous care shown to existences which are not just absolutely worthless" -- the disabled and deformed -- "but even of negative value." It called for applying the "healing remedy" of premature death, in order to "eliminat[e] those who were born unfit for life or who later became so."

Today, we must ensure that we ourselves are not tempted to start down this slippery slope --moved by free choice rather than totalitarian edict, and seduced by a shallow notion of "death with dignity."

[flaglady47]

"That's the pattern here. Many of the "let her be free!" folks have so admitted pulling the plug on a spouse, a parent, etc. All in a most loving manner of course."

There was no plug to pull. Nice try with your below the belt punch, but I'm used to the scumbuckets that inhabit the Terri supporters' world. Just one scumbucket after another with scumbucket hate-filled comments of murder, Christian phoniness, and vile remarks. Only way to deal with you people is to match you in nastiness, as you will never stop being that way yourselves. So, take your potshots, because believe me I will dish it back. Until I get bored, that is. And, at the moment you bore me, so I will now switch my attention to a rational thread, rather than mingle with the sicko's here. Toodles.

[bvw]

Stung, eh?

Not below the belt was it of mine, but your own posts quite emptyed the storerooms of scumbuckets before we had our tete-a-tete.

[AnimalLover]

I wouldn't surprised if all the claims of the Husband and his supporters did turn out to be true but it would make more sense to find all this out before the plug was pulled."

Yeah, they should have done an autopsy on her while she was still alive


Seems like the following was forgotten a long time ago!

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jun/05061406.html




Scientists Create Brain Cells, Predict Possible Rapid Development of Treatments for Alzheimers and Parkinsons


WASHINGTON, June 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - American researchers have found a method of growing batches, or lines, of fully mature brain cells. This has often been predicted as the end of such neurological diseases as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s. The ethical new technique mimics the brain’s own natural process of changing stem cells into neurons. For the moment, the research has .............................................

[Goodgirlinred]

Yeah, but won't you really be miserable while you are still here? Who wants to be fat? You could also end up with a heart attack or a stroke and wind up disabled.

[flaglady47]

before we had our tete-a-tete

You don't have a tete to have a tete-a-tete with.

[Goodgirlinred]

My late husband and I decided that we did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. To me, as an R.N., that meant being kept alive on a ventilator. I assume that is what it meant to my husband. In any event, he had cancer and succumbed to pneumonia and suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest. He was brought back and placed on a vent, but he was in a coma and it was found that he had no brain activity. I followed his wishes and had the vent removed as well as the feeding tube. I left the IV in for hydration and medication. He died a few hours later.

I have a Written Medical Directive. I do not want to be kept alive artificially if I have no chance of living any kind of life with awareness. My doctor shall be the one to determine what is to be done since my husband is gone. I don't want my mother, brother, or daughters to have to make that decision. I don't want a feeding tube, but I do want hydration. To me, that is death with dignity.

[KingNo155]

What God joins together let no man separate. Thats fine and dandy except you forgot the part about sticking it through while in sickness and in health.

[STARWISE]

(Governor Jeb) Bush wants more information on Schiavo's collapse; call to 911

[pollywog]

If they have half a clue as to how po'd people really are about the RINO's they'd move them out of the party as soon as possible.

You are sure right about that!!!

[pollywog]

Terri's dead. Give it up. End of argument.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of the 9-11 victims are dead, too. Does this mean that we should stop fighting terrorists?

BULLS EYE!!!! Way ta go EV. You hit the nail on the head.....

[bvw]

Talk about brain death.

Live a long life!

[biblewonk]

I agree with you 100 percent. Being kept alive like some kind of a vivasectioned monkey or lab experiment is not in the least bit dignified. Ever watch Grumpy Old Men? The two old geezers were discussing the various deaths of their friends and envying the ones that died quick and painless while feeling sorry for the ones who had no dignity in their deaths.

[biblewonk]

PS. So sorry about your husband.

[Freedom Dignity n Honor]

What was the decision in the Scott Thomas case? I didn't hear.

[jackv]

Yes I wonder how all of the priests and nuns and widows and widowers live without sex!
Yea, that's a REAL moral dilemma alright...NOT!

Grow up!

[jackv]

Give up what???

Ischemia is heart damage (tissue dealth) due to lack of oxygenation to the heart.
You clearly don't know what you'r talking about.
Terri's heart was very healthy.

[jackv]

You really have a thing for sex don't you??
It really isn't the most important thing to many.

[tutstar]

It was postponed and as it stands now, the hearing is set for July 18th.

[Freedom Dignity n Honor]

She could always divorce you if you were in a PVS state and she met someone else.

You'd understand. Besides, if she still has love for you then you'd probably come out ahead because she and her new hubby would take care of you.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Divorce sometimes is a necessary thing. I don't know if you are new to the discussion, because I don't recall seeing you here. MS was being treated by a psychiatrist, for exactly what, I don't know. MS attacked Terri's sister at one point, and his shrink told Terri's family to call 911 if it happened again.

Then there is MS's first gf. He stalked her, and apparently tried to run her off the road. She was afraid to testify. She had to be subpoenaed.

There is no way in hell that MS should have been his wife's guardian. Remember that this is about Terri, not general wills. Of course government shouldn't get into people's private lives, and I think everyone here agrees on that point. However, the government has a duty to protect the innocent and weak among us. They fail miserably most of the time.

Some of us have experienced life a lot differently than you. For instance, my mom died of complications of Alzheimer's. The second place she was sent to, was for physical therapy. They suckered me into signing off for a feeding tube, because they said she couldn't swallow. The therapy was for her hip replacement surgery. They kept making excuses why she WASN'T in therapy. Eventually, the physical therapy department and the nurses started hiding when I showed up every day to feed my mom baby food.

The care facility that I had put a down payment, was a Godsend. The owner is an Episcopalian Eucharistic minister, and his gf is a nurse practitioner. They found a loophole in the hospice regulations, and we busted my mom out of there at night. She spent her last year, taken care of wonderfully. Unfortunately, due to the lack of care, she never was able to walk again. However, she ate what the Filipino nurses cooked for themselves. She actually started gaining too much weight. I would bring by goodies for all the ladies, because Mom was the only one who had visitors.

Anyway, I have a different point of view. If all you need is a feeding tube, so what???? We mortals have no business trying to discern a person's wishes. Terri only had a feeding tube. Her "husband" decided, after he got the malpractice money, that she didn't want to live like that. Ahem....

Do you get it, yet??????