Posted on 06/16/2005 4:26:54 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Schiavo Autopsy Leaves Most Important Questions Unanswered
For more information: Diane Coleman or Stephen Drake
(708) 209-1500 exts. 11 & 29
708-420-0539 (cell)
Forest Park, IL, June 15, 2005 -- Today's release of findings in the autopsy of Terri Schiavo leave the central issues in her life and death unanswered, says a national disability rights group.
For example, contrary to articles stating the autopsy report "supported" the diagnosis of "persistent vegetative state (PVS)," a neuropathology expert today was careful to say that PVS is a clinical diagnosis rather than a pathological one. He added that nothing in the autopsy was "inconsistent" with a PVS diagnosis.
... Several studies have revealed high misdiagnosis rates, with conscious people being mistakenly regarded as totally and irrevocably unaware.
The autopsy also documented significant brain atrophy, and the medical panel called the damage "irreversible." This is not the same as saying she had no cognitive ability.
"It's always seemed to us that PVS isn't really a diagnosis; it's a value judgment masquerading as a diagnosis," said Stephen Drake, a research analyst ... for national disability rights groups.
Diane Coleman of Not Dead Yet, agreed. "The core issues remain the same. Protection of the life and dignity of people under guardianship, and a high standard of proof in removing food and water from a person who can not express their own wishes. These are issues of great concern to the disability community - evidenced by the 26 national disability groups that spoke out in favor of saving Terri Schiavo's life ..."
Not Dead Yet oppos[es] legalization of assisted suicide, euthanasia and other forms of medical killing.
NOT DEAD YET 7521 Madison St * Forest Park, IL 60130 * Voice/TTY: 708-209-1500 * Fax: 708-209-1735 * TTY: 708-209-1826
(Excerpt) Read more at notdeadyet.org ...
You made the claim, you prove it.
Which crime was she charged with?
On what date was she indited?
When was the trial held?
When and where did a jury of her peers render a verdict, and pronounce the sentence of death?
Oh, and since when did cruel and unusual punishment, which dehydration certainly is, become constitutional in any execution?
There is nothing in the Constitution that prohibits life support from being withdrawn from a PVS patient....especially when that patient was ruled to have desired the removal.
Food and water isn't 'life support'.
You'd go to jail if you treated your dog the way they treated Terri.
Terri received due process. HER wishes were carried out according to numerous trials and clear and convincing evidence in the state of Florida.
Anyone receiving nutrition via a feeding tube is on life support. Humans need Oxygen, water and food. If you can't breath on your own, a respirator is used and that is life support. If you can't take nutrtion orally, a tube is inserted to deliver said nutrition and that most certainly IS life support. There is no difference between the respirator and the feeding tube.
Respectfully...
Earth to jess35...
HER HINO'S WISHES WERE CARRIED OUT... Terri's wishes were not in writing and only remembered AFTER the HINO got the settlement that was supposed to be used to care for Terri for the rest of her natural life.
Parse it any way you want to, Terri was legally murdered.
I guess my sister should quit feeding her newly born son...he is on life support...her breast.
I have a simple question, and hope you can answer it for me, as I only have about 10 minutes left on the computer, before the hubby and I sit down to dinner...
Understand, I have felt all along that Terri should have been given over to her parents and siblings, as they were to care for her as long as they could...that has been my stand from the beginning....yet, I never saw Michael Shiavo as being a 'murderer', from the standpoint that so many have taken, that he initially did something to Terri to cause her to collapse, that he had tried to kill her just before her initial collapse...I do understand that Gov Bush has called for an inquiry as to why it took Michael Shiavo a full 70 minutes to call for paramedics, and that does seem suspicious, I will grant you...so I may be wrong about Michael Shiavo, time will only tell...
But what I would want to ask is this...feeding tubes are being pulled all the time in hospitals, and in nursing homes, often at the request of the family...do you maintain, that all these families are also guilty of murder? And what about families that refuse to have feeding tubes inserted into their loved one who can no longer take water and food by mouth...would you also maintain that is also a form a murder?
Oh, there is a huge difference. Hundreds of thousands of Americans get their sole hydration and nutrition through the tube. You and your ilk obviously think that it would be just fine and dandy to give them the Terri treatment.
And, Greer was so dead set on killing her, he even ORDERED that NO attempt could be made to feed her orally once the tube was removed. Barbaric.
This was a woman who swallowed her own saliva, and to whom several nurses fed Jello cubes over long periods of time when they cared for her.
Yes.
No kidding.
My daugher Hannah Marie never ate on her own. She lived seven months being fed only via tube. The thought that there are people who think that it would be acceptable to have starved her to death is repulsive to me.
And there is absolutely no difference between that and what they did to Terri.
You and I have similar feelings on the Terri issue. My mom has told me repeatedly what her wishes are. She does not want any heroic measures taken in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury. She has a living will and was asking that her daughters respect her wishes. I would hate to think that I would be labeled a murderer if we respect and follow through with her wishes.
My heart ached for the Shiavo family and for Terri. I wish Michael S. had turned her care over to her family. However, I also understand the rights of a husband in determining what his wife would have wanted. And no, before I get flamed, I'm not saying that Michael knew what she wanted (although he claimed that he did), but lacking any other information about what she wanted, the law said that Michael had the right to determine her fate because he was her husband.
God did not invent feeding tubes and I've often wondered if God was having a tug of war with Terri's family, and those on these threads, and others, who wanted her alive no matter what. May Terri rest in peace.
So you believe that all families that have a feeding tube pulled are guilty of murder, ,and all families that refuse to have a feeding tube put into someone who cannot take food or water by mouth are also guilty of murder...
Well, by your standards then, there are hundreds if not thousands of families every year who are committing murder...do I understand you correctly?
God bless you and your little angel in heaven.
Due process, as outlined in the Bill of Rights, is specifally for those charged with capital crimes.
I repeat: Terri was never even charged with a capital crime, much less tried and convicted.
Therefore, the claim that she received 'due process' is ludicrous and outrageous.
Anyone who would write that is either totally ignorant, or is practicing a form of deceit that is beyond the pale.
Thank you.
Food and water are fundamental.
If you don't provide food and water to those who are helpless and under your care, if it is at all possible for you to do so, you are guilty of negligent homicide, at least, in my opinion.
Thanks for your kind reply...I had to make the decisions for both of my parents, when it came to the end of their lives...I was their only child left(my brother had died years before), and they relied on me to carry out their wishes...and it was not easy at all...I had tremendous pressures put on me, by people who had no familial connections to my parents, by people who thought they knew what was best, irregardless of my parents wishes...
But I knew, full well, what my parents wanted, and what they did not want, and in spite of what anyone else wanted, or said, I followed their instructions as best as I could...it was difficult, but both my parents, on their deathbeds, thanked me for loving them and respecting them, and caring for them in the manner which they desired....and their words to me, the look in their eyes, have always remained with me, and assured me, that I did the right thing for them...I have to live with myself, ,as you will have to live with yourself, ,and no one else should be allowed to intrude upon the bond between you and your mother, and your wish to abide by her wishes...
My best wishes to you, and I will be thinking of you and praying for both you and your mom...
Are you saying that their desire was to have food and water withheld from them, and that that is how they both died?
I had to care for and protect my parents when they were dying...their explicit wishes were to have no ventilators, and no feeding tubes....over their younger, healthier years, right up until the time they got sick, they constantly reminded me, of how I should care for them when the time came...
Dad had cancer, and his GP tried to insist on having a feeding tube put in...dad would eat and drink very little, and day by day, it was less and less...the GP wanted a feeding tube put in...dad heard him, and hollered, "No"...when I refused to have a feeding tube put in, the GP nearly accused me of murdering my dad....Thankfully the GP was not in charge of the case, the oncologist was, and he let dad be in charge of his own care, which meant no feeding tube...
Same situation with my mom...she lived with me for several years, as her Alzheimers slowly took away her lucidity...but I fed her six times a day...sometimes she ate nothing, sometimes she would eat...the first visiting nurse we had, was not satisifed with my moms intake of water and food, and she, like dads doctor, insisted mom have a feeding tube put in...mom, in a lucid moment, heard out discussion, and she became agitated, and upset at the very thought of having a feeding tube inserted...when I refused to have the feeding tube inserted, that nurse became quite vile, and mean to both mom and me..we had to fire her, and get another nurse...mom slowly went downhill, ate and drank, less and less, yet I offered food and drink to her, again, six times a day...in the end, she was taking in practically nothing...
Now, I ask you, am I guilty of murder, or negligent homicide, because I abided by my parents wishes? they certainly, at the end, were not taking in enough to maintain themselves...I suppose one could say I was allowing them to starve and dehydrate to death...
In the end, altho dad had cancer he died from a stroke...mom, altho she had Alzheimers, died from a heart attack(she had already had two heart attacks several years before)....
Yet, in the minds of dads GP and moms first visiting nurse, and perhaps in your mind, I killed my parents...According to the GP and the nurse, I should have discounted my parents wishes, gone against their desires for the end of life, and allowed them to endure a surgery to have a feeding tube put in, that they did not want...they were willing to commit assault and battery upon my parents(for that is what forced surgery would be in my mind)to have these feeding tubes put in...mind you, had my parents wished for feeding tubes, or ventilators, I would have fought just as hard to have them put in, but only if that was my parents wish...
I am now curious...do you consider me guilty of murder or negligent homicide?
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