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To: knowledgeforfreedom
If this happened just exactly this way, the person who disconnected the ventilator, or who ordered it disconnected, is liable for medical malpractice.

More like murder. Just tell me who did it, and we can procede from there.

That said, there are assumptions in here that should be questioned. Do you believe no one should ever have a ventilator disconnected, even when they are clearly brain dead (No EEG function whatsoever, no special circumstances)?

I don't think dead bodies should be kept functioning. That doesn't mean that disabled people should be labelled as dead.

Your description sounds more like medical error than actual policy. It doesn't excuse it, not at all, but you're implying this is related to the decisions about Terri Schiavo, and I can't see that's the case.

Sadly, no one can promise that someone won't misread an order, mix up two patients, etc. There are more and more checks introduced to decrease human error, but it won't ever be prevented entirely.

Then I guess I didn't describe it very well. Somebody turned off the respirator. Those in charge of her care were unaware of this for about 20 minutes. This was not doctor's orders, or official policy. This was somebody taking it upon themselves to do what the advocates of forced euthanasia keep telling everyone is the right thing to do. They did what the death cultists said should have been done to Terri early on. That is the attitude we are fighting against. You will always find some difference between one situation and another. True, this woman's name was not Terri. True, she wasn't put in this situation as a victim of domestic violence. There are more differences than there are similarities. But the similarities are still important. She was killed by someone who shares your attitude toward the quality of life. And who ever did it, will probably never be prosecuted. Partly because of the attitude among some law enforcement officials that this is not a crime worth pursuing, because the victim was someone they find repulsive. The attitude that disabled people are so repulsive they should be killed, and should be so repulsed by themselves that they should want to be killed, is a very dangerous attitude.

231 posted on 09/28/2005 10:09:38 AM PDT by BykrBayb (Impeach Judge Greer - In memory of Terri <strike>Schiavo</strike> Schindler - www.terrisfight.org)
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