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More info on the question of living wills.....

"The standard living-will documents that are advocated by those who support euthanasia have a general presumption for death," Sturm told Zenit news service. "The language is often ambiguous and can be interpreted by a health-care provider in a variety of ways that a patient did not intend."

"Some living wills allow for the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration -- which, of course, includes food and water -- if a patient is comatose or vegetative," she told Zenit. "It is against Catholic teaching to refuse a patient nutrition and hydration just because they have these diagnoses."

"In other words, a living will can kill a person," she explained.

Pro-Life Nurse Says Living Wills Present Euthanasia Problems for Pro-Lifers

8mm

(this includes Ohioan from Florida's ping list, update to 11/14.)

Cheryl Ford sent me this with her commentary.....

RN Ford Comments:

If he cared enough, why would Wolfson not have recommended calling in the true medical experts to evaluate Terri as was requested of him to do? Why did he suddenly disappear off of the case when Governor Bush sent him interogatories to answer?

Sorry Jay.......your caring about Terri is not sincere and just doesn't fly with those who knew better. She is gone now...... please allow her to rest in peace and for her sake, go and find yourself another tragic story to talk about. You did not care enough then....it's too late now!

Sadly folks, guilt certainly has a way of never leaving those who have assisted in victimizing others.

Terri Schiavo guardian shares his experience at lecture
Guest Speaker: Jay Wolfson, Dr. P.H., J.D. spoke about his now former client, Theresa Schiavo.

"I would sit with her and stroke her hair and hold her hand and I would take her head in my hands and beg her to help me help her," said Jay Wolfson, Dr. P.H., J.D. about his now former client, Theresa Schiavo.

As he talked about his personal thoughts and experiences of brain-damaged Schiavo\'s case Nov. 10, the FIU community sat, and stood, in Graham Center 140, silently listening to Wolfson\'s every word.

Although the fight for Schiavo\'s future had been going on for years, Wolfson, professor of public health and medicine at the University of South Florida, came into the picture in 2003 as the court appointed Special Guardian ad Litem.

He was the legal representative for Schiavo. He had a month to look through all of the legal and medical documents "of a woman I didn\'t know." He reported to Governor Jeb Bush and the courts as to whether or not Schiavo should have more swallowing tests administered. This would guide the governor in his decision-making about the case.

"I didn\'t follow the O.J. or the Schiavo case," said Wolfson. "All of a sudden, I am asked to inject myself into this thing."

Wolfson did more than just read 30,000 pages worth of documents. He turned to famous philosophers and writers such as Dante, Descartes and Nietzsche for answers. He spent time with Schiavo\'s family, the Schindlers and with Michael Schiavo, her husband. Wolfson also spent one to four hours a day with Schiavo.

"I was seeking both information and knowledge," he said.

Wolfson had many special tasks as Schiavo\'s Guardian ad Litem. One of them was to serve in the best interests of his ward. Wolfson said that the problem he had with that task was whether or not he should do what he, or someone else thought was best for Schiavo.

Another task Wolfson had was to determine if there was "feasibility and value in swallowing tests and swallowing therapy given the totality of the circumstances." Wolfson\'s problem with this was that value can be relative.

Wolfson had to make a decision concerning Schiavo\'s fate.

"The scientist in me had to come in," Wolfson said.

The rules given to Wolfson for his decision-making were clear. He had to give competent, clear and convincing evidence.' '"We can take the best law we can and apply it in the best way we can. That is all we can do," Wolfson said.

Wolfson explained that when Schiavo had her accident, she fell and her brain was without oxygen for 12 minutes. She had slipped into a coma and was put on a respirator for a month. Two months later, she was considered vegetative. Schiavo could not swallow liquids.

Wolfson showed on a projector a picture of Schiavo\'s cerebral cortex. He explained that this was where reasoning is. It was where the consciousness may be and it was beyond reflexes. Schiavo\'s cerebral cortex was found to be all liquid.

"Her cerebral cortex was gone," Wolfson said.

Finally, Wolfson\'s decision was made. He decided that additional testing could and would be done if everyone agreed in advance as to how the results were to be used. An agreement was never made.

From within the whirlwind, Wolfson discovered two things.

"I wound up learning that there was something about this case, and it involved a certain chemical - hope," Wolfson said. "Is hope maybe the ability of human beings to have something beyond yourself that is a part of you?"

Wolfson called this ability the divine spark.

"It\'s that special thing which makes us human," Wolfson said.

The second thing Wolfson discovered involved perspective.

"Much of what we see and hear is just the tip of the iceberg, and everyone will have different perspectives of the tip," he said. "What I do know is that things that are said and are represented are not the same."

As the lecture came to an end, Wolfson said he could see why life is so important to people. "The alternative is the unknown and could be not being," he said.