Frist: Gov't Unwanted in End-Of-Life Cases

AP on Yahoo ^ | 1/29/06 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who took a leading role in the Terry Schiavo case, said Sunday it taught him that Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.

Frist, considered a presidential hopeful for 2008, defended his call for further examinations of the brain-damaged Florida woman during the last days of a bitter family feud over her treatment. Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state.

The case became a rallying point for right-to-life advocates, an important segment of the Republican Party. It also drew interest from those supporting the right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment and led to charges that the GOP was using a family tragedy for political gain.

Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he had any regrets regarding the Schiavo case, Frist said: "Well, I'll tell you what I learned from it, which is obvious. The American people don't want you involved in these decisions."

Schiavo, 41, died March 31, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed and 15 years after her initial collapse and hospitalization. Courts in Florida had supported her husband's contention that she would not want to live in such a state. Her parents and siblings disagreed and for years fought efforts to remove her feeding tube.

An autopsy later showed that Schiavo had suffered severe, irreversible brain damage and was blind.

Frist, R-Tenn., said in the full Senate that he supported what he called "an opportunity to save Mrs. Schiavo's life." A heart surgeon, Frist had viewed video ordered by a court and taken by a board-certified neurologist who had concluded she was not in a persistent vegetative state.

Congress passed a bill to allow a federal court to review the case, and President Bush quickly returned from his Texas ranch to sign the bill into law. But a federal judge refused to order the tube reinserted, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court.

Frist was later mocked as having made a diagnosis from his office using a video screen. "I didn't make the diagnosis," Frist said Sunday. "I raised the question of whether or not she was in a persistent vegetative state."

Looking back, Frist said, "When you're taking innocent life, with parents who want that life preserved, you've got to make sure, and therefore stepping in to say, let's take one more review, that's what we did."

He added: "I accept the outcome. I don't agree with the moral sense of it."

Frist plans to leave the Senate when his second term expires in January 2007. He said Sunday he will return to his home in Tennessee and decide whether to seek the Republican nomination for president.

[Appalled but Not Surprised]

Or go to present day Holland.

>>>
All the same.

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't know of a better solution. I agree it's not a pleasant thought if she was conscious, but it was, in fact her complete lack of consciousness that led to this. If she were conscious we would not be having this debate. I don't honestly believe she had the consciousness to want for food, or water.

[meema]

Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.

You can say that again.

[JCEccles]

Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.

If Terri Schiavo's parents and supporters honestly believed that she did not consent to being put to death, should they have been allowed to take her by force, without government interference, from the hospital and the people who were killing her?

[DLfromthedesert]

Definiton of zealot: someone who believes starving someone to death is wrong, especially when her family is opposed and wants to take care of her.

Definition of logical person: someone who thinks judges can never make mistakes, and that an estranged husband should be believed when he asserts "his wife's" wishes

[JCEccles]

Please see my question in #164.

[syriacus]

Every single law or regulation passed since then (and they are, by now, innumerable) has made the situation worse.

I agree that statutes can certainly make things worse.

In Terri's case, the situation was made worse by the 1999 Florida statute that changed feeding by a tube from "ordinary" care to "medical treatment."

[verity]

You two demonstrate an incredible degree of valor in confronting the MS crowd. ;-)

[Wheee The People]

Definiton of zealot:

Keepig someone alive against their will.

[JCEccles]

See my question in #164.

[JCEccles]

Can you answer my question in #164?

[Appalled but Not Surprised]

Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.
You can say that again.

>>
If you want to lie.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I'm about to resign for the evening.

I'm interested in these issues from a much more general point of view... and the debate inevitably centers on Terri. We can't forever argue this whole issue as merely Schindler versus Schiavo.

[verity]

What does that have to do with the thrust of that which I posted?

[JCEccles]

Of course you support government interference. But you only want government to interfere to ensure life is extinguished in such cases.

Let's drop the silly pretense that you don't.

[verity]

Cease ranting and respond to the specific question I posed.

[JCEccles]

Your post appeared to be applauding posters who apparently support government interference, as long as it hastens death.

[hispanichoosier]

Mandates come from the people -- by definition a solid majority, if not an overwhelming majority

Usually, you'd be correct. The mandate to protect human life, however, is inherent in the very existence of government. A government that cannot protect the lives of its citizenry is worthless...even if a majority of its citizenry doesn't want a particular type of human life protected.

[dalereed]

Government shouldn't have any say in what a persons whishes are as far as supporting or ending their life.

My father killed himself by refusing to eat or drink anything because he wanted out because his knees no longer functioned and he couldn't function on his own.

It was his decision, he was of sound mind and didn't have any illnesses and it wasn't anyones place in the family to stop him or object.

He was 92, stated his case and asked that no one intervene in his demise.

[syriacus]

The court of jurisdiction ruled, and was affirmed over many many appeals.

Michael dragged the government (Greer) into the case.

Greer overstepped his jurisdiction, by ordering that Terri receive nothing to eat or drink.

Greer did not simply grant Michael Schiavo the discretion to remove nutrition and hydration from Terri. Greer ORDERED him to do it. Second, the order goes beyond removal of the feeding tube and includes food and hydration by natural means....

Greer exceeded his authority under Florida law. By ordering Michael to have the tube removed, Greer eliminated the exercise of discretion by the guardian and exercised it himself. Greer eliminated any exercise of discretion by Michael to change his mind. In fact, if he did change his mind, Schiavo would have had to file a motion asking Greer to rescind his order.

At left, George Greer, telling the reporters that Terri died a peaceful and beautiful death.