Posted on 01/29/2006 10:06:22 AM PST by 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.
Ohhh I just had to answer this before I left to watch TV!
Guess what? Government has actually been involved at least since the 1700's to prevent the murder of the innocent inconvenients here in the US! And in truth, for hundreds of years most governments have maintained this position.
Governments have no business in the killing of innocent inconvenients.
I can only repeat, Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.
The day I can't provide for myself 100% is the day I check out and you or anyone else can't stop me, at that point I have no right taking up space on this planet!>>>
Wrong answer. I used to work with the handicapped, including one I regarded as my own son. Your attitude would have sentenced him to death.
Google the origins of the phrase 'useless eaters'. The Nazis had *precisely* the same attitude as you toward the weak and helpless. And they first started gassing the handicapped long before they starte in on the Jews.
End of life decisions are made by individuals and families. There are laws, and in T. Schiavo's case a court decided on who was telling the truth. Just because you didn't like the outcome doesn't mean the government should get involved. God help us if they do.
Most murderers find the government unwanted, Dr. Frist. Shall we fire all homicide dicks and prosecuters specializing in murders, and strike all laws against murder. Right-o, Dr. Frist. Bring us all into Bedlam.
Calling people that you do not know a liar, says much about you.
It will be my decision, as it was my fathers, and if you don't like it go f*** yourself!
Personally I think laws against suiside are wrong, but hey, they can only be enforced aginst those too stupid to be successful.
"Funny how people claim not to want the government involved, but they supported the government ordering the murder of an innocent woman. They just don't support the government performing its most sacred duty; defending the lives of the citizens"
I so agree with you, well, maybe provide for myself 90%! But if some have there way here, your body will be kept alive goddammit, no matter what...
Enjoy the show!
Many a crafty spouse or inheritor is thanking folks like you, for relieving them of a burden. The burden of being caught for a well-done murder. They appreciate the efforts of citizens such as yourself willing to tell the nanny-staters to buzz off. As you say (in all effect) "Murder of a unwanted spouse or rich parent is a private matter, so go f*** off!"
Atty Felos calls murder the "death process".
Terri's g-tube was no big deal and she'd used it for 15 years. That g-tube was not medical treatment back when she got it but it was medical treatment years later after the law was changed. THAT WAS ILLEGAL to change her nutrition and hydration into medical treatment making such a change retroactive so that she could get caught in a slippery slope.
Are any of our meals considered "medical treatment"? Of course not.
That she was murdered is preposterous. There are lots of adults and children who have feeding tubes. Some need them permanently and others only need them temporarily.
What about ports for chemo and insulin? That's medical treatment too so, should those people be killed too because they need a port???? It looks like Terri Schiavo was singled out.
Right. And none of us have any idea about her will, only what her "husband" said was her will.
You can say that again. This is an important social issue that does/will touch each of us right where it counts.
It is much bigger and more important to discuss in the larger context.
Oh, and remember to dose for coma, rather than death. Then the state will be your best friend. Helps to move to Florida, where they appreciate that kind of civic duty.
OK, but the definition of life is different for you and I.
I am not here discussing Schindler vs. Schiavo. I have nothing to say about them.
I'm not so stupid as to do something so half assed and half way.
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