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.
Your brand of "pity" leads directly to Hell.
And who appointed you God? Judge not, lest ye be judged.>>
When it comes to mass murder, I'll submit to His judgment versus those who commit or advocate it.
Nobody appointed me God, nor do I claim to be Him. But then I'm not the one arrogating His killing powers to myself. Who appointed YOU God to decide whose time it was for other people to die?
Nobody appointed me God, nor do I claim to be Him. But then I'm not the one arrogating His killing powers to myself. Who appointed YOU God to decide whose time it was for other people to die?
I haven't seen anyone on this thread assuming God's powers. What I have seen is over-the-top rhetoric and presumptions about what happens in other's families.
"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."
Well it's a good 'talk-the-talk' rant Billy boy but the Senate and Congress caved in and bowed to the tyrranical courts death warrant on Terri Schiavo...perhaps that bespectacled old crumdrudgeon Carl Levin (D) had thrown in a monkey wrench but you country-club spineless Republicans did not exercise your constitutional authority over the courts and allowed a cretin swamp judge Greer to trump the Feds....no guts no glory pal. Put legs to your words next time or defer to one with the cajones for the job.
Who said I wanted to kill? And whose pity are you talking about?
I'll tell you what I'm talking about. I'm talking about not turning our whole system of family and probate law upside down because of the outcome of one very famous and very unusual circumstance. While you see only twisted motives of people you have deemed devils or saints, the rest of us see our own experiences, our own families and our own futures... and we don't want the circus you and others like you created around that other case brought to our lives and our decisions.
What most of us realize that we face today, is a constantly changing level of medicine and technology that has brought us to a time where we can now unnaturally delay death without prolonging life. Where we can sustain life at some minimal level, but not always cure. In those cases, it is sometimes the right decision to not prolong inevitably a life that is over. No case is ever truly like another, and you can't create a government policy that tries to make them the same, particularly if your own motives are inseparably infected with a presumption of guilt and suspicion on all parties involved. I can't really get my head around what it is you people ~want~.
Perhaps we could solve all your concerns if we eliminated personal property inheritance and willed it all to the government. You apparently think there is no real love in families if there is the hope of one day inheriting the family farm.
I haven't seen anyone on this thread assuming God's powers.>>>
Then you are deliberately not paying attention.
It's looking more like President Bush is going to cut funding to Palestine for them voting for Hamas.
You apparently think there is no real love in families if there is the hope of one day inheriting the family farm.>>
Have you worked for five minutes in probate? I have, and the greed is INCREDIBLE.
If there is hope of one day inheriting the family farm, there IS no real love in most families.
Or you have an unusual idea of what are God's powers. Re-read post #84 from HairOfTheDog. He sums it up very well.
While I have seen some people behave badly as heirs, I've seen people behave both admirably and deplorably in most other parts of life too. All things that involve people are fallible. For that, I think we have fair law written already, without the involvement of more government intervention.
If there is hope of one day inheriting the family farm, there IS no real love in most families.
You don't speak for my family.
[she] :~D
But it should have been initiated in FAMILY not Probate court. Terri Schindler was not a piece of property to be distributed in a will.
Sorry! :)
If there is hope of one day inheriting the family farm, there IS no real love in most families.
You don't speak for my family.
>>
I am sure not. My family doesn't steal cars either. Doesn't change the fact that we need laws preventing car theft.
OK - what law do you propose? What is it you want?
When Congress gets involved in family disputes that is government going too far.
You don't speak for my family.
I am sure not.
BTW... Which is it young feller? Is there love or only greed in "most" families? While you have conceded that I perhaps loved my grandmother even though I stood to inherit her house, you have stated ~MOST~ families cannot love each other if they stand to inherit. Do you truly believe that? Is this phenomenon new with this generation or has no family ever had love since the first will and testament?
ping!
LOL! I can do that, too.
it was an exceptional case which involved the life of an innocent human being. I personally have no problen with it.
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