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To: Traveler59

Okay, I'll bite -- You sound pretty set about this, as most of us are one way or the other. I am trying to understand your point of view, which is shared by many people thanks to the pro-Death POV the Media took in covering this situation.

Terri was 26 years old when she collapsed. Don't know how old you are, but would you want to be held accountable for an offhand comment made 20 years ago about an old dying Grandmother? Terri also told one of her friends that it was wrong when Karen Ann Quinlan's parents won court approval to take her off the respirator. That example is far more compelling for the Court because Karen Ann was a young woman like Terri. The Judge threw that testimony out because he didn't think that Quinlan's case occurred in the proper time frame for Terri to even know about her. (Certainly grounds for an appeal there, right?) I am sure whatever Terri said back then, as a staunch Catholic, she wouldn't have wanted to die the way she did when the only "medical intervention" she was receiving was a feeding tube. A similar case is going on over in Jacksonville-- A woman wants to send her badly injured husband to hospice to die - she found a couple of doctors who agreed to sign off on the transfer from the rehab hospital. Meanwhile, all evidence leads to the wife causing her husband's brain damage due to blunt object trauma to the side of his head consistent with a wide flat frying pan. However, the man's busy-body mother is trying to help keep her severely impaired son alive. Go figure! Thanks to Mom's interference, he has recovered enough to demand that the wife be kept away from him.

Could Terri have ever gotten back to "normal"? No, not even close. Does that mean we should start dehydrating all the disabled people in a similar condition who can't feed themselves? Same for old people who can't get the fork to their mouths any more? Happy Hunting Grounds for them all, right? That is what Terri's execution has led us to today under Florida law.

Are you aware that Michael stated very pointedly on the Larry King show - "NO one knows what Terri would have wanted, but this is what we want." He was never called to account for that statement and many of the other conflicting things he said for all the world to hear. He has never submitted to a deposition or any sworn testimony about the circumstances around Terri's collapse and his actions to withhold even the most basic rehabilitative care. Michael ignored all subpoenas for depositions, and the Court (Greer) never did a thing about it.

Bottom line is that Michael was and always will be looking out for Michael, pure and simple. He had the steadfast support of the Hemlock lawyers and the ACLU that were bent on making case law allowing euthanasia for someone who is not brain dead, not terminally ill, and has no objective documentation of that person's desire to live or die in such medical circumstances. Terri never had any lawyers working for her. Judge Greer said she didn't need any - he was looking out for her best interests (this girl is going to die!) Her parents' lawyers had good intentions, but they were no match for the ACLU and Felos. The only comfort in any of this is Michael's inability to hurt Terri any more.


205 posted on 09/18/2006 1:08:19 PM PDT by Sioux-san (God save the Sheeple)
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To: Sioux-san; Traveler59

Great post, Sioux-san. This case was not about the right to die, it was about a bizarrely unfit guardian getting his wishes followed, and about a court treating a 15+ year casual conversation as a plea for a slow, painful death.


206 posted on 09/18/2006 1:27:41 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Burden? She said it, he ignored it, swore to take it, then dropped it with a thud.)
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To: Sioux-san

WOW!! I agree with you 110%.


207 posted on 09/18/2006 1:47:23 PM PDT by petnurser
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To: Sioux-san

Yours is one the BEST posts I have seen!


226 posted on 09/19/2006 5:18:15 AM PDT by PleaseNoMore
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