Lauren Richardson Becomes Next Terri Schiavo as Parents Debate Euthanasia (Delaware)

LifeNews ^ | 2/1/2008 | Steven Ertelt

[floriduh voter]

I just read the CPOA is for Obama. Makes sense to me.

[Sun]

“Pray for Dorothy Palinchik in a coma at The Largo Medical Center.”

Yes, pray for Dorothy!

[8mmMauser]

I intended to start this post with a tribute to William F. Buckley, R.I.P., a giant inexorably tied to our own, T'wit. They are now reunited as chums in a better place, sharing puns and humor as before. Before I do that, we have an appropriate lead-in from Michelle Malkin on a topic very dear to T'wit, the fate of Haleigh Poutre. As I noticed recently, Haleigh is now communicating. T'wit would be thrilled.

Thanks to TheSarce for the tip.

........................................

I’ve written thousands and thousands of blog posts over the year and 16 years’ worth of newspaper columns. Some of the stories enter your heart and never leave. Haleigh Poutre’s story was one of those stories.

Longtime readers will remember Haleigh from two years ago. She was the 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts who had been hospitalized after her stepfather allegedly burned her and beat her nearly to death with a baseball bat. Haleigh, in a coma, was kept alive by a feeding tube and ventilator. Doctors said she was “virtually brain dead” — in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Massachusetts Department of Social Services wanted to remove Haleigh’s feeding and breathing tubes. They called her “hopeless.” They called her condition “irreversible.”

As they moved to pull the plug, a miracle happened: She started breathing on her own.

Her case revealed massive, dangerous bureaucratic incompetence and the fallibility of the medical establishment.

Now, the Boston Herald reports that Haleigh Poutre–who turned 14 on Sunday–is now speaking about the unimaginable abuse she suffered:

Defying all odds, the brain-damaged Westfield girl who was days away from a state order to remove her from life support in 2006 is now communicating information about the horrific abuse that nearly killed her, according to new court documents.

Although once thought to be brain-dead, Haleigh Poutre, who turned 14 on Sunday, is now ‘making statements alleging abuse” by her stepfather Jason Strickland, according to a motion filed in Hampden Superior Court last month by Strickland’s attorney, Alan Black of Springfield.

Haleigh is recovering at a Brighton rehabilitation hospital, where her condition has reportedly vastly improved since the legal battle over her life captured national headlines in 2006.

Haleigh was beaten into a coma Sept. 11, 2005, allegedly at the hands of Strickland and his wife, Holli Strickland, Haleigh’s adoptive mother and biological aunt.

Black’s motion indicates that a 51A concerning Haleigh has been forwarded to him by Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett. A 51A is a report of abuse or neglect that can be filed with the Department of Social Services.

“This creates issues concerning competency and (Haleigh’s) ability to testify and recall events in light of her severe head trauma,” Black wrote in the motion that requests a new trial schedule be set so he has time to review the information and hire experts.

Bennett is not commenting on the case against Strickland.

Eight days after Haleigh’s near-fatal beating, DSS sought a court order allowing Haleigh to be removed from life support. Jason Strickland objected, but in January 2007, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that DSS could remove Haleigh from life support. The next day, DSS announced that Haleigh was breathing on her own, and it had halted plans to remove her feeding tube.

News reports last year indicated that Haleigh could eat, write her name and flex muscles - all activities that doctors once said would never be possible.

As I’ve noted before, there is a powerful institutional motive for covering up Haleigh’s progress.

Don’t forget her.

Haleigh Poutre speaks

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[8mmMauser]

William F. Buckley and Timothy J. Wheeler

R.I.P.

The present times dim with the passing of an institution at our Conservative heart. But our mentors who passed would offer a different hope than the ersatz chump pretenders of today, so we may see a few rays of sunshine while the skies cloud over.

Sometimes we receive news with a little grace in the way we hear it. When Tim passed, I was blissfully unaware even as word leaked out, until his wife called to tell me. In the case of William F. Buckley, I knew nothing until I turned on the radio and heard it from Rush Limbaugh. Listeners to Rush over the years know along with his own father Rush revered William F. Buckley as the greatest force shaping his life.

Many on our Terri List and FreeRepublic heard his touching tribute to the man and to the role he played, but fewer would connect Rush's inadvertent tribute to Tim.

Rush compared Mr. Buckley to our Founding Fathers, to another half of the Conservative phalanx of Ronald Reagan, like a phoenix growing through the ashes of shame and destruction brought about by that little Jimmy Carter and his kind.(I take liberties here with my memory as I sure can't remember the words, only the image he stamped...)

Rush described how he was touched as a kid, reading the Buckley column, the early National Review magazines and how he nervously got finally to visit the giant, William F. Buckley , and the most brilliant people in the world, those editors and cronies close to Mr. Buckley. Bold unflappable Rush stood in awe, nervous in the presence of these people, and repeated his impressions again and again. I can readily imagine the scene as Tim fit that mold perfectly, looked the part, tall, imposing, dignified and smart.

William F. Buckley in that seminal time brought in to his small coterie a man with huge talent and like humor, to be editor of the early National Review. Soft spoken Tim shied from the limelight, but carried much influence and friendship. And he must have been one of those impressive fellows named by Rush as part of the most brilliant minds in the world! They both would see our present day valley of tears in that light of optimism and humor even as their own creation was to some extent usurped and morphed into a form less clear.

William F. Buckley and company left us all a legacy. They planted the seed for us to nurture.

"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."

[wagglebee]

Thanks for your magnificent tribute to WFB and T’wit!

[8mmMauser]

Haleigh Poutre update again...

Haleigh Poutre has made a miraculous return from death’s door and begun working with prosecutors to build a case against the stepfather charged with beating her into a coma in 2005, according to court documents.

But lawyers defending Jason Strickland are already questioning whether Poutre, 14, of Westfield is competent to testify in light of her injuries, which Strickland is accused of helping to inflict.

“This is a unique case (for) someone who has literally risen from a deathbed coma to be able to now implicate her abuser,” said defense attorney Tim Burke, a former Suffolk prosecutor. “It is nothing short of extraordinary.”...........

Haleigh’s miracle comeback... Records: Healing from coma, fingers stepdad

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[8mmMauser]

Haleigh Poutre again...

A reminder, the grim reaper and his drooling enthusiasts were denied at the height of their lust.

...............................

To most people, Haleigh Poutre’s extraordinary recovery from the brink of brain death could be called a miracle.

But one Bay State brain injury expert said that although only a “small percentage” of people fully recover from severe trauma, recovery can, in fact, occur.

“It is entirely possible for someone with severe injury to recover. The chances of a full recovery becomes much less the more severe the injury but, it is still possible,” said Dr. Douglas Katz, medical director of brain injury at Braintree Rehabilitation Center.

When the 14-year-old was first hospitalized in 2005, at age 11, doctors said there was “no hope of a meaningful recovery.”

But as they prepared to pull the plug on her life support, Poutre showed signs of emerging from the vegetative state that had shackled her for months........

Chance of recovery rare, but possible, says brain doc

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[8mmMauser]

Obama Nation meets Terri's Legacy..

This from WND in modest excerpt...

Here's what he said: "When I first arrived in the Senate that first year, we had a situation surrounding Terri Schiavo. And I remember how we adjourned with a unanimous agreement that eventually allowed Congress to interject itself into that decision-making process of the families. It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped. And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better. ... And I think that's an example of inaction, and sometimes that can be as costly as action."

That "situation" surrounding Terri Schiavo was, I like to think, an earnest effort by a group of lawmakers to save the life of an innocent woman who was eventually put to death by court order – starved and dehydrated against the wishes of her mother, father and siblings, who wished to care for her at their own expense..............

Planet Obama

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[8mmMauser]

More from this Hussain guy. If only we could change "Obama Calls Vote to Help Terri Schiavo Biggest Mistake" to "Obama's Biggest Mistake"..

...................................

'Whether it's abortion or end-of-life issues, he's been consistently anti-life.'

During the 20th Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said the one vote he would take back was his 2005 U.S. Senate vote to help save the life of Terri Schiavo, a brain-injured Florida woman.

"We adjourned with a unanimous agreement that eventually allowed Congress to interject itself into that decision-making process of the families," Obama said. "It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped. And I think that was a mistake."

Schiavo was not dying nor terminally ill; she was not brain-dead nor in a coma. Yet for seven years, her husband, Michael, sought to have her feeding tube removed. Congress intervened toward the end, but it was not enough. Schiavo died March 31, 2005, after 13 days of court-ordered dehydration and starvation.

Jill Stanek, a pro-life speaker and blogger, called Obama "utterly pro-death."

"He lives in 'opposite world,' where he is an environmentalist, to the extreme, and very pro-animal," she said. "But when it comes to the sanctity of human life, he takes every stand against it, up to, and including, babies who have been aborted alive.

"His priorities are completely unintelligible."

When asked Tuesday which vote she would take back, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said she would not vote for the Iraq war again.

Tuesday wasn't the first time Obama talked about his "mistake."

During an April 2007 debate, he said: "I think professionally the biggest mistake that I made was when I first arrived in the Senate. There was a debate about Terri Schiavo, and a lot of us, including me, left the Senate with a bill that allowed Congress to intrude where it shouldn't have.”

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said Obama has been disingenuous.

"How can Obama reconcile his cavalier dismissal of Terri Schiavo's predicament as a 'family matter,' when he has stated he wants to appoint judges who are 'going to protect people who may be vulnerable in the political process, the outsider, the minority, those who are vulnerable, those who don't have a lot of clout'?

"Whether it's abortion or end-of-life issues," Hausknecht said, "he's been consistently anti-life."

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Get the facts on Terri Schiavo.

What can we learn from Terri Schiavo's story?

Find out where the presidential candidates stand on pro-family issues.

Obama Calls Vote to Help Terri Schiavo Biggest Mistake

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[8mmMauser]

Perhaps we can start calling the Democrat's B.O. "The Man from Little Hope..." Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri's sister writes:

Contact: Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, 727-490-7603, infor@terrisfight.org

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, Feb. 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- In a presidential debate last night, Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill), said, for the second time this year, that he regretted supporting federal legislation aimed at saving the life of Terri Schiavo. He even suggested the legal efforts to stop Terri's death by dehydration and starvation constituted a "costly" action. 

"We welcome the opportunity that Senator Obama has given us to once again strive for clarity regarding the death of our beloved Terri," her father Robert Schindler said.  "However, we are very saddened by his remarks. Everyone with a disability, or who knows someone with a disability, should be outraged that a potential US president would so callously reject his own action taken in favor of life over death."

 

Terri's Foundation wishes to remind all Americans that the Senate gave unanimous consent to the effort to save Terri's life and that the vote was strongly bipartisan in the House.  "As a country, we should all be distressed that doing the right thing suddenly becomes a 'mistake' when one poll later showed it to be unpopular," Schindler said. "That isn't leadership; it's pandering to popular prejudices."

 

"Is it so incredulous that a family had the 'audacity of hope' to believe its government would care about one profoundly disabled woman?" Schindler asked. "It is a shame that Senator Obama, who claims to embody 'hope,' is crushing it for the families of people with profound disabilities."  

 

Terri was neither terminally ill, nor comatose. She was not on life support and only needed food and water to live.  Persons with disabilities, no matter how serious, are persons with the Constitutional right to life.

 

"Highly visible public figures, especially those who may one day speak on behalf of all citizens, should not imply that some citizens are less worthy than others," added Schindler. "As President, would Barack Obama stand for all of us or just some of us?"

Obama Crushes 'Audacity of Hope' for Disabled Americans and Their Families

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[wagglebee]

I also posted this as a thread last night.

[8mmMauser]

Another excerpt from WND on the Hussain asylum...

May B.O. regret regretting.

Asked in last night's debate to name a regret, Sen. Barack Obama said he would like to take back his vote authorizing Congress to intervene to save the life of the brain-injured Florida woman Terri Schiavo.

Schiavo, on whom WND reported extensively, died of starvation and dehydration in March 2005, two weeks after a federal judge ruled her husband could order doctors to withhold food and water.............

Obama regrets intervening to save Terri Schiavo... 'It wasn't something I was comfortable with'

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[8mmMauser]

Suzanne’s article... I will post a link to it soon.

[8mmMauser]

I will post to it right now. Thread by wagglebee on the Man from Little Hope:

............."Is it so incredulous that a family had the 'audacity of hope' to believe its government would care about one profoundly disabled woman?" Schindler asked. "It is a shame that Senator Obama, who claims to embody 'hope,' is crushing it for the families of people with profound disabilities."..........

Obama Crushes 'Audacity of Hope' for Disabled Americans and Their Families

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[8mmMauser]

And this from a wagglebee thread...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Terri Schiavo's family and a leading pro-life group blasted pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday. They took issue with his comments during Tuesday night's debate where he said his "biggest mistake" of his political career was voting for a bill to help save Terri Schiavo's life...............

Terri Schiavo's Family, Pro-Life Groups Blast Barack Obama on "Mistake" Comment

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[8mmMauser]

And here is a thread by SErtelt. Thanks to fetal heart beats by 21st day for the ping!

Cleveland, OH (LifeNews.com) -- Senator Barack Obama debated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night and said his biggest mistake was voting to help save Terri Schiavo. Terri is the disabled Florida woman whose husband won the legal right to starve her to death.

Barack Obama Would Take Back Vote Helping Terri Schiavo

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[8mmMauser]

Custom kid abortions from PP...Thread by SJackson. Thanks, wagglebee, for the ping.

A seven-state investigation conducted last summer by a student magazine at UCLA, The Advocate, revealed the presence of an ugly strain of racism in Planned Parenthood affiliates, including Planned Parenthood of Idaho.

An actor, posing as a racist donor, called Planned Parenthood development centers and asked that his donation be used to abort African-American babies in order to “lower the number of black people.” According to the magazine, every branch – including Idaho’s - agreed to process the racially earmarked donations, and none expressed concern about the racist reasoning for the donation...........

The abortion—I can give money specifically for a black baby [Planned Parenthood donation]

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[swain_forkbeard]

If I’m not allowed on this thread, then why are you still posting to me on it?

[wagglebee]

If I’m not allowed on this thread, then why are you still posting to me on it?

I don't recall anyone suggesting that you aren't allowed on this thread. A number of us simply pointed out that the "Terri Dailies" threads are not supposed to have any pro-death posts.

For what it's worth, I think you SHOULD read what's on this and the other Terri Dailies threads and maybe you will begin to understand why so many of us feel so strongly about protecting innocent life.

[PhilDragoo]

Obama's sound bite that he regretted he didn't "stop that", that "interfering in the families' decision"--

Obama did in fact vote to have babies who survived unsuccessful abortions die from neglect--

Okay, Obama, you let one chance to kill a live woman go by--

And that bothers you--

And I just read Robert Spencer's passage on the serial subjugation and abuse of women in Islam--

There is a method in the Obama madness which is macabre: a mixture of alinski-marxism, muslim-Manson, weathermen, oh my.