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

LifeNews ^ | 2/1/2008 | Steven Ertelt

[Pyro7480]

A Delaware woman has become the next Terri Schiavo as her parents engage in a massive legal and philosophical debate about whether to subject her to euthanasia. Richardson is a 23-year-old woman who overdosed on heroin in August 2006 while she was three months pregnant with a baby girl.

Doctors kept Lauren on life support until she delivered her baby in February 2007. Shortly thereafter, her parents began a fight that is reminiscent of the battle over Terri's life and death.

As in the Terri Schiavo case, physicians have been quick to label Lauren as having a persistent vegetative state -- something Terri's family called dehumanizing and medically inaccurate as patients have recovered from it.

Edith Towers, Lauren's mother, wants to remove her feeding tube and starve and dehydrate her to death in the same manner that Michael Schiavo subjected Terri.

Towers claims Lauren would never have wanted to live as a permanently disabled person, but Lauren, as with Terri, did not have a living will or other advance directive spelling out her treatment wishes. She claims Lauren told her during Terri's battle that she would not want to live like her.

On the other side is Randy Richardson, Lauren's father is fighting to save her life and wants to be appointed as her guardian to ensure she receives appropriate medical care and treatment.

"She's committed no crime and doesn't deserve to have this death imposed on her," Richardson told the News Journal newspaper on Wednesday. "We just want to give her a chance."

Lauren no longer uses a ventilator or other breathing apparatus and is not on artificial life support -- something Randy contends is showing progress.

Towers is winning the legal battle in court as she was awarded guardianship of Lauren, but Randy Richardson has filed an appeal.

The News Journal indicates Delaware Court of Chancery Master Sam Glasscock III has put any action taking Lauren's life on hold while the court reviews the guardianship ruling -- a process that could take as much as three months to complete.

Regardless of the decision, an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court is expected.

Randy Richardson also has other concerns about his daughter and says that Towers, his ex-wife, has not allowed Lauren's baby to see her.

Richardson and the Delaware Pro-Life Coalition released a video on Wednesday that shows Lauren at a nursing home reacting to family members and a dog.

The pro-life group also organized a prayer vigil near the Arbors Rehab Center in New Castle.

[floriduh voter]

This Delaware judge is following Terri’s murder case to a tee. Somebody has given him Terri’s court records (copies). It’s obvious to me. Who will help Lauren’s dad? Disability is not an excuse to kill a human being. (unless your first name is Adolph or your last name is Kevorkian.)

[floriduh voter]

Having a visitor’s list is how they may try to keep specialists and therapists away from Lauren - especially speech therapists who also eval for swallowing abilities which can be re-taught. If the judge begins denying tests and health care, he’s a fan of Judge Greer, bet your bottom dollar.

[floriduh voter]

Is that Conservatives Can Learn from Crist tongue in cheek? Crist is a dangerous empty suit.

[8mmMauser]

The word gets out still on Terri, as her brother becomes more and more known for his advocacy.

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

Cumulus Radio announced today that Cary Hall's The Health Insurance Advocate Show, heard on Talk Radio 710 KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri, reached another all-time high in its fourth quarter 2007 Arbitron ratings among multiple demographics including Adults 18 years plus, Women 35 years plus, Men 35-64 years, Adults 25-54 years and Adults 35-64 years.

~Snip~

Hall also cites the quality and professionalism of his guests as a leading factor for the program's growth. Guests include state insurance commissioners, doctors, industry executives, optometrists, chiropractors, emergency medical professionals and even controversial figures like Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo.

"If we don't get into the tough issues and the important details that touch us at very deep levels, then the show is not worth listening to," says Hall. "The Health Insurance Advocate program is there to break barriers, challenge conventional practices and most of all help people. It seems to be working." www.thehealthinsuranceadvocate.com

Health Insurance Radio Show Continues Climb in Arbitron Ratings

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Warning, this link contains graphic language with such foul words like gupta and worse. (Apologies to the good Guptas...) What else could it be, but a rant of a far left lib in his hatred towards God? Because of their obsession, they just have to recall that albatross around their miserable necks, Terri's Legacy.

But wait! There's more!

Actually a clown juggler did appear at the vigil for Terri in her final days. Our good old MSM actually hired a clown to try to make it look like a circus atmosphere. It fooled nobody there and the juggler was only mediocre anyway, but some in the MSM used it.

Why do I suspect this gupta has a small head?

.....There are millions of wacky Christians convinced God cleared their acne, answered their prayers for a car or a parking space, granted them a raise, told them to put on a clown outfit and drive 500 miles to juggle for Terry Schiavo protesters – you can’t make this stuff up – or would provide them with a wife with breasts “bigger than my head.”.............

God’s Wrath Meets Huckabee’s Resurrection

8mm

[8mmMauser]

As the "moderate" voice of the loony left demands we accept the inevitability of what they insist, they remind us of that albatross burdening them saying Terry (sic) is still dead, all the time realizing her Legacy lives strong and is their burden.

............The result has been a thing of beauty: Runaway spending and an enormous budget deficit, serial scandals and embarrassments, no flag-burning, English language-only or anti same-sex marriage Constitutional amendments, and a Forever War that is a sucking chest wound on the economy and the national psyche. Oh, and by the way, Terry Schiavo is still dead............

On Beyond Super Tuesday: Alea Jacta Est

8mm

[wagglebee]

Well, leftists like FDR, LBJ, Harry Blackmun, Earl Warren and Margaret Sanger are all still dead too and we’re still stuck with their “legacies.”

[8mmMauser]

It would just be a whole lot easier to have faith in Our Lord and not fuss about this. Just seems logical to me...

Thread by wagglebee.

.........“I’ve lived a happy life, but from here on out it’s all downhill. Is there any point in my living any longer? I’m not living — just existing. I very much want to die, but our society doesn’t let me. Oh for a pill to ease myself out and end my pain, pain, pain.”...............

A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit (Right to Die)

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Oops, am distracted this morning. Thread above by SubGeniusX with thanks to wagglebee for the ping.

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Captain Obvious strikes again!

Thread really by wagglebee.

ROME, February 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Doctors from four different Roman universities have issued a joint declaration affirming the duty of doctors to rescue and care for infants born alive after an abortion attempt, even against the wishes of the mother.

The declaration, made by doctors at the obstetric clinics of La Sapienza, Tor Vergata, Campus Biomedico and Sacro Cuore, represent both the secular and religious sides of the Italian university system. The first two universities are public, and the second two are Catholic.

"An extremely premature newborn must be treated like any other person in danger, and assisted adequately," said Domenico Arduni, director of the Tor Vergata gynecological clinic...........

Italian Doctors: Abortion Survivors Must be Given Care, Even Against Mother's Wishes

8mm

[Dante3]

Ditto. One should not even need to state this.

[8mmMauser]

Although we are still early in February, the month of March is coming soon and with it, the recognition of Terri on the anniversary of her death. This is but the first of many articles in tribute and recognition of what Terri means to us all.

This first is from Father Pavone's "Priests for Life".

:.................................

Prayer Memorial Services and Masses Suggested Activities What will you do? Special Note Press Release The Case of Terri Schindler-Schiavo
	The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, in collaboration with Priests for Life, announces the “International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters,” which will be observed each year on March 31, the anniversary of her death.   We invite individual believers to spend time on that day learning about Terri, and praying for all whose lives are threatened in the same way that her's was.   We invite Churches to hold memorial services and to educate their people on the dignity of every human life, despite any disability or disease with which that life may be afflicted.   We invite educational institutions to help dispel the myths and inaccuracies about Terri’s life and death, and to contribute to our society’s debate regarding the rights of the disabled by providing accurate, factual information and mature reflection on the ethical demands of caring for the weak and vulnerable.   We invite all people to use the resources on this website and to help us continue to draw good out of the sad and tragic way in which Terri was treated.

 

 

 

Terri's Day - March 31st

8mm

[8mmMauser]

This is a companion piece featured in Life News and set in a thread by wagglebee. It features comments from Terri's sister, Suzanne, as well.

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

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The family of Terri Schiavo and a leading Catholic pro-life group have released details about their plans for the first-ever Terri's Day. Observed on March 31, the day Terri succumbed from the painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death her former husband subjected her to, the day is one to honor her life and help others.

As LifeNews.com reported in December, Priests for Life and the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation announced the establishment of the "International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters."

The purpose of the day, the groups told LifeNews.com on Thursday, is to foster education, prayer, and activism regarding discrimination against the disabled.

They hope to help other disabled patients like Lauren Richardson and others in situations similar to what Terri and her family faced.

"No family should ever have to witness what my family witnessed, watching a loved one slowly dehydrate to death," Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri's sister, told LifeNews.com.

"We want Terri's day to remind us all that persons with disabilities are never burdens and should be treated with nothing but our unconditional love and compassion," she added....................

Terri Schiavo's Family, Catholic Group Release Details About "Terri's Day"

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Catholic News Agency just released this update on Lauren...

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

Lauren Richardson

Wilmington, DE, Feb 8, 2008 / 04:38 am (CNA).- In a case recalling the conflict over Terri Schiavo, two divorced parents in Delaware are fighting over whether to continue life-sustaining nutrition for their brain-damaged adult daughter, the News Journal reports.

Lauren Richardson, 23, has been in a so-called persistent vegetative state since overdosing on heroin in August 2006.  Pregnant at the time, she was kept alive at a hospital with feeding tubes and a breathing machine until she gave birth in February 2007 to a healthy baby girl.

Her parents Randy Richardson and Edith Towers are currently disputing whether her feeding tube should be removed.

Towers, who says her daughter did not wish to live in such a state and wants the feeding tube removed, was awarded guardianship of Lauren in January.

Her father Randy Richardson disagrees, "She's committed no crime and doesn't deserve to have this death imposed on her," he told the News Journal.  He is appealing the ruling awarding guardianship to Towers, his ex-wife.  The appeal will take three months.

Lauren lacked any living will or advance directive recording her wishes in writing.

In court, Towers testified that Lauren in 2005 had reacted badly to reports of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose parents fought her husband in a legal battle to continue nourishing her via a feeding tube.

According to Towers, Lauren said, "Don't ever leave me hooked up to life support. I would not want that. I think it is horrible. I think that I do not ever want to be kept on life support if the doctors say there's no hope.".......................

Divorced parents contest life-sustaining feeding tube for brain-damaged adult daughter

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Although we have heard of no updates lately, we keep watch...

[8mmMauser]

McCain Scrutiny....

What do we have to wait for in November, the Marx brothers, Groucho, Harpie, and Karl??

What are their dreams, to make another Zimbabwe out of a Rhodesia? Here are McCain 's observations on Terri.

"I understand the frustrations a lot of Republicans feel," McCain says. "We're not representing their hopes and dreams and aspirations. We worry about Ms. Schiavo before we worry about balancing the budget. We're going to take up this Family Marriage Amendment again. Why? The Republicans will vote one way, and the Democrats will vote another, and everybody knows it! It's pointless. I've never seen Washington as polarized as it is today."

Which reminds him...

"I would never say this publicly, but some of these talk-show hosts -- and I'm not saying they should be taken off the air; they have the right to do what they want to do -- I don't think they're good for America."...............

One of Us... In August 2006, Chris Jones wrote this intimate portrait of John McCain's quest for the 2008 Republican nomination. Look back at the early, uncertain days of the McCain campaign.

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Bad enough that McCain floats to the top of the water, but this???? McCain mating with Charlie?? Arghhhhhhh...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist might fit that bill. Crist made a critical endorsement of McCain before the primary, and Crist campaigned hard with McCain, helping him win the state. Crist is not without problems, however. He lacks national recognition and may come under some fire from evangelicals for not doing more on the Terri Schiavo case while attorney general.

McCain's Mate: The Search Is On

8mm

[8mmMauser]

To sound intelligent in college these days, just warble some refrains of the left and you will be adored and heralded as thoughtworthy...

Why was it necessary for the U.S. Congress and senate to be extraordinarily inefficient and/or daft in 2005? Was an emergency session for Terri Schiavo, weeks spent debating the legality of flag burning or months spent glorifying heterosexual marriages obligatory or even imperative? Consider that all the other foreign and domestic issues — such as changing strategies for the war and increasing minimum wage — took more than a year to come to fruition......

Williams: Congressional distractions at the colligate level... Parallels between U.S. Senate and KU Student Senate

8mm

[8mmMauser]

A poignant reminder from wagglebee on post #1740...

Not a day goes by, good friend.......

R.I.P.

A post by T'wit

8mm

[8mmMauser]

If you are going to San Francisco...You're sure to find some gentle people there.

Thread by wagglebee.

San Francisco, CA (LifeNews.com) -- A federal law protecting pro-life medical clinics and professionals on abortion is in legal limbo three years after abortion advocates brought a lawsuit against it. The state of California and pro-abortion groups had challenged the Weldon amendment shortly after Congress approved it and the suit has been held up in court ever since.

The Weldon provision is a federal law that prohibits the federal government or state and local governments receiving certain federal aid from discriminating against medical professionals who refuse to perform or refer for abortions......

Abortion Law Protecting Pro-Life Doctors and Hospitals in Legal Limbo

8mm