Eluana Transferred Late Tuesday Night to Clinic for Death by Dehydration

LifeSiteNews ^ | 2/3/09 | Hilary White

[wagglebee]

ROME, February 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Eluana Englaro, who is often referred to as “Italy’s Terri Schiavo,” was transferred late Tuesday night to a hospital that has agreed to participate in her killing by removal of her food and hydration tube. Television news coverage showed a group of pro-life activists gathered outside the clinic in Eluana’s home town of Lecco at about 1:30am, as an ambulance took her away, some shouting “Eluana, wake up!” and “Don’t kill her!”

Eluana Englaro, 38, suffered brain damage in a car accident in 1992 and has since been in a state of diminished consciousness. Eluana’s father, Beppino Englaro, who has been petitioning the courts for over a decade to euthanize his daughter, said her transfer to the new facility is “the first step... towards the liberation of my daughter. It seems we have finally succeeded.”

Beppino Englaro’s lawyer told media that La Quiete, a private clinic in the north eastern town of Undine, had agree to participate in her killing. Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi said the government is searching for a new way to prevent her death. The removal of Eluana’s food and hydration tube is set to be carried out in three days.

Death by dehydration has been described by medical authorities as “horrible” and “agonizing.” It was a common form of torture used by totalitarian states, including in well-documented cases by the Nazis in their death camps.

In cases of severe dehydration, toxins build up in the body and the body's chemical balances are disrupted. This disrupts the electrical system that triggers the action of muscles, including the heart. The tongue and lips crack and bleed. The eyes recede into their orbits. The skin becomes so sensitive it peels off upon firm contact. The lining of the nose can crack and bleed. Dried brain cells can cause convulsions. The mouth becomes dry and saliva thick, and there is cracking of the mucous membranes of the mouth and lips. The blood thickens, increasing the risk of stroke. As fluid decreases in the body, blood pressure drops and the heart rate increases, possibly causing shock and heart attack.

The move to kill Eluana has roused the ire of many in Italy, including Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, said on Tuesday, “Stop this murder!”

“To stop giving food and liquids to Eluana is equivalent to abominable murder and the Church will not cease to proclaim this loud and clear.” Interviewed by the Rome daily La Repubblica, the cardinal said that Eluana’s court-mandated death by dehydration “will represent a defeat for the respect of human life.” His comments come after Pope Benedict XVI spoke on Sunday against euthanasia, saying it is a false answer to suffering.

The consequences, both legal and moral, should Eluana Englaro be euthanized in a Catholic Country, will be dire, pro-life advocates have warned. Carlo Caffara, the archbishop of Bologna, said at Mass last weekend, “In the body of this woman, and in her fate, there is an image of the fate of the West.”

Eluana has become a “‘sign of contradiction’ between a culture of death and a culture of life,” he said. “Her martyred body has become the question addressed to every conscience that reflects on man's destiny: To whom does man belong? Who has dominion over man's life and death? Who owns man?”

“The spiritual event of the West has come to the end of the line: If the life of man does not belong to man but to God, no one has control over it for any reason, [but] if the life of man belongs to man, it is consistent to hypothesize circumstances in which everyone can do what he wants with his life or ask others to put an end to it,” Cardinal Caffara continued.

The killing of Eluana, said Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, the director of the Rome office of Human Life International, is going to be disastrous for others in similar situations in Italy. Msgr. Barreiro said, “It would create a precedent whereby judges, against the law, can decide it's right to kill patients. We are not fighting for Eluana's life because she has limited signs of consciousness but because of her dignity as a human being.”

Pro-life legal experts have been especially concerned that should Eluana be “legally” killed by dehydration, it would create a “back door” through which euthanasia could be legalized. The government is considering legislation that would allow the creation of “living wills” that could specify the removal of food and hydration.

In November, health and welfare minister, Maurizio Sacconi, issued a statement that in Italy it is “illegal” to remove the food and hydration of helpless disabled patients with the purpose of ending their lives. Secretary of Welfare, Eugenia Roccella, also said that there is “no obligation” for government-funded health care facilities to implement the court’s decision that patients can be dehydrated to death.

In January, two pro-life advocates launched a legal challenge to the appeals court in Milan, arguing that the decision to allow Eluana’s killing had been made without sufficient medical examination to determine her condition. At that time, more than 700 Italian doctors had signed an open letter opposing the killing of Eluana, saying that such an action is an attack against the “basic rules of good medical practice as established in the declaration of Helsinki.”

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Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

700 Italian Doctors ask that Eluana’s Life be Spared
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09011301.html

It is “Illegal” to Stop Food and Hydration of Vulnerable Patients: Top Italian Minister
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121703.html

[BykrBayb]

Yep, there’s a real bloodlust in the air.

[wagglebee]

The pro-dehydration-and-starvation-to-death trolls are out in force tonight.

They smell blood and can't contain themselves.

[Caramelgal]

The pictures are posted SOLELY to show what a murder by dehydration looks like.

OK. Fine. But then be honest about it and preface that is a picture of a mentally unstable but otherwise physically healthy woman who was denied competent medical care and was starved and dehydrated to death by some Scientology wackos and not a picture necessarily representative of what Teri Shiavo looked like at the time of her death.

Here is another picture of what starvation and dehydration looks like SOLELY to show what a murder by dehydration looks like.

[wagglebee]

Terri Schiavo WAS otherwise healthy. Her life expectancy was another thirty years. Furthermore, at NO TIME has anyone ever attempted to imply that the pictures of Lisa McPherson are of Terri.

[BykrBayb]

I think I understand what you're looking for.

Here's a picture of a brain injured but otherwise healthy woman (not really, both Lisa and Terri had other injuries, unrelated to their deaths by dehydration aside from the fact that their injuries made them vulnerable to those who wanted them dead), who was denied competent medical care and was starved and dehydrated to death by some wackos and not a picture necessarily representative of what Teri Shiavo (whoever that was) looked like at the time of her death, but most assuredly representative of what Terri Schiavo was subjected to. As a matter of fact, the description of this woman could accurately be applied to Terri Schiavo.

[MountainFlower]

Have you stood by and watched someone die from starvation and dehydration???? It is awful! There is NO MERCY in it. NONE! It took 4 weeks for a lady to die once they took her feeding tube away....it was awful! She deserves to die with peace and dignity and God being the deciding factor, not a family member who has decided her life is no longer of value. Watch someone die like that and I am sure you would reconsider. As was stated earlier, there was no written directive.

[MountainFlower]

"Pharisees that will keep us from joining you in heaven"
The only thing that will keep anyone from getting to heaven is that they did not choose to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. No person or thing can keep you from heaven except yourself and your choice. To imply that any other person, even someone here on FR, or anyone else could prevent you from attaining heaven is against the Word of God. "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." I John 14:6.

Please DO continue to value the life that God has given you and your family. Euthanasia, assisted suicide and abortion all de-value life. It is only for GOD to decide when it is a person's time to die, not for man. Anything other than God's hand is murder as He states clearly in the 10 commandments, "THOU SHALT NOT KILL". He doesn't say, "Hmmmmm. Wait. What are the circumstances? Oh! Oh! THAT! Well, in that case, maybe..." He stated it simply and succinctly in 4 words. There is no gray area, only black and white. No excuses. No exceptions. THOU SHALT NOT KILL. That's it.

I don't see anything Pharisaical about that.

[WVKayaker]

...But I am also against prolonging the life of the physical body when it is against the wishes of the patient, their family and medically irresponsible.

It's easy to play God... and have all the answers.

God makes the call, but we just want to hang around (or our family wants it, selfishly, without faith!)! With modern technology, we can easily keep a body warm... but... is that what God wants? Does the ability to keep a body warm make them whole? Is it God's will we are trying to defeat?

I have a "living will", but have made my daughter assure me that I can be left to die. I know in Whom I believe, and am persuaded that He will keep me... Are you? Do you have faith in a life beyond this one? Is God sovereign?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[MountainFlower]

Perhaps it would be more effective if you prayed for everyone here whose views you dissent. I do know that doing so will at least prevent bitterness from reigning in ones heart, from personal experience. I have not called you a name, so I do not understand where you feel you have the right to label me a Pharisee. What about what I have written is Pharasaical?

Father God, please open the eyes of those who cannot see, so they understand and comprehend Your truth. Help them to see that there is still purpose and a plan, Your plan, for the life they think has no more value. Help them to also see and know that You have the power to raise up anyone who is comatose, for You have and are doing it all around the world. Father God, it is for You to choose where and when You will perform these miracles. Lord, open eyes to see how You are using Eluana for a part of Your plan and Your purposes. She is touching lives where she is, at this moment, in ways that never would have happened had she not been in this condition. Father God, we celebrate Eluana's LIFE! Lord, protect her. Keep Your guardian and warring angels round about her to protect her. Let it be only Your hand, Father God, Your timing that brings her life to an end. In the course of this Lord, may Your Name be honored and glorified as many hearts and lives are turned to You. We thank and praise You Father God for the love You have for Eluana, and for each one of Your children. We thank You that You loved each of us so much that You sacrificed Your ONLY SON to save our souls! You know the pain of loss. WE cannot fathom Your infinite love!! Holy Father, we thank You for life and breath that You give us each moment of each day, until it is our time to die. May Your Name be honored and glorified in Eluana's life and death, in Your time. In Jesus Name, AMEN.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[BykrBayb]

You can wrap murder in all the lies you like, but it’s still murder to deprive a person of food and water until he/she starves and dehydrates to death. Food and water are not modern technology. Feeding tubes have been around for hundreds of years. Antibiotics are relatively modern, but that doesn’t make them evil.

Obeying God’s commandments is not playing God.

Providing food and water to someone is not selfish.

Providing clothing, bedding, and shelter to allow someone to enjoy a comfortable temperature is not evil.

God’s will is not for us to murder each other.

Leaving someone to die is not in line with God’s will.

I wonder if you really do know in whom you believe, whose will you are promoting, and who will keep you. If you truly knew, and were aware of the fact that it’s not too late, I’d like to think you’d choose to serve God. But I guess not everyone does.

I have faith in the everlasting life provided by God, not by the one who demands the blood of innocents.

Do you have one of the inquiring minds who wants to know whether or not God is sovereign? If you accept Him as your personal savior, then you’ll know, and you won’t have to ask me. Yes, God is sovereign.

One the commandments He issued to us forbids murder. He didn’t issue any commandments requiring us commit murder.

Everyone dies eventually. We don’t have to be murdered to go to Heaven.

[Deo volente]

What a beautiful and deeply meaningful prayer!

"Let it be only Your hand, Father God, Your timing that brings her life to an end."

EXACTLY!

[BykrBayb]

Thank you for sharing your prayer to The One True God. Anyone who calls God’s word “false teachings,” and prays to some entity to silence God’s word to help promote murder, is not praying to The One True God.

[wagglebee]

With modern technology, we can easily keep a body warm... but... is that what God wants?

I'm confused, since when is FOOD and WATER "modern technology"?

Perhaps you should read the Bible passage I posted in #58, God describes EXACTLY what He wants.

[WVKayaker]

I wonder if you really do know in whom you believe, whose will you are promoting, and who will keep you. If you truly knew, and were aware of the fact that it’s not too late, I’d like to think you’d choose to serve God. But I guess not everyone does.

Nice to know you are not my judge! Your spirit of discernment is lacking a little... and your zeal is prone to overwhelming God's will!

At what point is God no longer Sovereign? When does the need to keep a body warm, when the soul is looking for it's rest, become the goal? How is it compassionate to see someone lay inert for years, while you (?) hope for him/her to arise and walk? Where is the faith that reaches out and commands the body to be whole? Why is it so much easier to provide a feeding tube? Why is it murder if none is given, or if it removed to allow God's will? Oh, I forgot, you are apparently an arbiter of God's will.

Typing Scripture is easy, but testing faith requires another level of discernment! Faith without works... or lack of faith...which is worse? Gnashing of teeth changes nothing. Try sack cloth and ashes.

Read about Smith Wigglesworth and get back to me. I haven't arrived yet, but his is a pattern to emulate.

...As I look into the 12th chapter of Acts, I find that the people were praying all night for Peter to come out of prison. They had a zeal but seem to have been lacking in faith. They were to be commended for their zeal in spending their time in prayer without ceasing, but their faith, evidently, did not measure up to such a marvelous answer. Rhoda had more faith than the rest of them. When the knock came to the door, she ran to it, and the moment she heard Peter's voice, she ran back again with joy saying that Peter stood before the gate. And all the people said, “You are mad. It isn't so.” But she constantly affirmed that it was even so... -God-given Faith

[BykrBayb]

It has nothing to do with judging you. I want everyone to know about God’s love. I’d like for you to accept His love. When and if you do, His light will shine through you, and be visible to others, just as you are able to recognize His followers, so you know who to verbally attack for loving Him and following His commandments. You’re not the only one who can recognize the presence of God. If you would only accept Him as your master, you’d see more than just His presence. Just invite Him in, and you’ll see.

[BykrBayb]

Btw, providing warmth to another living person is part of God’s love. Denying comfort to another, in pursuit of their untimely death, is something your master should never ask of you, and you should never comply with such a request.

[BykrBayb]

Have you noticed the deathbots are no longer satisfied with death by starvation/dehydration? They’re now pushing to withdraw warmth, leaving them to die of exposure.

[wagglebee]

When they are reminded that food and water are BASIC HUMAN NEEDS and not “extraordinary medical technology,” they change tactics.

NONE of them will ever respond to the portion of Matthew 25 that I posted because that is Christ’s exact Words, NOT some amateur guess about His Will.