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The "new" Doctor Death.

Thread by me.

After the death of Jack , Lawrence Egbert is the new public face of American assisted suicide

Egbert, a slightly built, genial and energetic retired anesthesiologist with a snowy goatee, turns to his computer, his back to me, content to answer an e-mail while I sort through the pile. Once I finish untangling, I hold in my hands a curious plastic sack, about 21 inches long and 18 inches wide. A bunched white elastic strip, reminiscent of a garter, circles the mouth at the open end. A thick plastic tube runs into the sack, stretching 37 inches before branching into a T-shape with 12-inch arms extending from each side of the joint.

Egbert calls it an “exit hood.” It’s a contraption that can end a life in minutes. The 84-year-old doctor, who formerly served as a campus Unitarian Universalist minister and has taught as an assistant visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University, offers to explain how it works. The tube connects to two helium tanks, he says. He lifts the hood over his head and lowers the open end, letting go as the garter clamps to his forehead. Then, he says, you release the valves on the tanks, streaming helium into the hood.

“You fill it up until it feels like a New York chef’s hat,” he says, stretching the hood to demonstrate.

Then, he says, you pull the hood down. And he does just that, easing it past his eyes, his nose, his chin, and cinching it even tighter at his neck with a sweatband. His face goes hazy behind the plastic, a blurry image of a man whose life and work are prone to distortions and intrigue. His breath fogs the plastic, but he holds the hood there for a moment, saying something that I can’t quite make out.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...

Seven years after Terri's murder the Schindlers continue to fight to protect the innocent.

Thread by BykrBayb.

Brother testifies in favor of “Terri Schiavo Day”

by Matt Lacy –

Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo testified on Tuesday in support of a New Hampshire bill proclaiming March 31 of each year as a day to remember Terri Schiavo.

Schiavo, who spent 15 years on a feeding tube, became a focal point over the right to die issue and highlighted the need for individuals to have a living will specifying their wishes..

On February 25, 1990 Schiavo collapsed while at home. After being admitted to the hospital, doctors were unable to determine an exact cause of the collapse, but records indicated she had suffered hypoxic encephalopathy, a brain injury caused by oxygen starvation to the brain. After a few weeks on a ventilator, Schiavo would begin to breathe on her own.

The following year rehabilitation center recorded in their notes in 1991 that Terri was speaking during the physical therapy sessions using words such as “no”, “stop” and “Mommy.”

Eventually a battle would develop between her husband Michael and Terri’s parents. The parents wanted her to receive therapy and Michael who wanted to withdraw her life support which would involve starving her to death.

After working its way through the courts, Terri’s feeding tube was eventually removed. At the time, advocates for the right to die said that there was no pain involved in a death by starvation and dehydration. After 14 days without food and water, Terri Schiavo died on March 31, 2005.

The New Hampshire bill states that “the governor shall annually issue an annual proclamation calling for March 31 as a day to remember the tragic death of Terri Schiavo.”

Bobby Schindler praised State Representatives Jerry Bergervin and Daniel Itse for their sponsorship of the bill.

“My family is truly grateful to see a bill like this to remember my sister, Terri. I continue to be profoundly touched by the people who are deeply impacted by Terri's death. As a nation known for protecting its weakest citizens, we must never forget the inhumane manner in which my sister was deliberately killed and at the same time, recognize there are hundreds of thousands of others like Terri that need our compassion, love and protection."

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