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No... hospices, which used to be about care for the dying, are now in the business of "death with dignity in a paid facility". That new mission has made "death by design" an industry, and it is worth MILLIONS, if not BILLIONS of dollars a year. The Hospice for the Florida Suncoast, where Terri is located, is the biggest employer in Pinellas County.

In the beginning of this case, Mike Schiavo could have garnered nearly one million dollars that had been earmarked for Terri's care, if she had just died. He had her moved to hospice, out of a theraputic care facility, and she has been in the hospice labelled "terminal" for NINE YEARS. No one is supposed to "live in a hospice" - if they do, they are obviously not in a terminal state. But Mike has kept her there, without basic care, without medical attention, and without therapy, for nearly a decade, trying to facilitate her death.

But Terri just WILL NOT DIE on her own.

So now this case has become about "allowing" Terri to die - by starvation. If they can just get the courts to change the definition of brain-damaged people from "disabled" to "needing to die" then they will create a whole new industry: an industry based on "facilitating the death" of thousands of incapacitated persons who never signed a directive - just like Terri.

Can you imagine the number of people that would gain guardianship of older or disabled relatives, and then bring them in for extermination based on that relative's word that "I know that Cousin Timmy/Uncle Joey/Grandma wanted to die; I heard them say it once"...? How many more will be lawyers who are "appointed" guardians for elderly patients who don't have visible heirs? After all, Hospice for the Florida Suncoast owns several nursing homes, assisted living centers, and has contracts with at least ONE hospital - Morton Plant, where Terri went for treatment.

The guardian gains the estate, or a small kickback, the hospice gets the money for the "patient" - and remember, they can't come to hospice without being pronounced "terminal". Oh outrageous, we say - but when a retarded adult or an old stroke victim gets labelled "terminal" because no one wants to live like that, who would object? If a cancer-ridden old man - or a brain-injured young woman - dies a "facilitated death", who cares as long as it lines the pockets of the corrupt?

It appears that there just aren't enough people terminal patients to support Hospice's financial goals. So, they are going to make patients terminal. That is exactly what Mike Schiavo did to Terri - and that's the kind of business that will make the Hospice and their patients' guardians rich beyond their wildest dreams.

It appears that there just aren't enough people terminal patients to support Hospice's financial goals. So, they are going to make patients terminal.

Well stated!!!

Medical ambulances will be busily moving patients out of the nursing homes--and into hospices.

It's much easier to find staff capable of "allowing" people to die, than finding staff capable of caring for disabled people.

Physical therapists need not apply.

It just occurred to me.

The State of Florida might benefit financially in many ways from allowing more people to die sooner.

Won't they save money on medicare / medicaid style payments? (I don't really understand how these public programs work).
Won't they get to handle/keep the money left by people who die without heirs? Won't there be more money left in the bank accounts taken over by the state, if the patients are "terminated" sooner?
Won't they be able to have a smaller paid staff at state supported hospices than at state supported nursing homes?