Terri Can Eat With A Spoon

World ^ | Bob Jones

[mr_griz]

AFTER ALL THE YEARS, ALL THE fighting, all the bitter recriminations, there were remarkably few tears on Oct. 15 when Terri Schiavo finally had her feeding tube removed. Maybe the crowd of 80 or so gathered outside the hospice facility in western Florida were too angry to cry, or too numb.

For her part, Carla Sauer was just too tired. "I've been pulling for Terri since 1995," she said as she sank uncertainly onto a three-legged stool to rest the sandal-clad feet she'd been standing on for five hours. "I still can't believe it's come to this."

"This," apparently, is the end of the line in the long fight to keep Ms. Schiavo alive. A Florida judge on Oct. 14 refused two final appeals from her parents, clearing the way for the removal of the feeding tube that's kept her alive for a half-dozen years. Without the tube, the 39-year-old will slowly starve to death. It should take about 14 days.

That's precisely the outcome her husband, Michael, has been pushing for. Claiming that Terri has been a vegetable since she collapsed after a heart attack in 1990, Mr. Schiavo says he is simply honoring a request made by his young bride: That he not allow doctors to prolong her life through artificial means.

Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, doubt she ever made such a request. But even if she did, they argue that a feeding tube is not the same as artificial life support. Her vital organs function on their own, she smiles and laughs at the sound of her loved ones' voices, and she has no terminal illness that threatens her life. If she simply has someone who cares enough to feed her, she could live for another 50 years—a condition not terribly different from that of thousands of other severely disabled persons.

"She's not a vegetable," Ms. Sauer insisted as she rested her tired feet. "She knows voices, she responds. She can follow commands, and she tries to communicate by blinking her eyelids 'yes' and 'no.'" And then there's the most important detail of all: "We used to feed her with a spoon, and she swallowed on her own."

That was seven years ago, when Ms. Sauer was a nurse at a rehab facility in Largo, Fla. At that time, Ms. Schiavo was getting physical therapy and full-time attention from skilled nurses. But the facility charged $4,000 a month, as Ms. Sauer recalls, and Mr. Schiavo soon chose to discontinue his wife's therapy and move her into the much cheaper hospice system. She's languished there for six years, tethered to a feeding tube while a fierce legal battle swirled around her.

The Schindlers argued that they should be named as Terri's guardians, in part because Mr. Schiavo now has a new girlfriend and a young child. Just because he's ready to move on with his life, they said, he should not be allowed to end Terri's. When a series of judges sided with Mr. Schiavo, the Schindlers appealed to the court of public opinion: They smuggled a video camera into their daughter's room—against a judge's orders—to show the world she could still laugh and smile and respond to affection.

With Terri now dying slowly, that video may be the Schindlers' final memory of their daughter. Rather than watching by her bedside, they are parked in a camper across the street. Bob Schindler has been charged with contempt of court, and he and his wife cannot visit their daughter without Mr. Schiavo's permission—or his lawyer.

The family tragedy, as painful as it is to watch, is only a part of a larger picture. Advocates for the disabled fear that Terri Schiavo's death could set a chilling precedent. "This is deplorable," Joni Eareckson Tada told WORLD in the midst of a whirlwind of press conferences and rallies. "What's happening here is just a part of a larger effort to class persons with severe cognitive disabilities as non-persons. Terri is not brain dead, she's not in a coma, she's not terminally ill. We have people who attend our weekend retreats who are more severely disabled. Yet the courts have washed their hands of this. Medical personnel are forbidden to deliver any food or water. She's being denied her right to humane treatment under state law.

"This case is a watershed for people with disabilities," Mrs. Tada said. "Removal of the feeding tube means you are promoting active euthanasia. As a quadriplegic woman, that's a frightening precedent."

[MarMema]

As I already said in a previous thread on this topic...

It is IMPOSSIBLE to determine whether or not someone's cerebral cortex is intact and functioning while they are still alive. This is a medical fact. Just to be sure I had a pathologist confirm it this afternoon for me.

Therefore all those who post such are to be seen as vultures of the Ghoul crowd. Even if they appear to become friendly or to have changed their minds...

[Antoninus]

Jeb doesn't.

He absolutely does. He could make a public spectacle out of the situation. Show up at the hospice in person and try to feed Terri with his own hands. He could give a thunderous speech denouncing this ghoulish action. Is there any doubt this would create a public outcry that would escalate this case outside the hands of a two-bit judicial rogue? The media would be FORCED to pay attention. True leaders take action in situations like this. Spineless wussies do what Jeb is currently doing.

Unless I see some leadership from him in the near future, he will bear some responsibility for Terri's execution and I personally would judge him unfit for ANY office.

[MarMema]

He could make a public spectacle out of the situation

You are absolutely correct. Had not thought of it this way...

[Antoninus]

You are absolutely correct. Had not thought of it this way...

Somebody certainly needs to make a spectacle down there. I know if the Blessed Mother Theresa were there, she would have walked right into that hospice and no one would have dared stop her. I wish someone down there had an ounce of moral courage! Especially someone in a leadership position!

[independentmind]

I have come to a conclusion about what I want at the end of life and it is not to be starved or dehydrated to death. If I am to be killed, I want to killed by turning up the morphine drip.

If society is going to decide to terminate life, then society should be up front about it. If you are going to do it, then do it quickly and humanely.

We don't starve dogs to death at the pound. My choice, when I go, is that I want to be treated as least as well as a dog.

Thank you for saying this. Not enough people here understand what it's like to literally starve to death.

Forgive me if I think that those who advocate doing so to Terri aren't really interested if she would suffer as a result.

[TheOtherOne]

And your excuse for talking trash is what?

What trash am I talking? What have I said that you are taking offense to?

[MHGinTN]

Actually, Lady, I think there is a third possibility, that huck was mislead by the way the journos wrote the articles. Melone has been crafting hits at Terri since the beginning of this spectacle, mischaracterizing her as a brain-dead woman, a comatose woman, a vegetable. This Dr Walker enjoyed his moments in the spotlight, not really trying to mislead anyone, just spouting off trying to appear an expert. His comments are easily misconstrued and some like the StPete journo purposely twist the meaning to fit their agenda. It misleads those without the background to discern the actual from the opined.

[TheOtherOne]

This is not a situation where extreme medical life support measures are painfully and pointlessly prolonging the death process of a terminally ill human being.

I agree food is not "extreme life support", but I think one must look to the condition of the patient as well. If she did request not to be keep alive in this sitiuation then I think there is question as to what is correct.

I see 4 groups of people on this issue:

1. Those who oppose the premature death of any individual. Those who believe it is wrong to remove life support even if Teri would have wanted it.

2. Those who think that Teri's wishes, whatever they are, be carried out. But, if there is any ambiguity, one shouuld chose life.

3. Those who think that the law is clear and that in cases of unclear intentions the guardian speaks for the individual - and their decision should be followed.

4. Those who think that Teri is not worth keeping alive due to her medical condition.

[Deo volente]

Jeb is showing himself tonight to be nothing more than a scared little boy, intimidated by the hulking figure of the infallible Hanging Judge Greer and the other assorted black robes.

"The almighty Greer has spoken. Who am I to contradict his infinite wisdom?"

"The courts have decided. We must respect them."

[TheOtherOne]

Obviously, there are more nuanced positions in between what I wrote above. But, using that scale my position is #2.

I see many here who I would classify as #1, and many here who attribute #4 to anyone who has a differing opinion.

[sfRummygirl]

Thanks for the ping, MHG...reading now...

[sfRummygirl]

I'm right there with ya.

[sfRummygirl]

I was just thinking about the 'Mudd" name myself. That can go for Greer, too.

[Don Joe]

Sorry, no cigar.

I saw no threats. "If it were my daughter, this is what I would do." is not a threat, it's a hypothetical -- unless you believe that poster is her father.

[Don Joe]

When did Michael first state that those were her wishes? Does anyone know? I am curious if it was before, during, or after the civil trial for damages.

It is speculated often that he made the claim after the civil case, does anyone know if that is factually supported. I think that would have been a key fact.

Use what's left of your head, Mr. Deadhead. If it was before or during the civil case, he wouldn't have won the civil case.

Duh.

[MarMema]

5. Those who think this is part of a movement to dehumanize disabled people for future use in a utilitarian society.

6. Those who believe terminal dehydration to be among the most sadistic and cruel ways to kill an animal, much less a human being.

[sfRummygirl]

Sweetie, we are mentally exhausted. Most of us have had very little sleep, and have been posting all the information you are requesting over and over again. The deal is that MS said to the courts, to get his money from the malpractice, that he loved her, would help her, that is what she would want, blah-blah-blah. Then, when he got the money, he suddenly remembered that she actually wanted to die.That's the jist of it. He suddenly remembered that while she was watching a movie or something, she said that she didn't want to be hooked up. But that was to life support, as in completely brain dead, and it is very obvious that he only said that while he was awarded the money.

[Don Joe]

A truly devastating debunking of Walker's bunk.

I just forwarded it where it might hopefully help the family. Thanks for posting it.

[Don Joe]

It should not have come to that. And it should not come to that is the future.(This is my concern)

I've seen interviews with serial killers. To the one, they all say that the first one is the hardest, and it always gets easier after that.

[sfRummygirl]

Oh, my God...it's a never ending merry-go-round. Help me, I have to get off.....