Terri's Fight - (Daily Thread/Updates)

Various | December 4, 2003 | sweetliberty

[pc93]

nice one

[pc93]

Don't know if someone posted this one but please tie in with Terri and spread about if you can:

Pope:
"Rights Cannot Be Only the Prerogative of the Healthy"
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=47073

[pickyourpoison]

Where do we get these bumper stickers, I'd love to get one

[cyn]

re: skilled nursing care: It's what we already know, but Felos et al must hide and distort: the fact that Terri is in quite good health.

The fact is that Terri is NOT on her deathbed, suffering in pain, critically ill, or even a little sick, so she does not need any special care. She does not need to be in a nursing home or care facility at all; her routine daily needs can be met at home.

Happens for Christopher Reeve all the time. Works for me!

That's one of the things that gave me pause while skimming some articles last night -- the research was talking about terminally ill patients with cancer, COPD, etc, but then threw in comatose patients. It was going to take more reading and concentration than I was willing to give late/early? at night!

Stay warm up there -- keep those feet warm!

[cyn]

Here's the story about the woman who has been caring for her daughter for 33 years posted here on 10/31/03

TEST for readers: can you find the fallacy in this snip?:

Miami Gardens Woman Has Been Caring for Comatose Daughter for 33 Years

MIAMI GARDENS -- For 33 years, in a bedroom decorated with angels, Kaye O'Bara has tended to her daughter, Edwarda, a diabetic whose heart stopped beating in 1970, damaging her brain and thrusting her into a sleep from which she has never awakened.

Kaye turns Edwarda from side to side a dozen times a day to prevent bedsores. She mixes baby food, milk, eggs, orange juice, Mazola oil, brewer's yeast and a piece of white bread into a blender and then a wire mesh strainer, pouring the concoction into Edwarda's feeding tube every two hours, day and night.

She suctions mucus from Edwarda's throat, whispers endearments in her ear, and braids her long gray hair.

"She always liked to be fussed with," Kaye says of her eldest daughter, who was 16 when she begged her mother: "Promise you won't leave me, will you, Mommy?" before losing consciousness in the hospital. Now 50, Edwarda has never said another word.

She coughs, grins, grimaces, blinks, and yawns, but exhibits no signs of cognition.

Kaye refuses to let anyone refer to her child's condition by its medical term: persistent vegetative state. "I say if they can find me a tomato that smiles, they can say she's in a vegetative state."

Unfortunately, the entire article was not posted, and it is no longer on the linked page. That's why when possible the entire article should be posted.

BTW, this month's Citizen magazine includes that quote:

"I say if they can find me a tomato that smiles, they can say she's in a vegetative state."

[cyn]

Excellent link, thanks. I'll print out & read after I go offline.

That reminds me -- I cannot remember the name of the disabled group -- but their FL and nat'l orgs have said NOTHING about Terri -- but one state chapter, maybe CA?, has come out speaking out for Terri's rights and has a great webpage.

Hope you all have a good day. Terri, too.

[cyn]

I'll post that to this thread -- just a sec.

[cyn]

Quality of Society's Life Gauged by Care of Disabled, Says Pope

"Rights Cannot Be Only the Prerogative of the Healthy"

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 8, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The quality of life of a community is measured by the care given to the weakest, especially the disabled, says John Paul II.

The Pope expressed this conviction in a message sent to the participants of the international Symposium on the Dignity of the Person with Mental Handicaps, being held in the Vatican through Friday.

The three-day symposium, an initiative of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is taking place at the conclusion of the European Year of Disabled Persons.

The Holy Father begins his message by outlining the Christian view of the situation. The "disabled person, even when wounded in the mind or in his sensorial and intellective capacities, is a fully human individual, with the sacred and inalienable rights proper to every creature," he writes.

"The human being, in fact, regardless of the conditions in which he lives his life and the capacities that he might manifest, possesses a unique dignity and singular value starting from the beginning of his existence until the moment of natural death," the lengthy message says.

"The person of the disabled, with all his limitations and sufferings, compels us to question ourselves with respect and wisdom on the mystery of man," the Pope continues. "The more we penetrate the dark and unknown areas of human reality, the more we understand that precisely in the most difficult and disquieting situations the dignity and grandeur of the human being emerges."

"The wounded humanity of the handicapped challenges us to acknowledge, accept and promote in each one of these brothers of ours the incomparable value of the human being created by God," the papal text explains.

"The quality of life within a community is measured, to a large extent, by commitment in the care of the weakest and the neediest, and by respect for their dignity as men and women," the Pope adds.

"The world of rights cannot be only the prerogative of the healthy," he writes. "The participation must be facilitated of the disabled person, to the degree possible, in the life of society and he must be helped to develop all his potential in the physical, psychic and spiritual order."

"A society that would only make room for fully functional members, completely autonomous and independent, would not be a society worthy of the human being," he says categorically.

"Discrimination in virtue of efficiency is no less to be condemned than that in virtue of race or sex or religion," the Pontiff explains.

At the same time, John Paul II states that there is "a subtle form of discrimination in the policies and educational projects that try to hide or deny the deficiencies of the handicapped person, proposing styles of life and objectives that do not correspond to their reality and in the end are frustrating and unjust."

"The recognition of rights must be followed, therefore, by the sincere commitment of all to create concrete conditions of life, support structures and juridical guarantees capable of responding to the needs and the dynamics of growth of the handicapped person and those who share his situation, beginning with his relatives," the papal document exhorts.

"People with mental handicap perhaps have greater need of care, affection, understanding and love," John Paul II adds. "They cannot be left alone, defenseless or unprotected, in the difficult task of facing life."

OK, there it is. Is that the push some needed to speak out for Terri, d'ya think?

[phenn]

Air Force Sgt. Dies after Routine Appendectomy
http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=69315

>>A hospital ethics board made a decision to remove the feeding tube in December.<<

I think that translates directly into a warning for each and every one of us.

[sweetliberty]

Why the h*ll are hospital boards, of any kind, making these decision??? It isn't their place.

[Robert Drobot]

No matter the proclamations written in Rome, the five American so-called Catholic 'bishops' in Florida have already struck their own agenda.

Going all out to pressure the 'system' Jeb Bush is so proud of - to save Terri from a tortuous and barbaric death isn't on that list.

As far as I know, the only Roman Catholic priest to enter Terri's room and offer her Holy Sacraments, and some sense of spiritual solace - while under the glare of Michael's armed guards - is a former military chaplain.

[cyn]

I sure wish I knew why they won't. I don't understand it! This was much discussed at the vigil.

Is it indifference? Is there some conflict of interest, some group putting pressure on them not to speak out or get involved in any way? Because you're right, most have not gotten involved with the exception you mention.

Is there anything to be gained, I've wondered, if I go in to talk to someone in the Catholic church locally (6 hrs from Terri) on Terri's behalf? May be better to ask it this way: Is there any thing to be lost . . . ? How might this be done for Terri?

[Robert Drobot]

A cynical voice might suggest religion is very much in the death business, and greatly concerned about their sources for endowments, bequests and other such vehicles of financial gifts squeezed from those near death.

The Florida death and dying business is controlled exclusively by the medical profession (pre and post use of body parts for research experimentation and income generation), the legal profession(wills, probate, foundations, tax laws), and the business of religion (grants, endowments, gifts, memoriams, dedications).

The poor sob looks up from his/her death bed surrounded by the three vultures eagerly waiting for his last heart beat, to commence the division of his physical and financial remains.

Is it just possible religion has a good thing going, especially in Florida, and is silent because it doesn't want to rock the boat?

Which reminds me, there was a lawyer, a doctor, and a priest on a boat in the middle of a shark infested ocean........

It isn't happenstance that these three entities are linked together.

[FR_addict]

I wish the pope would issue a statement directly on Terri's case.

Is there anyway to get his attention? I would love to see him get our emails and letters, supporting Terri.

[floriduh voter]

If you'd like a bumper sticker, your best bet would be to email www.terrisfight.org. We had them at the Vigils but they went fast. If there's a NEW DEMAND for Terri's Not Brain Dead stickers with her web site on it as well, maybe the Foundation will make some more.

[floriduh voter]

We are still at this juncture since Terri's Law was enacted on October 21, 2003, because the Judges refuse to abide by Terri's Law. Isn't that a dereliction of duty and against their Oaths to uphold the Law?

Newbies, please join Terri's Fight at www.terrisfight.org.

[fiesti]

Does anyone know what has happened with the A&E special on Terri that they were filming... I was at the hospice and evening before Thanksgiving when they were filming and it was my understanding they were going to televise this early in December.....I hope this is not an after the death of Terri documentary...I was talking to who I presumed to be the director that night and I had the distinct impression this was going to be shown to make more people aware of the truth

[fiesti]

You're right. People are always reading my car. At least they're paying attention now. Better late than never.


Is there someplace to get a bumper sticker...Sorry if I never noticed this info

[Micavaga]

I found another article about Dean Witt. It seems that his wife and his mother asked for the feeding tube to be removed. Since he left no living will or advanced directive, the hospital board decided to honor their request or not.

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Dec/12272003/utah/123556.asp

[phenn]

I'm kind of reading that the hospital made the decision and the family just went along with it. I could be wrong, but that was the impression I got.

No one fought for this guy or tried to help him out. I think that's utterly horrific. But, many families are pressured into thinking they are doing the right thing by just "letting go". Sadly, this happens more often than we realize.

The Hemlock Society (End of Life Choices, now) uses Terri's case to promote the idea of living wills and advanced directives. They have people believing that you have to fight off unwanted treatments. The way I see it, it seems as if you have to fight to KEEP treatment.