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Posted on 03/28/2005 3:52:07 PM PST by LauraJean
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2005
CONTACT: Joan Hurwitz, 301-628-5020 Cindy Price, 301-628-5038 Carol Cooke, 301-628-5027
American Nurses Association Statement on the Terri Schiavo Case Statement Attributed to Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, RN, President The Terri Schiavo case raises complex and emotional issues about the end of life. The American Nurses Association (ANA) recognizes the difficulty of the situation, however, ANA has consistently upheld the right of patients, or if the patient is incapacitated, the right of the designated surrogate, to decide whether to submit to or continue medical treatment.
As nurses, we are ethically bound to assist our patients in maintaining control over their lives and to help them preserve their dignity. The ANA believes that it is the responsibility of nurses to facilitate informed decision-making for patients and families who are making choices about end-of-life care. The Code of Ethics for Nurses specifically outlines the nurse's obligation to protect the patient's right to self-determination and the role of a designated surrogate in situations where the patient lacks capacity. In this case, Terri Schiavo's physicians, over many years, have declared her to be in a "persistent vegetative state." Furthermore, there is evidence that Terri Schiavo expressed her wishes not to have her life artificially maintained under such circumstances. ANA believes the Congress and the president have acted inappropriately in this case. It is unfortunate that Terri Schiavo has now become the symbol of so many political agendas.
The positive outcome from this case is that it raises the public's awareness of the importance of discussing end-of-life issues with family members and underscores how an advance directive, a living will and/or durable power of attorney for health care, clarifies and provides evidence of the wishes of an individual regarding end-of-life decisions. ANA encourages everyone to have an advance directive in place. Advance directives are controlled by state law and vary by state. A federal law, The Patient Self Determination Act of 1990, requires that most health care facilities provide patients with information about advance directives and ask patients about the existence of advance directives. Physicians, nurses, social workers and attorneys are often resource persons in the community who can provide information and guidance concerning advance directives.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Terri Schiavo. I recognize that this is an extremely difficult situation. I wish Terri Schiavo the dignity and peace she so deserves and that we would all wish for ourselves and our own loved ones at the end of life.
Sources: Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretative Statements, 2001 http://nursingworld.org/ethics/chcode.htm Ethics and Human Rights Position Statement: Nursing and the Patient Self-Determination Act, 1991 http://www.nursingworld.org/readroom/position/ethics/etsdet.htm
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The ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million registered nurses through its 54 constituent member nurses associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. # # #
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Well, I hope you're ready to be really, really surprised then. It's hard to track down a specific membership number, because the ANA, is an umbrella org with 50+ constituant organizations (such as the Texas Nurses Association). However, in dues alone, in 2003, the ANA collected just shy of 13 million dollars. They didn't get that from 2,000 nurses. I asked my wife how many nurses she knows who are members, and her answer was a simple: All of them.
This is a trained nurse???
FOOD & WATER IS NOT MEDICAL TREATMENT!!!
God be with these children
$$$$$
When I see Terri Schiavo, I see one of these children. When I see her mother I see myself, should my son ever be in Terri's position. I would nourish him, and let him see as much of the world as he could tolerate, for as long as HE wanted to live. Given that Terri has survived the torture of five years in a virtual prison, I believe that she has shown that SHE wants to live.
Her putative husband is the one who is dead.
I think it is the very same reason why nurses usually don't work in abortion clinics.
That's right. But far too many do just go along with them when faced with the real choice. The pressure becomes intense. They humiliate the "recalcitrant nurse" in front of others.
It's because Felos is threatening everyone with a lawsuit. I know I wouldn't want to be harassed by some little death-weasle, while trying to do my job. I wouldn't put up with it.
I don't want any part of euthanizing the disabled (especially by dehydration and starvation-cruel thing to do to a helpless person). I'll be long gone, if that's what nursing turns into.
I know it's too late to ask this question: But, If Terri wanted "no tubes", Why did Michael authorize putting in the tube in the first place?
Yes, they are both hollow men.
He did not remember that she wanted no tubes until 7 years after the event, after he had met his new honey and after he had met Felos.
Good thought! Unfortunately I really don't want to bring the hassle of an audit,and I doubt I can convince my CPA to sign his name to the bottom of the return. but I like the way you think.
When President Reagan had to be operated on after he was shot on March 30, 1981, he told the doctors, "I hope you're all Republicans." Maybe he wasn't joking after all. It looks like politics and ideology trump the Hippocratic oath.
I threaten to sue the AMA with a lawsuit for an error they made concerning me. Boy, can they dance fast when they have too.
I know it was 7 years later, but it just makes his statement of "Terri's wishes" even more ridiculous. I am so sick about all this.
This ANA statement sounds much more nefarious than "we are just following orders".
"ANA has consistently upheld the right of patients, or if the patient is incapacitated [as Terri is], the right of the designated surrogate [i.e. Michael Schiavo], to decide whether to submit to or continue medical treatment [that is, to decide whether Terri should die or not].
"This is a trained nurse???"
No, an indoctrinated one.
"He did not remember that she wanted no tubes until 7 years after the event, after he had met his new honey and after he had met Felos."
And after he was in the money.
Have never been a member of the ANA. Of 2.7 million licensed nurses in the U.S., it isn't easy to locate the number of ANA members. If 20% are members, I will be surprised.
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I didn't mean to be flippant. Nurses are required to do things in most hospitals I couldn't do according to my conscience as in too many other professions today, so apart from the ones who don't seem to go about their duties robotlike, I don't care much what they say.
I have listened to what some local nurses are talking about. One nurse claimed that this didn't happen often in the nursing home she worked in, but it did happen sometimes.
I was getting signed up for surgery and the last nurse in the chain I had to deal with upset me so much I walked out of the hospital and never got the surgery. That was over 10 years ago. She almost didn't seem like a human being she sounded so cold and clinical.
The first thing they asked me when I went in there was, "Do you have a living will?" That really inspires confidence when you are already a little scared. I don't want to read what nurses write except a couple on this board who claim to be nurses and who still have a conscience.
"Nurses didn't used to be that way."
Of course they didn't.
Today we import nurses from Mexico, India, and other 3rd world countries.
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