Posted on 04/10/2005 6:26:38 PM PDT by schmelvin
I have been thinking about this issue for several weeks as a result of taking part on various Terri threads. I have noticed how several Freepers have argued on the side of the 'Right to Die' and much of their opinion has been shaped by personal experience, some have allied themselves to the death lobby only because of a certain amount of guilt they feel for allowing a relative to be admitted to a hospice, without a clear understanding of what happens to the patient once he/she is admitted. They fight tooth and claw to justify their own actions, and thus appear to place themselves into the death-by-hospice camp.
Once the truth about 'hospice care' is out in the open, the guilt they feel should be elminated. The entire concept is based upon a lie. Death with dignity! What BS. No treatment, no therapy, no facilities, IMO hospice care is no better than taking a lost dog to the Pound. (But in a Pound, if a new owner is found, at least the animal is allowed to be released!) Miss Mae is probably one of the very few who ever escaped with her life. Miss Mae may not live - but if she dies, her stay in the hospice certainly contributed to her death. (I pray she lives many years.)
I have an aged mother, 90 yo. Healthy and independant. She has made it clear she wishes no life-support, but NEVER WILL SHE BE COMMITTED TO A HOSPICE.
It's about time people found out about hospice.
Me too. I hope she at least "leaks" some information to a freeper or two who was in contact with Kenneth even if she doesn't go public.
I was pretty flabbergasted that I didn't have to debate these cases (Terri or Mae) with anybody in the neighborhood. The area runs the gamut of political party affiliations and sometimes the lines get blurry on issues but this one was 100% life. That's a good thing with all we hear in the media.
Wow! You really hit the nail on the head with that one.
When Glenn said We tried to get a hold of, the uh, the granddaughter. But, do uh, do you have another way of getting a hold of her? She’s, uh, her phone is not working. Then Ken answered Well it turned out that the bloggers for Terri Schiavo gave her about two or three thousand telephone calls yesterday, I laughed so hard I missed the rest of the interview.
If I wasn't so beyond disgusted with this topic(meaning the reality of what is happening....not meaning this topic posted)....I may have laughed at your post. It was very witty.
One interesting thing also came out from the last few weeks of my neighborhood discussions. The couple on the east of me are moderate to left-leaning. The lady works in administration at a local nursing home. She wasn't happy with a lot of what she heard about Terri but during our Thursday night and Friday activities for Mae she got the news of what I was up to. She was horrified when she heard the facts of Mae's situation. She was more knowledgeable about the medical things surrounding Mae's case than I was. She said there was no way that lady should be in hospice and no way it was time for her to die.
She's commented on many occasions that hospice is a place to die. Where she works, only residents who are really about to die go to hospice. Her whole concept of hospice from her professional knowledge is hospice=death. So, that lines right up with your "lost dog going to the pound" analogy.
Now, that one lady and I agree on something political about one in 20 times. But, on this, she is one of the most outspoken for life. Interesting huh?
Bolton: So I say to the honorable senator from Massachusetts, let he who is without sin cast the first empty.
If this is hospice, it has changed in the last 10 years. My dad had terminal cancer...he tried EVERYTHING..he was a fighter, but when the cancer was spotted on his backbone and in his liver, he decided that he'd had enough chemo. Hospice helped my mom keep my dad comfortable...when he needed oxygen for comfort, they gave it to him.
I think when hospice is involved with TERMINAL patients with cancer, they can be very helpful with pain management...and believe me, the pain is acute! The issue is that obviously people are being sent to hospice that should NOT be. Terri and this woman should NOT have been placed in hospice...they don't fit the criteria. WIthholding food and water from ANYONE is a horrible way to die!. In hospice, my dad was not withheld anything...everything was aimed at making him as comfortable as possible. Obviously, this hospice does not follow the same creed.
Thanks for the ping!
It's the existence of hospice 'care' that allows this situation to exist. Without the hospice, people in need of care are either in hospital, in a nursing home, or cared for by their family.
The euthenasia lobby wouldn't get very far in a hospital, would they? Can you imagine a family member telling a doctor in a hospital, 'listen, I think it's time for grandma to go to Jesus'?
I can't. I'm the widow of a physician & surgeon. I accompanied him on numerous visits to elderly patients in nursing homes where the patients were treated and nursed, given therapy, wheeled into the sunshine, NOT STARVED and DEHYDRATED!.
I have this image in my head of Beth throwing her phone on the ground, stomping on it, jumping up & down on it, and kicking it. But, it still won't stop ringing...
I’ve been praying about this and, and I’ve been praying to Jesus. Jesus has told me it’s time that grandmother went home to Jesusthen it's rather obvious that she's quite delusional if not completely insane. The other family members need to get to a judge and let it be known that this woman is making medical decisions based on nothing more than an imaginary discussion with Jesus. This is nuts, and I suspect a judge might see it as such too. God's words or orders or revelations don't trump binding legal documents, at least not in America.
Maybe that will be her hell.
LOL - she'll keep trying to use the phone, to order pizza, but it will just ring constantly.
http://www.hospicepatients.org/terri-schiavo-10-12-02-press-rel.html
This is the problem: (Snip)
"Hospice lobbying groups like the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the state hospice associations need to act immediately to preserve the hospice mission before hospice practice descends into the gutter and hospice becomes synonymous with "house-of-murder." It is common knowledge among the public that some hospices routinely kill their patients with overdosages of morphine and sedatives before the patient dies a natural death from the terminal illness.
These national groups need to take a stand for morality, ethics and compassion. They loudly proclaim that hospice is "compassion and caring for the dying," but killing the disabled is the furthest thing from "compassionate" or "caring." They do nothing when non-terminal patients are threatened by those who wish to kill them in a hospice. Hospice staff throughout the nation eagerly learn how to terminally sedate patients and then end patient's lives (through dehydration and circulatory collapse) when they have no medical need for sedation.5 Many physicians are more than willing to end the lives of their patients. (See 6, and 7. And approximately 50 per cent of physicians in our nation approve of physician-assisted suicide8!)"
A Judge did one heck of a lot for Terri.
She was removed from that hospice and transported to a hospital where she is now getting excellent care.
Great news.
See The Entrenchment of Evil at my blog. I think it covers this subject nicely.
I LOVE IT!!
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