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?
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!)"
Since you have contacts in the nursing home industry, please stop by and read this specific post. This is not just a hospice issue. Nursing homes are also in the viatical business.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1371538/posts?page=339#339