Posted on 11/04/2005 3:24:09 AM PST by 8mmMauser
Family members are investigating what they consider to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a nursing home patient at the center of a life and death tug-of-war reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo tragedy.
Seventy-nine-year-old Jimmy Chambers died in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after the tracheotomy tubes that deliver oxygen from a ventilator to a hole in his neck became unhooked. Family members were told Chambers, a resident of the Anne Maria Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in North Augusta, S.C., apparently pulled the interlocking tubes apart.
"We're having it investigated. We're just incredulous," Chambers' daughter, Deanna Potter, told WND in reference to her siblings. "The last time I saw dad he was blowing me a kiss. I blew him one and he blew one back."
The retired dispatcher for Holland Motor Express died approximately 10 hours later. His death certificate indicates he died of "natural causes."
"Apparently, suffocation is a 'natural cause' when you're on a ventilator. We're contesting that," said Potter. "He suffocated. He didn't just pass away. He struggled and fought. And I'm just so angry."
Potter estimates it would have taken 10 to 14 minutes for her father, deprived of oxygen, to fall unconscious, and questions why the nursing home staff didn't come to his aid.
"The oxygen-saturation meter and his ventilator both would have had alarms going off. Four-thirty, five o'clock in the morning you'd think someone would hear this," she added. "That's the thing that really bothers me and makes me suspicious."
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
The resolution of the Terri Schiavo case meant "open season" on those who can't fight for themselves.
Ping
8mm
It seems that from that account that so many things that should have been good turned bad for that little girl. She does have some good friends and neighbors stepping forward now; too bad it wasn't earlier.
"Relatives and family friends say they ask about Haleigh's condition daily. They say they are trying to raise money to help cover funeral costs and memorials, if and when they become necessary. John Gamelli, whose daughter once played with Haleigh, said he and some family members have set up a fund for her at the United Bank in Westfield.Ron Drewnowski, a seminarian at St. Mary's Parish, where the Stricklands attended church, helped organize a vigil in Haleigh's honor. He said he had visited her at the hospital about six weeks ago, and she was lying in the bed, surrounded by stuffed animals. Her eyes were closed. ''I still pray for her," he said."
All these nut jobs should just move to Florida because judges here will do whatever the estranged, controlling individual wishes.
The step father should be charged with attempted murder. If somebody else kills her, they should be charged with murder. Of course, that's not how our legal system works. Nobody is responsible for their own behavior any more.
How much money would Scott Thomas' "wife" be entitled to from life insurance? That's usually the main motivation in such cases -- the money!
"The oxygen-saturation meter and his ventilator both would have had alarms going off. Four-thirty, five o'clock in the morning you'd think someone would hear this," she added. "That's the thing that really bothers me and makes me suspicious."
If it isn't murder, it is extreme neglect!!
I pray she never gets a chance to collect anything. His mom was smart to take that hair sample, it will be interesting to see the results.
I agree. "Patient's wishes" and "personal autonomy" are
deceptive propaganda only. And disregarding same is
becoming ever more blatant. And don't rely on family
unanimity either, I'm afraid, although this family was
not unanimous.
"DNR" == "DNT" Do Not Resuscitate is often read as
Do Not Treat.
What is very important to understand is that most of these documents are executed by well people, increasingly by well people who are also young (or, they are drafted by healthy young people, which is almost the same thing).
There is little that healthy young people can imagine that is worse than helplessness and disability. For this reason, they (almost) universally voice the notion, "I would rather be dead than live like that".
Of course, the situation of the mortally ill is quite different.
Everyone praises heaven, but no one wants to go there - at least not today.
Therefore, it is common (80+%) for persons who are able to cancel their "advanced directive" when their death is staring them in the face, and to elect aggressive treatment, regardless of the burdens or chance of success.
There are exceptions to this rule, mostly those involving chronic and invariably fatal diseases with a well-defined course.
Of course, the reason that insurance companies and the government have glommed on to living wills has nothing to do with autonomy - they want to kill sick people before they spend any money on them.
It is not unlikely, therefore, that interested third parties - mostly the government, but also greedy relatives and HMOs, will try to create a precedent where "living wills" can be enforced against the wishes of the patient - claiming that illness has rendered them incapable of "true" consent.
The precedents are already being set. Not only can they be enforced against the wishes of the patient, the provisions of the directive don't even need to be met. All that needs to happen is to incapacitate the patient with drugs and then take over.
You hit it! People change as they grow older and more often than not so do their ideas on many things!
8mm
moi non plus
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
For those who watch in amazement that Michael still is swollen and puffed with his victory, look at this and post #25
Michael Schiavo thinking of his own political future ....
8mm
What can one say?
"All that needs to happen is to incapacitate the patient with drugs and then take over."
Worth repeating.
Do you still have the link to that Living Will "IQ" test that you once had linked to a few years ago? At least I think it was you who had posted that. TIA.
After three decades of urging Americans to write living wills, many doctors, lawyers and ethicists concede that these documents have largely failed.
The problems are many: Most people don't complete living wills. When they do, too often the paper isn't available when decisions about life support must be made.
Living wills, intended to ensure that patients' wishes are honored when they can't speak for themselves, rarely address the actual situations that arise. And many people don't really know in advance what treatments they would or wouldn't want.
"The 30 years of literature on living wills has shown very disappointing results," said Charles Sabatino, assistant director of the American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging. "The shortcomings of living wills are real. Dying is just too complicated."
Living wills not keeping promise
8mm
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