Posted on 01/29/2006 10:06:22 AM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who took a leading role in the Terry Schiavo case, said Sunday it taught him that Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.
Frist, considered a presidential hopeful for 2008, defended his call for further examinations of the brain-damaged Florida woman during the last days of a bitter family feud over her treatment. Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state.
The case became a rallying point for right-to-life advocates, an important segment of the Republican Party. It also drew interest from those supporting the right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment and led to charges that the GOP was using a family tragedy for political gain.
Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he had any regrets regarding the Schiavo case, Frist said: "Well, I'll tell you what I learned from it, which is obvious. The American people don't want you involved in these decisions."
Schiavo, 41, died March 31, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed and 15 years after her initial collapse and hospitalization. Courts in Florida had supported her husband's contention that she would not want to live in such a state. Her parents and siblings disagreed and for years fought efforts to remove her feeding tube.
An autopsy later showed that Schiavo had suffered severe, irreversible brain damage and was blind.
Frist, R-Tenn., said in the full Senate that he supported what he called "an opportunity to save Mrs. Schiavo's life." A heart surgeon, Frist had viewed video ordered by a court and taken by a board-certified neurologist who had concluded she was not in a persistent vegetative state.
Congress passed a bill to allow a federal court to review the case, and President Bush quickly returned from his Texas ranch to sign the bill into law. But a federal judge refused to order the tube reinserted, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court.
Frist was later mocked as having made a diagnosis from his office using a video screen. "I didn't make the diagnosis," Frist said Sunday. "I raised the question of whether or not she was in a persistent vegetative state."
Looking back, Frist said, "When you're taking innocent life, with parents who want that life preserved, you've got to make sure, and therefore stepping in to say, let's take one more review, that's what we did."
He added: "I accept the outcome. I don't agree with the moral sense of it."
Frist plans to leave the Senate when his second term expires in January 2007. He said Sunday he will return to his home in Tennessee and decide whether to seek the Republican nomination for president.
Would it surprise you to learn that Terri's parents, within a few years after she entered a PVS, encouraged Mr. Schiavo to date and to "get on with his life"?
I hope they threw the book at him.
I was just thinking yesterday about the doctor who was in charge of the tb clinic I used to go to. He used public funds to take a trip to Scandinavia, with his mistress. The public's estimation of the that doctor really sank.
You, my dear, are a refreshing voice of reason. Bless you.
Think so? Take a look at Holland, Sweden and for that matter Hitler's regime.
It is pervasive on this forum, maybe some of it will disappear when Hillary becomes the focus of out attention, but I doubt it.
Sort of like abortion huh? So this is what the big tent has wrought.
Bingo! Sadly he was GW's personal choice to replace the spineless Lott
Do you bother to read what you post?
As if the Courts were no part of government.
Ever been to divorce court? I'll take Judge Judy any day.
Why didn't McConnel get the job?
Ever been to divorce court? I'll take Judge Judy any day.
Uh, what does divorce court have to do with Congress?
So when you are involved in a family dispute you wouldn't mind if your family members had Congress get involved on their side?
What Congress did was unconstitutional. Unfortunately the case didn't last long enough for that issue to be reviewed.
I'm sorry to hear about your mother. How long was she comatose? My dad quit eating about a week before he died.
You can argue all you want. But the law WAS followed, and it was followed very diligently. Terri had her day in court -- quite often -- and her case was thoroughly reviewed.
Judge Greer looked at everything. He gave more weight to evidence he had reason to believe was credible and he gave less weight to evidence he had reason to believe was not credible.
Histrionics about killing her aside, are you talking about kidnapping her?
Let's drop the silly pretense that you don't.
There you go again. Presuming that you can put words in people's mouths and thoughts in their mind.
We are all going to die, and there is nothing government can do about it.
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