Danger Zone - (Haleigh Poutre)

National Review ^ | February 01, 2006 | Wesley J, Smith

[Ohioan from Florida]

In the court (and courts) of life and death, a little 11-year-old Massachusetts girl named Haleigh Poutre could be the next Terri Schiavo. For those who have not heard the tragic story, Haleigh was beaten nearly to death last September, allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather. The beating left her unconscious and barely clinging to life.

Within a week or so of the beating, her doctors had written her off. They apparently told Haleigh's court-appointed guardian, Harry Spence, that she was "virtually brain dead." Even though he had never visited her, Spence quickly went to court seeking permission to remove her respirator and feeding tube. The court agreed, a decision affirmed recently by the supreme court of Massachusetts.

And so, no doubt with the best of intentions, a little girl who had already suffered so much was stripped by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of even the chance to fight to stay alive. If she didn't stop breathing when the respirator was removed, which doctors expected, she would slowly dehydrate to death.

Close Call

Then came the unexpected:

[Ohioan from Florida]

1000 for Haleigh, and those who came before her in the fight for life, God bless them all!

[Ohioan from Florida]

He said in the book that he would never, ever have a "living will". The doctors in his case would have killed him.

If people understood the dangers of living wills, they might not be so happy about making them. Most living wills go at it with erring on the side of death vs. erring on the side of life.

[BykrBayb]

Otherwise they will never amount to anything more than unskilled labor.

Unskilled labor is a pretty lofty goal for them, don't you think? That would require work.

[Earthdweller]

Hi BykrBayb. I was just getting ready to jump off here after a full day of typos.

How are ya!

[BykrBayb]

I'm just getting started on my day's worth of typos. I still have a few more errands to run, and thought I'd check in for a couple minutes.

Glad to see we hit 1,000 for Haleigh today. It helps when trolls bump the thread, but we'd have made it even without him.

And how are you this fine day?

[Earthdweller]

Happy to see all of you still fighting the good fight.

MY best to all of you FReeper pals who hold down this fort.

You guys are great.

Gotta run. Have a good evening all.

[BykrBayb]

That's an interesting cake recipe in your tagline. I say we turn up the heat with a few more cartoons. My personal favorite is the Lego construction of mohammad (p*ss be upon him) humping a little girl.

Good evening to you.

[floriduh voter]

You really are a newbie if you don't understand the reach of Free Republic as a news source. This thread has hit over 8,000 views in less than two weeks' time. Maybe to you, that's not much but you are showing that you don't know that FR is rated close to the top.

Careful calling it a chat room - it's much more than that.

Hitting the 1,000 mark for Haleigh is a symbolic gesture that "Where there's life there's hope." words spoken by Terri Schindler Schiavo.

[floriduh voter]

You hit #1,000 for Haleigh PYP.

By the way, Senator Mel Martinez is backtracking today. All those things in quotes that he said recently? Per his office, he didn't say them - "didn't say them."

MM is getting a lot of phone calls. He doesn't know his hat from his glove.

[floriduh voter]

Fla Senator Mel Martinez is proving to be unskilled labor.

[Ohioan from Florida]

You mean Martinez is backtracking from his earlier retraction? If so, he sounds a lot like John Kerry. Flip flop. Flip flop.

[floriduh voter]

Now, his office said that MM didn't even say what numerous media put in quote marks. His office said today that his position has not ever changed (oh, really?). What happened on Political Connections www.baynews9.com this past Sunday then? It was widely reported and there was even a thread here from the www.sptimes.com article re: MM.

It's a good thing he's got a bar license. He may have to practice law again sooner rather than later.

[floriduh voter]

Schindlers respond to Mel Martinez on www.baynews9.com NOW. It will go on their web site I spose.

[pickyourpoison]

"Most living wills go at it with erring on the side of death "

And Lord only knows if your an organ donor.

[pickyourpoison]

"Senator Mel Martinez is backtracking today"

If the news media didn't quote him correctly, why doesn't he correct them. He can't have it both ways, telling some people one thing and other people something else.

[bjs1779]

It helps when trolls bump the thread, but we'd have made it even without him.

Good grief, where did they all go? It just ain't no fun to argue with people who agree with me! Please trolls, come back... : )

[BykrBayb]

It's our own fault they left. It's one thing to laugh at their stupidity behind their backs, but when you force them to see their own stupidity, they can't handle it. Do we have any volunteers to go over to Clown Posse and bring back some stupid comments to laugh at? It's an unpleasant task, but you get to take a nice refreshing acid bath afterward.

[bjs1779]

It's our own fault they left. It's one thing to laugh at their stupidity behind their backs, but when you force them to see their own stupidity, they can't handle it.

Well, being the nice person that I am, I don't want to rub it in....too much : )

[T'wit]

If swallowing was as dangerous as Dr. Thogmartin (the ME) has suggested, Michael made a half-million dollar mistake in not allowing mouth feeding for Terri. She would have aspirated some food and died of aspiration pneumonia. She could have been killed by one bite of Poitrine de Poulet aux Noix Pecan or broccoli or Captain Crunch. Then Michael saves the half million bucks he paid Felos and Bushnell to kill Terri. Plus he saves years and years of treatment costs, cat killing fees, insulin, etc.

[T'wit]

>> He can't have it both ways, telling some people one thing and other people something else.

If you believe that, you have absolutely NO future as a politician. This speaks well of you!

To be a politician, you must be able to speak out of both sides of your mouth and any other convenient aperture. You must pat each voter on the shoulder and tell him what he wants to hear, while carefully removing his wallet with your other hand. Then you go back to Washington, D.C. and sell your votes to the highest-bidding special interests.