Still Waiting

Dakota Voice ^ | 1/29/2007 | Carrie K. Hutchens

[8mmMauser]

I don't know about anyone else, but I am still waiting for Michael Schiavo to make a correction on his blog about what "actually" took place in Colorado when he went there (to the debate) to supposedly ask Congresswoman Musgrave one question and she and her staff supposedly tried to have him removed. He called it, "My unreal night in Colorado - with radio link" (Thu Oct 26, 2006 at 08:05:14 PM PST). I'll say (from what I read) that it was his "unreal night".

As I said before in "Standing up and Admitting a Mistake: Not Schiavo's Style?",  if four uniformed officers were around my seat, I would have some idea of what was going on. I certainly wouldn't be sitting in "duh mode" to only be told later of what took place right there around me, as Michael suggests he was. If Michael's account is realistic -- his response and reaction is not. Nor is his response appropriate now that he has "learned" what he was "allegedly told" is not what took place. One would think if he can't get the words out that he was mistaken, he could at least have removed the inaccurate entry from his blog.

He has done neither.

I'm also still waiting to read about, "Also, maybe tomorrow I'll post about my election-eve rally with Bill Clinton in Florida." (A real election impact by Michael Schiavo, Thu Nov 09, 2006 at 10:40:34 AM PST).  Indeed, I would love to read that story by Michael, since I read it was not possible. Not if he was implying it was the Bill Clinton that is the former President of the United States. Will be interesting to see what he says about that if he ever does.

If Michael couldn't get it straight what happened at the Musgrave debate or even if he spent election-eve with former President Bill Clinton -- do you suppose he might have gotten Terri Schiavo's wishes mixed-up as well? (He does claim to have a bad memory from what I read.) Makes one wonder. At least makes me wonder. Whatever...

I'm still waiting for the corrections if not the explanations!

 

Carrie Hutchens is a former law enforcement officer and a freelance writer who is active in fighting against the death culture movement and the injustices within the judicial and law enforcement systems.

[8mmMauser]

Thread by wagglebee on Swiss euthanasia...

MUNICH, February 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Swiss Euthanasia group which runs a centre in Zurich which boasts of having killed - or as they put it, facilitated "assisted suicides" - of 700 people since 1998, has taken out a full-page ad in a German newspaper slamming Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II. The attack comes as no surprise to opponents of euthanasia who suggest that anti-Catholicism is rife within the ranks of euthanasia advocates.

The ad by Dignitas appeared in the weekend edition of Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, accusing the Popes of responsibility for the deaths of millions of AIDS victims in Africa and Asia due to the Church's "anti-condom policy".

Euthanasia Activists Attack the Catholic Church in German Newspaper Ad

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[T'wit]

>> It's amazing how many people think judges, prosecutors, sheriff's and all other law enforcement officers are above wrong-doing.

There is no immunity from sin by putting on a police uniform or a judge's robes. It is the other way around. The prosecutors and sheriffs have coercive powers, and power tends to corrupt. Power ever and always tempts one to take advantage of the powerless. Thus, corruption in government is the rule, not the exception. We honor all the more, then, the brave men and women who resist the temptations and serve with honor.

[8mmMauser]

Haleigh and Rebecca update...

Maybe DSS is actually about to get a shakeup after these two tragedies.

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BOSTON - The drug overdose death of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley is once again focusing attention on the Department of Social Services, and provoking questions about the future of its commissioner, Lewis ”Harry” Spence.

    The commissioner serves at the pleasure of the governor. The state’s new chief executive, Deval Patrick, has been decidedly non-committal when asked if he will reappoint Spence to the position he has held for just over five years.
    ”I don’t want to do personnel in the press. I’m very concerned about the Rebecca Riley case. I’m concerned about whether the recommendations that were brought forward after the Haleigh Poutre case were actually implemented,” Patrick said, referring to another case of child abuse for which DSS came under intense criticism.

Spence’s future with DSS in limbo

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[8mmMauser]

Right to kill, physician assisted murder and "I kept my promise..."

...........................

Quill highlighted various medical and legal cases in the right-to-die movement, including Elizabeth Bouvia and the more familiar Terri Schiavo.

Through this progression, Quill explained, stopping life support has become permissible in most areas if there is clear and convincing evidence of the patient's wishes.

Patients such as Bouvia, who is still alive today even after the removal of her feeding tube, have caused a great deal of interest and support in palliative care.

However, a historical timeline of right-to-die cases was not the only focus of Quill's lecture. He himself has been directly involved in a controversial case of physician-assisted suicide. While treating a terminally ill patient, Quill was convinced by the patient that if living without treatment became too unbearable, he would provide her with medication to painlessly end her life.

When the patient reached this juncture, Quill carried out his promise, providing enough medication to induce death. Quill decided to come forth with his experience in the form of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

End of life care lecture examines patients right to die

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[8mmMauser]

From ProLifeBlogs, on Bobby Schindler...

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Here is a response from Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, to an article by Steven Pinker, "The Mystery of Consciousness," appearing in a recent issue of TIME magazine.

Mr. Pinker,

I found the premise of much of what you wrote in your essay, "The Mystery of Consciousness," to be very troubling. However, I wanted to respond specifically to the comment you made regarding my sister, Terri Schiavo.

You said, "And if these questions have answers, would they change our policies toward unresponsive patients--making the Terri Schiavo case look like child's play?"

Your assertion that Terri was unresponsive is patently false.

I want to first stress that my family always held that it should have made no difference whether Terri was unresponsive or not. She was a human being, a person worthy of being cared for and loved, and no one should ever have to prove whether or not they deserve to be fed. However, contrary to what you wrote, Terri was very responsive.

I urge you to watch the videos of my sister, review the more than 40 doctors' affidavits submitted to the court, fully read the autopsy report, or simply believe the testimony of my family to understand that Terri was not only responsive, but that labeling her as having been in this dehumanizing, unscientific, and lethal "vegetative" state was also erroneous.

I am reminded of what author Wesley J. Smith recently wrote regarding the media.

"They [the media] often seem to decide the story first and then fit the facts to their perception. Once the story line is determined, facts that belie their take--even very important and pertinent facts--are often ignored or barely mentioned. Then, reporters who may come late to the story rely on the earlier reports and hence, regurgitate the skewed story line, until error often becomes perceived fact. As a consequence, a materially false impression is left for people who don't follow these matters closely."

When it comes to Terri's situation, this couldn't be more accurate. I am convinced more everyday, evidenced by articles such as yours, that there exists a conscious effort by the popular media to continue to try and justify killing my sister and others like her as being the "right" thing to do.

What is so frightening, however, is that our indifferent public is, and will continue to be, persuaded by articles such as yours, buying into the rationale that it is acceptable to kill the disabled because their IQs are not high enough.

Finally, perhaps you can explain to my family, particularly my parents, what you were implying by your "child's play" comment, because I am having a difficult time trying to understand what you meant.

Surely you could not be so insensitive as to think that parents having to fight so hard to simply care for and love their innocent disabled daughter was trivial. Nor, I am sure, were you trying to suggest that forcing my parents to slowly watch their daughter die a horrific death by dehydration and starvation over a period of 13 days, was merely "child's play"?

Because I can hardly imagine that anyone with any sense of human decency or genuine compassion would describe my sister's or any similar situation that way.

I would encourage you, along with other members of the media, to remember that Terri Schiavo is not just a name to be used to further your agenda. She was a living, breathing, feeling human being deeply loved by her family and her death is a tragedy with which we continue to live every day of our lives.

Sincerely,

Bobby Schindler

A key statement by Bobby is that the "assertion that Terri was unresponsive is patently false". It goes without saying that Terri Schiavo was not brain dead despite incorrect reports by various media outlets. For example, here's a patently false statement that recently appeared in Patriot News:

The issue received national attention when courts and Congress became involved in the decision on whether Terri Schiavo, a brain-dead Florida woman, should have her feeding tube removed.

The Media Continues To Get It Wrong on Terri Schiavo

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[8mmMauser]

How dare he!!! The humanity!!! (Puffington Host alert)

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In March, 2005 Donohue sent out a number of releases on the Terri Schiavo case, including a call for Florida "lawmakers [to] quickly pass a Medicaid reform bill that has a rider allowing food and water for Terri Schiavo." Donohue's appeal came the same day a Florida judge ordered the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube.

In September, 2005 Donohue weighed in heavily on how he thought Congress should allocate aid money following Hurricane Katrina: by dumping FEMA and giving the money to churches. Federal aid was an immediate legislative concern following Hurricane Katrina.

Donohue launched repeated, full-throated defenses of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, a Catholic. Not only did Donohue try to set the terms for questions posed to Roberts by the Senate, but he tried to determine Robert's answers for him.

More Potential Catholic League IRS Problems

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[8mmMauser]

Be my valentine. "If I give my heart to you..."

Here, they stretch the definitions a bit more. Thanks, BykrBayb.

..........................

The New South Wales Government will introduce new guidelines so that a person does not have to be declared brain dead before transplant doctors can use their organs.

Health Minister John Hatzistergos says the new guidelines will support organ donation after the heart and circulation has stopped, and consent has been given from the family.

He says it could increase the availability of organs for transplants.

He says when the heart and circulation have stopped a person is dead.

"We're talking about cardiac death here," he said.

"A patient has to have died, we're talking about organs being able to be used for retrieval purposes, that's what we're talking about and what we're talking about is at what stage can a patient's organs - is it appropriate to use those those organs - and what this is talking about is being able to use those organs where a person's heart and circulation have stopped," he said.

Organ donation guidelines to be changed

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[BykrBayb]

Thanks for the ping wagglebee.

Pacific, I don't know of anyone who has a list. I've considered keeping a list, because I come across so many instances of brain damaged people being denied medical care. I'm not aware of any pending legal cases quite like the one that cost Terri her life, but there are pending cases with some similarities.

Scott Thomas.

He suffered severe head trauma under suspicious circumstances. He and his wife Liza were alone at home at the time. Liza claimed Scott tripped over the dog and hit his head. Medical reports indicate his injuries were too severe to be explained away so easily. Scott's mother Pamela says he has communicated to her that Liza caused his injuries.

Pamela discovered through various channels that Liza planned to have Scott starved and dehydrated. (Among other things, Liza had declared this intent in court papers.)

Pamela filed for temporary custody of Scott, and won. Scott is improving a little at a time. Liza continues to fight for custody, though it looks like she will lose in the end. Scott has unsupervised visitation with his and Liza's son Logan. Pamela has filed for divorce on Scott's behalf.

Scott has so far been spared from starvation and dehydration. It appears he will be spared permanently, but strange things sometimes happen in court.

Haleigh Poutre.

She was beaten into a coma by her adopted mother (biological aunt) and step-father. Massachusetts DSS took custody of her, and petitioned the court to have all “life support” removed, including food and water. Haleigh had emerged from the coma, and was showing signs of improvement, but DSS concealed this from the court.

The petition was granted, and her step-father (who would stand trial for murder if she died) went to the press. Haleigh’s biological mother at first agreed with the decision to remove life support. Until she actually saw Haleigh.

The resulting press caused DSS to announce that they would wait a year before again pursuing the removal of “life support.” That year was up in January.

In the interim, Haleigh has continued to improve. Her biological mother and grandmother had visitation for a while, but DSS revoked it with no notice or explanation. Haleigh’s family was under a gag order not to reveal Haleigh’s progress, and they violated the order. Good thing too, because DSS was continuing to pretend that Haleigh was comatose, so they could remove her feeding tube. They almost got away with it. They still might. The court order to remove the feeding tube is still in effect.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney put together an independent committee to investigate DSS’s handling of Haleigh Poutre’s case. Executive Order No. 471. As far as I can tell, nothing has been done with the report that was turned in. Deval Patrick has since taken over as governor, and has followed in Romney’s footsteps by also doing nothing. He danced a little sidestep in his first “Ask the Governor” radio call in program.

Florence Thompson.

I just read about her for the first time a couple days ago. She suffered brain injury in an auto accident, and remained in a PVS for eleven years. She was removed from “life support” March 29, 2006, and died on April 6. Nobody survives eight days without breathing. Common sense tells us the “life support” she was removed from was food and water.

The driver who caused the accident was allegedly racing another driver, and going 80 mph. He was found guilty at the time. I forget what the charge was, but since there were no deaths, it was a relatively minor charge.

He is now being charged in her death. His attorney is arguing that she died as a result of the removal of "life support," not as a result of the accident. While this is obviously true, others have tried that argument, only to be laughed at by the courts.

Mae Magouirk

She was recovering from heart surgery, when her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy had her feeding tube removed. Beth had power of attorney for her finances, but not medical care. She fooled the hospital, and the judge, long enough to have Mae’s feeding tube disconnected for about two weeks. Miraculously, Mae survived. Her nephew had discovered what was happening, and went to the press. The public outcry was swift, and effective.

Sun Hudson

He was born with thanatophoric dysplasia, a sometimes fatal form of congenital dwarfism. Texas’ futile care law allows doctors to discontinue treatment if it is deemed futile. In this case, the patient was deemed futile, and removed from life support, which was not futile.

Andrea Clark

Another Texas hospital declaring a patient futile. Andrea required kidney dialysis and a respirator. Nobody ever claimed these treatments were futile, but Andrea had other ailments, and little chance of survival. The insurance bills were mounting. The hospital declared her futile, and announced they were going to discontinue her dialysis and respirator. Another doctor at the hospital took over Andrea’s care, and the hospital declared she would not be denied care as long as he was her doctor. Andrea died not long after.

Andrea’s sister started a website to protect others from Texas’ futile care law.

Most of the cases I read about involve patients with recent brain injuries, who are still dependent on breathing assistance. Typically, if they are given this assistance, they usually begin breathing on their own again in couple weeks.

Once they're breathing on their own, it can be very difficult to get them to die. The laws in every state allow for the starvation and dehydration of individuals with brain damage or a terminal condition. (See Post 1,689.) The level of brain damage required varies by state, but usually Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) is the threshold. The definition of PVS varies by state also. Although it is practiced in every state, the legal procedure can get pretty complicated.

Pennsylvania has a new law that allows for the starvation/dehydration deaths of a larger group of individuals. Incompetence is the threshold they use. Awareness is no longer an issue. The new law streamlines the process of killing these patients. It allows the doctor to appoint a health care decision maker, based on certain criteria. See Post #1,871.

Removal of breathing assistance is fairly routine, and the regulations aren't nearly as strict. Once it's determined that a patient is brain damaged, or likely to be brain damaged, all that's usually required is for the next of kin to request removal of breathing assistance, and it's done. You would not be allowed to do this to a patient recovering from heart surgery, but breathing assistance (which is routinely provided to a wide assortment of individuals) is considered extraordinary when provided to brain damaged individuals, and is routinely denied them.

I’m not aware of any such cases making it to a court of law, or the court of public opinion before the patient is dead. But there are stories about them every day in the news. It would be an enormous task to keep a list of all of them.

Suspect in I-15 shooting chase won't fight extradition (Posted 4 hours ago)

SHOOTING: A boy died after he was hit in the incident tied to a botched handoff of immigrants.

Gabriel, shot in the head, died three days later after he was removed from life support at Riverside Community Hospital

Valentine couple wed on New York tower (posted 1 hour ago)

A firefighter will be making his wedding vows on the top of the Empire State Building today to be closer to his son killed in a road crash.

He suffered a fractured skull and was in a coma for three days before his family finally decided to switch off the life support machine.

Finally, after three whole days! Give that Daddy a prize!

Meanwhile, the bioethics community pushes its agenda vigorously.

End of life care lecture examines patients right to die

Dr. Timothy E. Quill tackled matters of concern regarding end-of-life care on Tuesday night in a lecture in the Dedman Life Sciences building.

Quill is board-certified in internal medicine and received his M.D. from the University of Rochester.

His passion in the medical field manifests itself in palliative care - improving the quality of life of seriously ill patients by relieving pain rather than attempting to cure the disease. Palliative care is now widely recognized as a subspecialty of medicine.

Excuse me. No. what he practices is not palliative care. It’s euthanasia.

"It really all comes down to what kind of care we want to provide to the people we really care about," Quill said.

Quill highlighted various medical and legal cases in the right-to-die movement, including Elizabeth Bouvia and the more familiar Terri Schiavo.

Through this progression, Quill explained, stopping life support has become permissible in most areas if there is clear and convincing evidence of the patient's wishes.

Patients such as Bouvia, who is still alive today even after the removal of her feeding tube, have caused a great deal of interest and support in palliative care.

However, a historical timeline of right-to-die cases was not the only focus of Quill's lecture. He himself has been directly involved in a controversial case of physician-assisted suicide. While treating a terminally ill patient, Quill was convinced by the patient that if living without treatment became too unbearable, he would provide her with medication to painlessly end her life.

When the patient reached this juncture, Quill carried out his promise, providing enough medication to induce death. Quill decided to come forth with his experience in the form of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

What followed was an inevitable public outcry and a prosecution which ultimately found itself in the hands of a three-doctor panel.

The doctors decided to allow Quill to continue practcing medicine. Quill's ordeal opened the doors to a great deal of debate over the ethics of physician-assisted suicides.

And was another step along the slippery slope to opening the doors to a wider acceptance of euthanasia.

It also allowed advancement in palliative and hospice care.

Wrong again. Killing patients is not an advancement in palliative care.

"Nine times out of 10, we can find a solution which is not assisted suicide," said Quill. Quill illustrated various alternatives to physician-assisted suicide such as terminal sedation, or an unconscious state for intractable symptoms.

Those are not alternatives to euthanasia. They are types of euthanasia.

Throughout the night, Quill continued to drive home a message to do what the patient truly wants, and knowing what a family's loved ones would want in an end-of-life situation.

"When you sit down and listen to people, they have a lot to say about their feelings," said Quill.

To answer your original question, yes. We all have partial lists in our heads. But no, nobody has a comprehensive list. The Internet isn’t large enough to hold all the names and brief descriptions.

[wagglebee]

If this is allowed to continue, it won't be very long until Western society begins to adopt methods similar to what the Chicoms are doing. Patrols will go to jails, mental hospitals and skid rows and find "worthless eaters" with viable organs to harvest.

[8mmMauser]

To answer your original question, yes. We all have partial lists in our heads. But no, nobody has a comprehensive list. The Internet isn’t large enough to hold all the names and brief descriptions.

What we do have is in these Terri Daily threads, a unique and massive repository of all news stories and items tangential to the legacy which is Terri.

We are asked frequently enough why we keep plugging away, since it is now two years since that event. We keep going because the forces that created the event are still with us without relent. Each day new topics appear as they did this morning and each day we chronicle them lest the items fall through the cracks of selective history.

We can no more expect those forces to relent than we can expect far left, liberal, communist, jihadist, bioethicists and other evil enemies of decent humanity to relent.,p.8mm

[8mmMauser]

Each increment brings us closer to the scenario of Hitler's day, which recently horrified the world, now hardly raises eyebrows, in analogy of the frog in the warming pot.

[T'wit]

"Harry" should be removed from life support at once, keeping in mind that for bureaucrats, "life support" is defined as tax-paid salaries. Bureaucrats are unfit for productive human labor, not even burger flipping, so shooing them away from the public trough is tantamount to starvation.

We wouldn't dare cut up a bureaucrat for organs. They are known to be poisonous.

[Dante3]

The shakeup should have occurred long ago.

[T'wit]

>> Each increment brings us closer to the scenario of Hitler's day

We've had some excrements stop by here to help it along.

[T'wit]

An extraordinary report, BB! If the news business hadn't sunk to a combination of prostitution, Pharaoh worship, terrorism and howling at the moon, I would have said you could have a fine career as a reporter. No hope there but we can certainly appreciate your talents here!

[T'wit]

Mean kid, this one. He's so typical of intellectual flunkies, reaching for the IRS to punish adversaries he can't deal with in a debate.

[T'wit]

>> End of life care lecture examines patients right to die

Another amateur. Ted Bundy is still my favorite practitioner of end-of-life philosophy.

[T'wit]

>> The Media Continues To Get It Wrong on Terri Schiavo

When the media gets one right, THAT is news. They came pretty close once, declaring Dewey to be the victor over Truman in the 1948 presidential election.

[T'wit]

>> Patrols will go to jails, mental hospitals and skid rows and find "worthless eaters" with viable organs to harvest.

Jails and skid rows are full of disease. The Chicoms are more effective than that. They specialize in harvesting healthy opponents of their regime, which gives them a billion or more possible donors.

[wagglebee]

You're probably right.