Lauren Richardson Becomes Next Terri Schiavo as Parents Debate Euthanasia (Delaware)

LifeNews ^ | 2/1/2008 | Steven Ertelt

[Pyro7480]

A Delaware woman has become the next Terri Schiavo as her parents engage in a massive legal and philosophical debate about whether to subject her to euthanasia. Richardson is a 23-year-old woman who overdosed on heroin in August 2006 while she was three months pregnant with a baby girl.

Doctors kept Lauren on life support until she delivered her baby in February 2007. Shortly thereafter, her parents began a fight that is reminiscent of the battle over Terri's life and death.

As in the Terri Schiavo case, physicians have been quick to label Lauren as having a persistent vegetative state -- something Terri's family called dehumanizing and medically inaccurate as patients have recovered from it.

Edith Towers, Lauren's mother, wants to remove her feeding tube and starve and dehydrate her to death in the same manner that Michael Schiavo subjected Terri.

Towers claims Lauren would never have wanted to live as a permanently disabled person, but Lauren, as with Terri, did not have a living will or other advance directive spelling out her treatment wishes. She claims Lauren told her during Terri's battle that she would not want to live like her.

On the other side is Randy Richardson, Lauren's father is fighting to save her life and wants to be appointed as her guardian to ensure she receives appropriate medical care and treatment.

"She's committed no crime and doesn't deserve to have this death imposed on her," Richardson told the News Journal newspaper on Wednesday. "We just want to give her a chance."

Lauren no longer uses a ventilator or other breathing apparatus and is not on artificial life support -- something Randy contends is showing progress.

Towers is winning the legal battle in court as she was awarded guardianship of Lauren, but Randy Richardson has filed an appeal.

The News Journal indicates Delaware Court of Chancery Master Sam Glasscock III has put any action taking Lauren's life on hold while the court reviews the guardianship ruling -- a process that could take as much as three months to complete.

Regardless of the decision, an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court is expected.

Randy Richardson also has other concerns about his daughter and says that Towers, his ex-wife, has not allowed Lauren's baby to see her.

Richardson and the Delaware Pro-Life Coalition released a video on Wednesday that shows Lauren at a nursing home reacting to family members and a dog.

The pro-life group also organized a prayer vigil near the Arbors Rehab Center in New Castle.

[8mmMauser]

Haleigh Poutre update..

Friends of Haleigh keep the spotlight focussed lest we forget, and now especially as all is coming into the open.

Life News put out this story on Haleigh Poutre.....

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

Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- Haleigh Poutre nearly became a victim of euthanasia when doctors gave up hope on her after she entered a coma and state officials, who had custody, petitioned a court to let them take her life. Poutre showed unmistakable signs of consciousness just prior to her possible euthanasia and now the young girl is talking more about what happened.

The Massachusetts Department of Social Services eventually took 14-year-old Poutre into custody after she was hurt in a case of child abuse.

When she appeared to slip into a coma, the agency asked the state Supreme Court for permission to take her life.

Doctors declared Haleigh "brain dead" and in a permanent vegetative state but that's when Poutre began responding.

She began to interact with people and now, according to the Republican newspaper, is talking more.

Information about Poutre's condition has been sparse over the last 18 months and the last details had her at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston getting rehabilitative care.

Poutre's biological mother, Allison Avrett, who also has abused Haleigh, wouldn't talk with the newspaper about her current condition.

At the time she was initially hospitalized, DSS had argued Poutre had "the least amount of brain function that a person can have and still be considered alive." State officials later said that a brain injury and stroke left "the child [with] no hope of any meaningful recovery."

Noted attorney and bioethics watchdog Wesley Smith says Poutre's is another case where a life and death decision is made based on a quality of life ethic.

"Accepting the 'quality of life ethic,' which is promoted so heavily among bioethicists, led to the Department of Social Services and the Supreme Court of Massachusetts to approve taking a little girl's food and water away," he said.

"No thanks to them, she lives, is in rehab, and apparently is talking," he added.

Meanwhile, investigators have learned more information from Poutre about her step-father, Jason D. Strickland, who has been charged with assaulting the girl. Poutre apparently has confirmed that Strickland abused her and is providing more details.

Massachusetts Girl Haleigh Poutre, Near Victim of Euthanasia, Talking More

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Figures...Thread by wagglebee.

Boise, ID (LifeNews.com) -- After news surfaced earlier this week that Planned Parenthood of Idaho had accepted a donation from someone pretending to want it to go towards abortions on black babies, the abortion business initially apologized. Now, its main spokeswoman is criticizing the pro-life students that organized the investigation.

As LifeNews.com initially reported, pro-life students at UCLA organized a probe to find out if Planned Parenthood offices in seven states would accept racist donations............

Planned Parenthood of Idaho Backtracks on Apology for Racist Abortion Donation

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Some progress is coming... Thread by wagglebee.

Seattle, WA (LifeNews.com) -- A biotech firm has announced it will offer ethical alternatives to some of the vaccines that currently rely on the use of fetal tissue form abortions. The Seattle-based AVM Biotechnology says it will produce ethical alternatives in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and vaccine development.

The news gives hope to pro-life people who have been reluctant to use some vaccines because their development came as a result of the destruction of unborn children......

Biotech Firm to Provide Alternatives to Vaccines Using Tissue From Abortions

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Why we persevere...

Thanks, BB, for this story.

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

IT was a fight even his parents feared was beyond him, but Connor Blythe has finally returned home.

The 11-year-old left the Royal Children's Hospital yesterday to move back home to Beaufort -- 14 months after pushing his sister Erin, 6, out of the way of a car and taking its full impact.

The December 20, 2006, crash all but killed Connor, leaving him with head injuries and limited communication.

Since, Connor has defied medical expectations, learning to smile, giggle and make noises to answer questions.

Since Christmas he has learned to sign "thank you", is close to saying "hello" and several other words, and is using a communication book to pass on messages he cannot yet say.

But his biggest smiles yet were reserved for a surprise goodbye party yesterday.

"He is just a courageous little kid who is thrilled to be going home," said Connor's father, Ray Blythe.

"I never thought he'd get this far . . . to see him leave today is an amazing thing.

"They wrote him off to the point of suggesting his life support was turned off but we said all along we wouldn't do it, and we had to give him a chance.

"Clearly he has a long way to get yet, but I think he'll take that next leap now that he has his friends, family and animals around him."

An eight-day home visit over Christmas paved the way for Connor to return permanently.

He will live at his grandmother's house while his family's old home is demolished and a new disability-friendly home built with the support of the Transport Accident Commission.

Connor's mother, Erolyn, said his return home was also reminder of how much things had changed since he left.

"It is a realisation that while this is a fantastic step, things are not going to be the same," she said.

"But there is no reason it can't be different, but just as good."

It is also a bittersweet time for Mr Blythe. The divorced parents have spent every day by Connor's side for the past 14 months, but now he will have to drive from Melbourne to the outskirts of Ballarat to see his son several times a week.

"He keeps proving everyone wrong and I hope in a year's time he is hitting more milestones," Mr Blythe said. "After all, he's only 11 and has his whole life ahead of him, who's to say what he can and can't do?"

Brave Connor makes a home run

8mm

"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."

[8mmMauser]

[floriduh voter]

Terri always interacted with people. When they came to pull the feeding tube out, SHE SCREAMED because she'd already been tortured this way before and Terri knew it may mean she'll be killed. It did and she was.

Terri was alert and aware and SHE WAS MURDERED.

www.judgegeorgegreer.com

[floriduh voter]

Re: DOROTHY PANICHIK, 42 died after short stint at The Pinellas County Jail over a sandwich, a petty theft. She had bail money but wanted to do time to pay bk society. Now she's dead. An autopsy has been performed (can we even trust the ME?)

DOROTHY'S Family HAS AN ATTORNEY. Her family has a strong case. HE IS MARK BUELL, ESQUIRE.

If he's smart, he won't let any stone go unturned. His obstacles are State Atty Bernie McCabe, friend of George Greer, felosers and Mikey.

If there is yet another REPUBLICAN COVERUP like with Terri, it could impact the November elections.

[floriduh voter]

Your post 559. MIKEY WITHOUT OVERSIGHT, CUT OFF TERRI'S REHABILITATION bk in 1992 or 1993. Death cult judges failed in their oversight to kick Mikey out as the guardian.

Even without rehab, Terri was by all accounts (except the propagandists for the left) content and had a sense of humor and bad days too like everyone may have.

TERRI'S REHAB MONEY WAS WHISKED AWAY TO Debra Bushnell, at law and GEORGE FELOS, at law. Whatever hidden policies Mikey had are unknown but remember Jodi his linebacker bride is an insurance underwriter.

What a set up.

Now, there's a dead woman from Mikey's portion of the jail he works at courtesy of Sheriff Everett Rice who QUIT being Sheriff to BECOME UNOPPOSED to the Fla Legislature where HE VOTED TO END TERRI'S LIFE in 2005 shortly after HE HIRED MIKEY.

This is more wicked than Harry Potter cuz Harry Potter is fiction.

[floriduh voter]

Did you see Lauren on Hannity & Colmes? She's not a mess now. Her father wants to take care of her. Talking about money diminishes humanity. If President Bush can go to Africa and hand foreigners gobs of money to improve his image, Lauren's an American and for some reason, this administration has not been very compassionate with disabled Americans.

Did you want well off Christopher Reeve to die after a riding accident? That guy "was a mess" as you put it re: Lauren. It's good that he didn't die. He started the Christopher Reeve Foundation for Paralysis.

Lauren wasn't superman but she has an inalienable right to life.

Mom can keep the baby which seems to be okay w/dad.

Foreign aid doesn't help Americans - it only helps politicians. FV

[floriduh voter]

"Love one another." Jesus Christ

[Jean S]

floriduh voter made a comment. I replied, and we had a discussion about it.

I will continue to post when I want and on whatever thread I want to as I have for nearly 10 years.

I am and have always been pro-life but I think I have the right to question floriduh voter's accusation about the governor of Florida being GAY because he wore a GAY sweater.

Regards,
Jean S

[8mmMauser]

Well, good for you but that isn't exactly what I was talking about. I hope you aren't huffy at me. Oh well. I hope you noted my last line, that's all.

May we always strive to keep our internal disputes mild and transient if we just gotta have 'em.

"Can't we all just get along?" Rodney K.

8mm

[Jean S]

Of course I’m not “huffy” at you. You’re too darn nice.
Thanks for your post, things got a bit heated.

[8mmMauser]

:-)

[8mmMauser]

Haleigh Poutre update...

Wouldn't it be great if all the euthanasia attempts we counter turned out so well as Haleigh's?

The Republican reports.

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

More than two years ago, the state's highest court ruled that doctors could remove the feeding tubes of Haleigh Poutre - so convinced was the court that the condition of the 11-year-old child abuse victim was virtually hopeless.

Before the decision to end life support was implemented, Haleigh began to breathe on her own. The Westfield girl was transferred to a children's rehabilitation hospital in the eastern part of the state where she still resides.

In a dramatic turn of events, Haleigh, now 14, is able to communicate and may be able to testify against her stepfather, Jason D. Strickland, who is charged with assaulting the girl, according to recent court documents. 

Haleigh's apparent ability to communicate coincides with Statehouse efforts toward adopting a bill that would create an "office of the child advocate" in the governor's office that would be responsible for monitoring and reviewing services for children in the custody of the state. The bill would also impose other systemic changes aimed at preventing child abuse.

The Senate voted 36-0 on Tuesday to approve the bill, which was crafted in response to Haleigh's plight. Starting in 2001, the state Department of Social Services received more than 20 complaints of abuse and neglect of the girl.

How could the DSS, which had been supervising Haleigh's adoptive mother, have failed Haleigh so terribly? That is the haunting - and central - question lawmakers have been asking as they craft a bill that will reform the state's child welfare system.

"There are still gaps in the system," Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said after the vote. "This bill goes a long way toward closing those gaps."

We expect there will be some changes in the legislation after a House-Senate committee develops a compromise bill. We applaud lawmakers for their work so far and urge them to continue with judicious speed so that no child will ever have to suffer as Haleigh Poutre has suffered.

Haleigh Poutre case impetus for change

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Because it is the Boston Globe, I can only excerpt, but check out the link for the whole story.

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

Haleigh Poutre, the center of one of the nation's most passionate end-of-life cases, has been at an acute rehabilitation hospital in Brighton 12 times longer than the typical patient, prompting some child advocates to question whether the state is allowing political and legal factors to delay placing her in a permanent home.

~Snip~

Flatley said DSS cannot be entirely trusted to act in Haleigh's best interests, given its lengthy history of missing overt signs of the girl's repeated abuse in her Westfield home and then its aggressive effort to withdraw life support when she clearly, in hindsight, still had life in her. She said "it's allowing the fox to guard the henhouse."...................

Some child advocates question Poutre's lengthy hospital stay... DSS is delaying hunt for home, critics say

8mm

[8mmMauser]

A novel approach...

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

An Interview with the author of Walk Me to Midnight Walk Me to Midnight by Jane St. Clair is a new pro-life novel from Capstone Fiction. It is a chilling medical thriller guaranteed to keep you up reading all nightlong until you reach the horrifying conclusion. Available here and from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Q. How did you come to write Walk Me to Midnight?

First, I was with my mother, sister and father during their long deaths by cancer. I was with them when they died. They were very vulnerable, but the hospice nurses knew what to do and how to help us. That's why I dedicated Walk Me to Midnight to hospice nurses.

~Snip~

An old saying in law is that bad cases make bad law. When a situation is too complex, there is no way to write a good law that covers every situation. There are too many variables. Assisted suicide is like that. Do you treat a 21-year-old the same as a 95-year-old? How do you determine competence in someone all drugged up? How do you determine Terri Schiavo's desires when she left no written instructions?

Also, the Netherlands experience teaches us that even if you have two doctors to supervise each patient's "suicide," there is plenty of room for corruption. Insurance companies and often the person's relatives have personal stakes in having that person die quickly. It saves them money, allows them to inherit quicker, or allows them relief from the burden of the person's care. Often these are unconscious motives. Studies have shown that when there are assisted suicide laws, dying people feel obligated to end their lives prematurely. When given a choice, most people want to live as long as possible.

Q.Why do you think so many Americans believe in assisted suicide?

First, they are thinking only in terms of themselves and not in terms of society. They look at someone like Terri Schiavo and say, "I don't want to end up like her. I want control." You have to look beyond your fear and your desire to control your death to the implications of such laws for society.

Secondly, they want the sanction of society and doctors to do something that is traditionally a moral wrong. They want approval for committing suicide. If you don't think it's wrong and you want it for yourself, why do you have to involve society in your decision? Why indeed?

An Interview with the Author of Walk Me to Midnight

8mm

[8mmMauser]

I am fascinated about liberals who really think they are brilliant, and don't even see themselves when they make high sounding remarks we know to be drastically dumb. Case in point:

............Embryonic stem cell research is a most promising way to find cures for many diseases. It has nothing to do with the issue of abortion or preservation of human life. Other methods like using adult stem cells or deriving synthetic embryos from skin cells are less promising and still require comparative results that can be found only through research with real embryonic stem cells.

The Terri Schiavo case is another example of ideology trumping reality. It is understandable that her parents would be in denial about her condition, but it is absolutely unconscionable that politicians would seize upon the human tragedy for political gain. "Persistent vegetative state" cannot be denied for political reasons.

Science is reality, ideology is a construct. Let's not confuse the two.........

Political leaders must acknowledge science

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Politics from Dummies...

A book review, and a glimpse into the fevered mind of the left...

In the carnival house of mirrors, their vantage point, they must think they see us, but really see themselves as distorted reflections.

I think it was the Terry Schiavo case that really scared me. The Religious Inquisitors seemed to be clumping around the corner on hobnailed boots, bellies heavy with righteous belief, hellbent on entering our sickrooms on the way to our bedrooms while looking to trample any semblance of independent thought and action.

It's always wise to remember that America was settled by a group of religious cranks unwelcome anyplace else. You might say our frequent eruptions of rampant religiosity are bred in the bone. In one sense, it's odd that America has such a long history of anti-enlightenment; the country may have been settled by Puritans, but it was invented by card-carrying intellectuals - Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, and so forth...........

Politics for dummies

8mm

[8mmMauser]

The killers win one...Thread by wagglebee.

Chicago, IL. -- A federal judge refused to allow enforcement of an ill-fated state law requiring teenage girls to notify their parents before getting abortions, potentially ending any chance the decades-old measure will ever take effect.

Abortion rights groups on Saturday hailed the ruling on the legislation that was passed in 1984 and updated in 1995 but has never been enforced because of complex legal wrangling.........

Federal Court Hands Defeat to Advocates of Abortion Notification Law (Illinois)

8mm