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Posted on 04/30/2017 7:02:32 PM PDT by Coleus
PORTLAND, Ore. (ChurchMilitant.com) - A bill in Oregon's senate is crafted to allow mentally ill patients to be starved to death.
Oregon law mandates that healthcare providers give food and water to all conscious patients, who can receive it naturally such as by spoon feeding. SB 494, which is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee, would remove this mandate for patients suffering from dementia and other mental illnesses.
Gayle Atterberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, remarked, "Nursing homes and other organizations dedicated to protecting vulnerable patients work hard to make sure patients receive the food and water they need. Senate Bill 494, pushed hard by the insurance lobby, would take patient care a step backwards and decimate patient rights."
A recent case leading up to this legislation highlights the potential danger of the measure once passed. Bill Harris is a resident of Oregon and legal guardian of his wife Nora Harris. Nora suffers from Alzheimer's Disease and must be fed with a spoon. Bill Harris petitioned the court to issue an order directing the nursing home that's caring for his wife to stop feeding her altogether.
Oregon law, however, requires that conscious patients be given food and water if it can be administered naturally to the patient and consumed by ordinary eating and drinking. Because of this law, the court refused to honor the request by Bill Harris.
SB 494 would remove this safeguard and allow for the starvation and dehydration of such patients at the request of a legal guardian or by third parties if guardianship was lacking. The law would also appoint a committee of unelected officials and give them the power to make future changes to advanced medical directives without oversight or approval by the Oregon Legislature. Many fear this provision would result in a rapid erosion of patients' rights under the strong lobby of insurance companies.
Oregon already allows IVs and feeding tubes to be withdrawn from otherwise viable patients at the request of guardians and third parties. This causes horrible death by dehydration over a matter of days. SB 494 would extend that gruesome prerogative to include cases of "spoon feeding" of conscious patients, who are mentally incompetent.
Terri Schiavo made headlines when her feeding tube was removed at the request of her husband. This caused Schiavo to die a slow and agonizing death over the course of 13 days. Her brother, Bobby Schindler gave this account of her last days:
My sister's lips were horribly cracked to the point they were blistering. Her skin became jaundiced with areas that turned different shades of blue. Terri's breathing became rapid and uncontrollable. Her moaning, at times, was raucous, which indicated to us the insufferable pain she was experiencing. Terri's face became skeletal, with blood pooling in her deeply sunken eyes and her teeth protruding forward. What will be forever seared in my memory is the look of utter horror on my sister's face when my family visited her just after she died.
Oregon Right to Life is providing this link for Oregon residents to contact their state senator and ask them to stop SB 494 from becoming law. Catholics are asked to contact the archdiocese of Portland and encourage Abp. Alexander Sample to continue fighting against this bill.
Dementia is a subjective condition in Oregon.
WTF is wrong with Oregon?!
ping
It’s euphoric!
Say state ass-embly members who have never missed a meal...
Looks like the Nazi Judges who were on Trial were railroaded. If only they lived in Oregon.
Is Oregon going to starve death row inmates?
Had anyone ever suggested that my mother, who had Alzheimer’s, ought to starved or otherwise euthanized I would have put them out of their own misery on the spot.
This is so wrong.
However
It is going on today all over the country.
Looking for a Ruling that being a Conservative in Oregon means you must have Dementia.
No Soup for you!
It happens every day here - except the family is never asked. It happens.
The article states that this guy Bill, as legal guardian of his WIFE, is asking them to order the Nursing home not to feed his wife just because she has Alzeimer’s and must be fed with a spoon........
Sounds like he wants her out of the way....that’s just ridiculous in every way and shocking they would even consider this!
Insurance companies just suck!
I’m a hospice nurse, and i don’t agree with this at all.
However, keep this in mind: End stage dementia patients usually have severe problems swallowing, often leading to pneumonia, which is a horrific way to die.
Also, end stage dementia patients have no since of hunger, or satiety. So, they will often either refuse to eat, or will eat whatever is put into their mouths, often leading to pneumonia, which is a horrific way to die.
Just trying to say that there are many facets to this discussion.
My Aunt had Alzhiemer’s.....I agree with you 100%
The fact it’s the husband asking for this is very disturbing! He should rather be asking for help for himself to bare her days with him.
That’s one reason I took care of her and allowed her to live her life out in her own home. Thankfully she never developed any other medical conditions that would have forced me to put her in a nursing home.
EVIL
If you would like more information about what's happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me.
Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
He’s not even the one taking care of her. Sorry, but he doesn’t love her.
Portland
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