Terri Schiavo

[WillyBWright]

This is the Florida woman who suffered severe brain damage and has been kept alive for some years now. Her parents want to continue in hopes that some day her mind will return. Her husband wants to let her go. I provided a link for a recent story, but I'm sure you are well aware of her plight, at least you that are here in the US. Wuddya think?<br /><br /> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...50316/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman_money_1

 

[KaGee]

Re: Terri Schiavo

This is not a case of pulling life support because it's the only thing keeping her body alive. I believe that there is more to this case than simply the questions you raise.<br /><br />This is a slippery slope of no return. Do we want Judges deciding who lives and who dies? Who gets treatment and who does not. Do you want someone deciding for you what your "quality of life" is? I can go on and on.<br /><br />But, one last point... Do you know what happens to your body as you suffer starvation? Did you know that's how they plan on killing Terrie? What would the do-gooders do if we starved Scott Petersen (or any other death-row inmate) to death for his crimes? Does 'Cruel and unusual punishment" come to mind???<br /><br />

 

[NYMINUTE]

Re: Terri Schiavo

This is no way for any human to exist. This woman has nothing left except breaths. What possible gain is there for her?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Do you want someone deciding for you what your "quality of life" is?

Yes I Do .................<br /><br />If I were in the Same position as this girl, I Want Somebody to PULL THE PLUG,.. Shoot Me,.. Anything.. Just Get It Over ...........<br /><br />The way I see it,.....<br />The Doctors are getting Rich off this......<br />The Hospital is Raking in the Ca$h........<br />Mom, Dad,+ the Hubby are Going Broke paying for it.. OR,.. If the State is paying, It's Driving Up the health care Co$t$ of Everybody Else..............<br /><br />Personally,.... I Believe that Modern Medicine has just Gone Too Far, trying to keep Dead People Alive ............

 

[sangerwaker]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Well said Bondo. I agree 100%. I would not want to be kept alive under those circumstances.

 

[eeboater]

Re: Terri Schiavo

First off... FOLLOW AND READ THIS LINK<br /><br />

From the site above:<br /><br />Q:Is Terri in an unresponsive coma and hooked to life support machines?<br /><br />A: Absolutely not! Terri is purposefully interactive, alert, curious, lovely young woman who lives with a very serious disability. She lives free of any life support machines and receives nutrition through a tube that is connected only at meal times.

February 9, 2005. Sara Scantlin, who has been in a vegetative state since 1984 when a drunk driver ran into her, wakes up and places a phone call to surprise her parents.<br /><br /> Article on story above. <br /><br /><br />Terri has shown more responsiveness & activity in recent times than Sara showed in the past 20 years.<br /><br />Yet her greedy husband who says "it is her wish to die" because she made an off-handed comment one day. Her parents are more than happy to take over the responsibility and expense of keeping her alive, but he still refuses.<br /><br />He'd rather remove a feeding tube and have her starve to death... <br /><br />Her heart is beating... she can aknowledge people in the room... <br /><br />To starve to death:<br /><br />1. Body uses up all the free energy <br />2. Body begins to burn the fat to maintain energy.<br />3. When fat is gone, body begins to consume internal organs until you go into shock and die.<br /><br />I'll choose the "vegetative" state over that death. Especially if I am showing SOME signs of activity.<br /><br />Michael Schiavo is trying to use the courts to murder his wife.<br /><br />Now that you know the whole story? Do you still think she should starve to death?<br /><br />Sean

 

[NOSLEEP]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Well, if she is breathing unassisted then she is <br />most definitely alive. She is being fed through a<br />tube because she is not coherent enough to feed<br />herself.<br />If they wish to end her life they could at least<br />have the spine to kill her mercifully instead of<br />starving her to death.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Terri Schiavo

All I will say is that the wife's and my living will states, "No means of recessitation to be administered"<br /><br />We made a pledge to each other not to have one another in a state like this girl is.<br /><br />I don't think she knows who's in the room, I think she is noticing noises.<br /><br />What kinda life is this? Not one that I would or anyone else would if they would really stop to think about it.<br /><br />Yea, I'm sure the parents are thinking for the best for their daughter, but come on people, would you really want to see your loved one that way? Not me, sorry. I do not believe in suffering if it can be helped and this one can.<br />Just MHO.

 

[eeboater]

Re: Terri Schiavo

I understand that, honestly, I wouldn't want a life like that either. But, do you think they should simply pull her nutrients and let her starve to death?<br /><br />Sean

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Terri Schiavo

If anything let her organs be donated to someone that can have a quality life thanks to her. In a way she can live on with a better life. That is what I would want if it was me.<br /><br />Keep in mind lots of seniors are being kept alive the same way for different a reason. $$$$$$$$

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Yes by all means, be an organ donor.<br />I just don't know if anyone would want mine. <br /><br />Sorry, not trying to hi-jack.<br /><br />Serious though, I/we are organ donors, you never know who might need it.<br /><br />Either way, it's a sad shape this woman is in and once her heart stopped they should have let her go right then, specially if it had been stopped for any amount of time. Once it stops, you loose the 02 it(body) needs to function right and damage is almost always done.<br /><br />Again, JMHO.

 

[Dave Abrahamson]

Re: Terri Schiavo

They give a shot to dogs and cats to end suffering. They give a shot(s) to condemned criminals to make it easy on them. But when we are to end the suffering of a human, the best method they come up with is starvation? I don't think her husband is in it for monetary reasons. He was offered a 10 milloin dollar check from a south FL laywer and another 1 million dollar check recently from another laywer to turn her over to her parents so they could carry the burden of taking care of Teri. Turned them both down. In the back of my mind I always wondered, "is he wanting her dead for a reason? Is he afraid she may talk someday?"<br />I say let her parents take responsibility for her, it's what they have been fighting for for years.<br /><br />Just my humble opinion (which means nothing)<br /><br />Dave

 

[KaGee]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Originally posted by SBN:<br /> All I will say is that the wife's and my living will states, "No means of recussitation to be administered"<br /><br />We made a pledge to each other not to have one another in a state like this girl is.<br />

That's the problem with this case. There was no living will. And no one, except for her lame excuse of a husband, claims to have heard her make such a desire. <br /><br />SBN... Make sure your family... not just your wife, know and understand what you desire. You should each have a Medical Power of Attorney as well.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Terri Schiavo

I am very surprised at the respose to this.. I am all for letting her die. The problem is her body does not want to die. Starvation is never something we should inflict. Go ahead take the breathing and heart machines away. <br /><br />Who are we to determine what quality of life is acceptable. Under that thinking we should abort mentally handicapped children. This is a very slippery slope into a dark abyss.<br /><br />There are other consuderations in this case. There is evidence that the husband was responsible for her condition and woul like to dispose of the evidence. He wants her cremated immediately after death with no autopsy.<br /><br />I don't see why he can't transfer custody to the parents. I really think he is covering his tracks..

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Terri Schiavo

I voted to let her go. My Grandmother slowly lost her ability to function and communicate over a number of years to the point where she just wasn't there anymore. She had a strong heart and a few of her siblings lived past 100. She developed gangrene in one leg. My mother and aunt were faced with the difficult decision to have the leg removed or let her go. The doctor explained that they would probably have to remove limb after limb as she aged simply because her heart refused to give up. It broke our hearts to see her in the state she was in to begin with, and keeping her alive seemed cruel. So they decided to let the disease take it's course and she passed a few weeks after the onset at the age of 93. Her age makes this a different situation and I understand that.<br /><br />As a productive father devoted to raising his kids in the best way possible, I would want to be let go if it were me. There's no way I'd want to be a burden of that magnitude. But then I think of my precious daughter. I'd do anything to keep her around if something like that happened to her if I had any inkling of hope, realistic or not. The tie breaker is Grandma.

 

[KaGee]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Originally posted by rogerwa:<br /> Who are we to determine what quality of life is acceptable. Under that thinking we should abort mentally handicapped children. This is a very slippery slope into a dark abyss.<br />

That's what I'm sayin.<br /><br />Not to mention, start emptying the old folk's homes... hey what kinda life is that?

 

[SoulWinner]

Re: Terri Schiavo

So, all those kids who are born with severe mental problems, the ones you see in the mall in the wheel chairs around Christmas time....the ones drooling down their chest and not aware of where they are or what is going on around them. These kids should be starved to death. Sure it would ultimately unburden their families and society of the emotional and financial trouble of keeping them around. And these elderly folks wasting away in nursing homes, they have contributed all they ever will to society and now that they are no longer able to produce, they definitely are candidates for starvation. Mercy starvation that is. <br /><br />Obviously these arcane notions of the inalienable right such trivialities such as "LIFE", "LIBERTY" and the.....get this...."PUSUITE OF HAPPINESS" are outdated concepts that should be cast off our enlightened society along with outmoded moralistic ideals such as frowning birth out wedlock, gay marriage, trust in GOD, the Bill Of Rights and the Constitution. Why on Earth shouldn't we as "well intentioned" Aquarians meet out starvation to to any inconvenience we face in our fellow man? Why have abortions when starving the mother and fetus together would prevent future unwanted pregnancies from that sperm recipient permanently! With any luck future generations would apply this legal precedent to politicians that don't pass legislation that their constituents demand! (Hey there IS a bright side to this argument!!)<br /><br />One real interesting question is where is the ACLU on this???? We can't use starvation as a means to execute death row inmates. What about the ASPCA? They lock up pet owners who starve those pesky little pets when they become a pain in the butt. The fact is that if you starve you're retarded child to death, you got to prison for murder. Why then are Judges who have sworn to uphold the Constitution, ruling that Terry no longer has her guaranteed right to life; a RIGHT afforded all Americans in the Bill of Rights? If her husband is allowed to starve her to death, where does it end? This is a clear extension of the right of a mother to destroy her unborn, healthy child. What is next? Starve your cheating spouse rather than divorce her and lose half your stuff? We are better than this. As Americans we are supposed to place a higher value on the sanctity of life than this. If Terry is starved to death, then we may as well hoist the French flag above the White House.

 

[eeboater]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Yes...Thank you SW...

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Everyone is missing the point here.<br />What if, and I use that word with caution, she did tell her husband that she did not want to live that way? Would it not then be his right as her husband to see to it that her wishes were carried out?<br /><br />It's a big question when the time comes and I hope none of you have to make that move, but let me tell you from my stand point, it is not something you want to have to do.<br /><br />Me and my brother along with mom had to when dad was dying. It was one of the most, if not the most, heart wrenching decisions I had to make.<br />It was for each of us cause if one of us had said no, then the other 2 would have went along with him/her.<br /><br />Different story, but same thing, what did the woman want? Did she tell her husband she did not want to be kept alive?<br /><br />Are the parents just doing this because she is their daughter or out of the hatred of the husband?<br /><br />Lots of unanswered questions.<br /><br />Ok, I will get off my soapbox now.<br /><br />P.S. KaGee, not only does my girls know of this, but also my lawyers office have a copy of these also. They will take care of it, if and when the time comes. I learned the hard way to get this stuff in order ahead of time and then there is no question about what you do and do not want to happen.

 

[eeboater]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Your right SBN, What If... But what if NOT? The difference is you can't un-do death.<br /><br />Sean