The Schiavo issue

[Claire]

Ugh.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/...ush/index.html

For "fun," some of you should head over to Fox News and read Hannity and Colmes transcripts from the last few days. Pat Robertson is weighing in on the Schiavo case tonight.

[alphabassettgrrl]

My turn.
Somebody posted assisted suicide should be legal- I agree. There is an element of danger to this, as we might pressure Grandma to take that option and preserve the cash for her heirs, but on the whole, I do think there is a (small) place for it.

Starvation is inhumane- if you're going to kill her, do it quickly. Ok, I'll agree there, though if you listen to the doctors, she doesn't have the brain capacity to suffer, so the only suffering is going on in the people around her. Is it a "peaceful" death? I can't say. In an aware person, probably not. The problem lies that she retains enough brain-stem function to continue breathing. If she didn't, this would be less of an issue, and she would have died the first time they cut off her life support.

Why might she want to die? I certainly would, in that state. Absolutely. Cut the tube, freeze me, smother me, inject me with a lethal dose of something. Whatever. I'd be horrified to be trapped there, awareness or no. Hope for a recovery is a great thing, but when that's gone? Send me along- I'll send you a postcard from wherever I wind up.

I most assuredly would want my husband to be the one making my decisions. I've talked with him about this stuff more than with my family. I can't imagine the bad blood in that family- your husband fighting your parents in court? How horrible.

Sad for everyone involved.

[tracilicious]

Aren't feeding tubes themselves painful? After my mom watched my grandfather die with one (actually of one, his advanced alzheimers led to the placement of the tube which gave him pneumonia) she made us swear that we would never allow that to be done to her.

I'm not sure of where I stand on the issue. It's too hard to know the real facts, but I just wondered about the pain issue.

[€uroMeinke]

Death is inhumane - few ways to die are elegant. Becasue in the end we are reduced to the imperfect flesh we are made from.

But Shaivo is oblivious to whatever happens - alive or dead. Starve her, shoot her, burn her, bludgeon her like a baby seal. This has nothing to with her will that has long since passed into nonexistence. Only when her body passes with there be any rest for anyone - living or dead.

[Nephythys]

Another Update

[Motorboat Cruiser]

This is getting ridiculous. If these people are successful, what are they going to say in another 20 years, when there has been no improvement. I doubt there will be any apologies for prolonging the miniscule semblence of a life this poor woman has. Keeping her this way for the next 20 years is not humane in any way. The courts have spoken over and over and over again. So have the experts. Her husband knows her wishes and wants to act upon them. He has every right to do that. I cannot believe people refuse to see the facts here. I feel so bad for this woman.

[Scrooge McSam]

Florida's DCF indicated it might remove the brain-injured woman, by force if necessary, from the hospice where she has lived the past five years.

Alright, who thought "Waco"?

You know you did

Fess up

What do you say at this point?

[MickeyLumbo]

it was one year ago, THIS MONTH, that i, and i alone, had to make life and death decisions based upon my Grandmother's personal wishes. She and i had frank discussions years ago when she was of sound mind and we had her wishes written in a Living Will and had Power of Attorney papers for me and an advanced directive and DNC orders.

when the time came, it was still a gruelling experience for me and i am reliving those horrible last days with the current events in the news. it is extremely depressing.


what i know is this:

it was harder on me than on my grandmother.

she was as comfortable as possible with morphine while her body shut down after the removal of food and water.

she is in a better place.

her wishes where followed.

and no goddamn mother fvkker in a suit looking for VOTES got in between a very personal situation between my grandmother, her doctor and me.

God, i need a drink!

[Nephythys]

MBC- with all due respect you don't know all the facts either- there are plenty of things that are being said about the husband, and even if some is not true, some is bound to be exactly that- true. You can't just assume that he is some saint- he has acted as anything but. I don't see how you can just assume he is sincerely acting out of concern to her or for her so-called wishes.

[€uroMeinke]

You know, lot's of people marry jerks - but should the legal presumption always be that the spouse might be a jerk and not really acting on the other spouses best behalf. With all the "unknowns" it seems you are left to fall back on the legal rules and procedures - and I'm not sure if they include a gaurdian jerk assessment. But this is well outside my realm of expertise.

I gave the DNR order for my father, and no one ever questioned my intentions. Still his death came long after he wanted it, after I foolishly talked him out of suicide. Such a wierd thing to regret.