RIP Terri Schiavo

[GalvestonDuck]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/980564.asp?0cv=CB10

[JetMaxx]

What that court and husband are committing is premiditated murder by starvation.....just as cold and calloused as locking her in a closet with no food or water until she dies

[Amanzi]

I agree Perry. I heard her sister on the radio saying Terri was aware of her surroundings....

My heartfelt prayers go out to that entire family

[TexasStooge]

What that court and husband are committing is premiditated murder by starvation.....just as cold and calloused as locking her in a closet with no food or water until she dies

I agree too.

[stormchazer]

Come on Jeb... step in and stop this madness!!

[Amanzi]

Yep Jara,

Just heard on the radio news, Jeb was talking to the leagal eagles, but the tube was scheduled to come out. They said she would take 2 weeks to die... That is just so cruel!!!! She is not even on a ventelator or anything, she is breathing on her own.

[GalvestonDuck]

I'm against euthanasia. Pro-life in all forms.

But, just a few arguments on the other side.

1) The husband says he's going along with his wife's wishes. Her brother testified that she casually mentioned not wanting to be kept in a state like she is in, after seeing a movie about a man left in a coma. Although there is no proof of this, if there was a similar case but with legitimate advanced directives signed by the patient, would you still be opposed?

2) Based on what I've read and heard, the only thing keeping her alive is her brainstem, which is keeping her lungs and heart alive. Doctors say there is no brain activity, she has no emotion, senses no pain, feels no hunger. Her eyes don't react to stimuli.

3) The parents are no longer considered next of kin, so legally, they don't have a say in what happens.

4) It's been 10 years and there is no quality of life. It's time to say goodbye.


Of course, I say, let her live. Does anyone remember the case of Karen Ann Quinlan?

[GalvestonDuck]

http://www.friendsofterri.org and http://www.terrisfight.org have audio and video clips which some can say disprove #2 above.

[bfez1]

If I remember correctly Karen Quinlan died on her own, didn't she???

[Stephanie]

I believe that Karen died after she was removed from some type of support, but I could be wrong.

If I were Terry, I know I would not want to be left in that vegetative state. Am I ever going to recover? NO!!

[Miss Mary]

Such a sad story! Doesn't seem right to just disconnect the feeding tube and wait for her to die. Here's another article, from abc.com's website:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20031015_1448.html

And an excerpt:
Michael Schiavo says his wife would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially in this way, but his in-laws contend that she wants to live. She left no living will or other written instructions.

I imagine if people haven't drawn up a living will yet, they'll seriously consider it now.

When my dad was terminally ill in an nursing home, with colon cancer and congestive heart failure, my brothers and I knew he didn't want to be resusitated if he coded. The cancer had gone to the brain and my dad didn't even recognize us anymore. We were devastated but somehow we all woke up when it was decided to sign a DNR order on his chart (a doctor asked us what we wanted done if he coded). I said I'd do it, but after leaving my daily visit with him and driving half-way home, I realized I forgot to sign it. I had a decision to make - do it the next day or drive back. I drove back. I just couldn't live with myself had something happened overnight. You should have seen the looks on those nurses faces as I signed it. I just stared them in the eye and said - my dad can't speak for himself and I know he would not want to be kept alive with machines. But in our case, my dad was on borrowed time - literally. This is a different case with Terri - you see her smiling and sitting up in these photos! My God, it just doesn't seem right at all. I'll be praying for her.

Mary

[vbhoutex]

I've been through what you have Mary, in a little different setting, but very close. My dad had signed his own DNR when he went into the hospital the last time and if fact had a living will also. The doctors and nurses were aware of it. He originally went in on the 19th of Dec. and I was called to come see him before he passed as he was not expected to live. I went and he improved enough for me to come home for my wife's birthday and Christmas. Every New Years we get together as a family for the New Year and my Sister-in-laws birthday. We got a call around 11 pm our time and it was my Mom who was passing on New Years wishes from her and Daddy who she dais was sitting up on the bed. AT 7am on the first I got the call that Dad had coded overnight and was not expected to live. Back to FL I went praying all the while he would live till I got to the hospital. Remember he had a DNR order. Because of that order and the fact that a nurse did revive him she was fired from her job. I'm sure she was an excellent nurse, but she went against the wishes of a dying man and his family. Do not get me wrong-in some ways I will be forever grateful to this nameless to me person and in others I was outraged. Because of her actions I was able to be with my father when he paseed, after my mother and I and the doctors conferred and decided to "pull the plug" on the morning of the third. He had obviously gone downhill overnight and was struggling. Dad was told by the doctors what was going to be done and he nodded his agreement. We were then put in a private room with him and he was kept on plenty of morphine to keep his pain down and keep him from struggling too much. When he finally was obviously taking his last breathes I leaned down to him and told him to go with the angels, I love you. Mom will be ok I will take care of her. At that he relaxed and passed with me and my mother there with him.

My point her is that this is a very personal decision which IMO can only be made by the patient, and/or his/her IMMEDIATE family(meaning spouse, if existing and not suspected of foul play in the scenario unfolding and children) and doctors. My Dad had no chance of recovering and having anything near a normal life. In fact the doctor said even with all they could do he would be basicallly totally comatose and die within the month. My father had made it clear that he did not want to be kept alive if he had no quality of life left or possible. IMO, I had no choice but to follow his wishes, the hardest thing I have ever done in my life!!!

The current uproar over Mrs. Schiavo's being taken off life support is very unfortunate IMO. This is such a personal thing and it should never be in the media as her parents have forced it to be. I, as a parent, can understand their feelings, but I do not think they have a right to interfere here. I might understand it if there were any hope according to physicians or if her husband had been suspected of foul play, but she had a heart attack and has been unresponsive for years.

[GalvestonDuck]

It was sometime in the 70's when Quinlan overdosed on tranquilizers and alcohol (I'm not sure if it was a suicide attempt or accidental). She went into respiratory arrest and was revived, but the lack of oxygen to her brain left her comatose. After a lengthy court battle by her parents to fight a doctor's refusal, the respirator was turned off and Quinlan was free from any artifical means of life-support.

She lived for 10 more years...comatose.

[sunnyday]

What is this world coming to? This is so sad. I hope her husband enjoys his new honey and their baby. What kind of woman would shack up with him knowing the shape his WIFE was in? Oh, brother, does no one have any sense of right and wrong any more?

[opera ghost]

Having recently been involved with a DNR- and unable to fight it or even voice my protests... it's heartbreaking to watch someone sign away the ressucitation orders on someone you love... in my case I watched my fiance and his sister sign DNR on the woman who would have been my mother in law. My mind kept wrapping around the thought that a mirical might occur... if only she were kept alive- there was the one in a million chance that she would someday go home and live happily... but a million.. a million was nothing next to letting the woman I loved as a second mom go.

Even that one in a million was enough for me. It was hope. And hope was something I had little enough of... I had faith that given time her body would triumph over the problems... I had hope that there would be medical breakthrough. I believed in happily ever after in the story books.

And all I could see on that day was the man I loved more than life itself signing away that hope for his own mother. How could he? Didn't he love her enough to hope? Truth be told, as hard as it is to accept even now- Lisa had no chance of pulling through. Her miricals were exausted. Her quality of life if she lived would have been a slap in the face to the woman I knew. So outgoing, and on the go go go go go... she'd have been hooked to a dialysis machine for most of the rest of her life and very very ill for as long as she lived.

And the prognosis was even worse if she did go into cardiac arrest. Which she did 7 hours later... and died without regaining conciousness.

It's hard to let go of hope.

I, personally, believe in letting a comatose person who can survive on minimal life support be supported. I have faith that someday medical breakthroughs will happen. But major lifesupport? Every breath and heartbeat the action of a machine? That's not life at all.

But death by starvation in a hospital setting should be criminal.

[GalvestonDuck]

A DNR is a degree or two different than an order like the one in the case of Terri Schiavo. Withholding heroic measures in the event of cardiac arrest vs. wiithdrawing all life-support measures that are already in place -- apples and oranges. But still, something I have a problem with.

My mom requested to be DNR. She died of emphysema. I wasn't there when she died because it was only 11 months after she was diagnosed. She kept telling me how it was going to be a "long and slow, painful death" for her. Eleven months was too fast for me. She died at home, at night. I know it was her wish to just go when it was her time, but if I had been there, I wouldn't have accepted it as easily. I probably would have tried to resuscitate her and my stepdad probably would have had to pull me off her and then I probably would have been po'd at him for letting her die. But I know that wasn't the case and I know that's what she wanted. Not easy, but it was her wish.

[Stephanie]

Thanks for sharing your experiences David, Opera, Galveston and Miss Mary.

[blizzard]

I have a difficult time with this also, but for other reasons. 1). Ask yourself this...would you want to live in such a state as Terri is in? 2). If its God's will for her to live, she will live after the tube is removed.

I have seen the video clips of her and know that her quality of life is nowhere near what it was. How can it be a joy to live in such a state. I know if it were me, I would want to be let go of. Her family is kind of being selfish IMHO.

OK, now you can all rip me apart for my opinions, I had to get them out there though.

[Stephanie]

Noone's going to rip anyone apart for their opinions. It is a highly sensitive, controversial story.

[blizzard]

I agree, I know I ouldn't want to be in either side's shoes over this one.