Terri Schiavo R.I.P

Lebkuecher

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I am really confused on what to think about this whole mess. On one side I feel that her husband may be honoring her wish to die if ever in this condition but on the other hand I feel that her parents should have a say to.

I believe that this will force the country to revisit how we handle and treat people who are in Terri's condition. I don't think that starving her to death is right. If the decision is made to put her to death then why not do it in a way that she doesn't suffer. The other thing that bothers me is how so many people are trying to benefit from this politically.

I had a grandmother who was in this condition after a massive stroke and the family let her go without trying to sub staining her artificially. I believe it was the right thing to do for her because we loved her very much and we didn't want her to suffer. This whole thing is just one big mess.

I searched but didn't find a post on Terri, if there is one please lock or delete
 

nethiker

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Re: Terri Schiavo

Very sad, the turmoil between husband and parents. I do believe that after we become adults and marry, the parents are secondary to the spouce in terms of family matters. I think this is essentially what the courts have upheld.

I feel uncomfortable for such a private and important time of one's life to become so public, especially the political oportunism. However, without the publicity, one of Terri's greatest legacies would not have been. Many people have been moved to talk about their own deaths to avoid this tradgic division in the future.

Greg
 

James S

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Re: Terri Schiavo

Should I be the first to say that if anybody wants to argue or get really upset, they should take that to the underground? OK, I'll say that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif And check in periodically to make sure that y'all do that.

Lebkuecher, I'm with you on being confused. I think it's impossible for any person now to get a clear picture of whats going on or what the potential is for her at this point. In a general sense I agree, the family should decide. There are 3 or 4 states now with laws that say that the hospital can deny care if they think it's warranted even if the family wants to keep the person alive, I find that disturbing, but it doesn't impact this at all.

I simply don't believe in a vast conspiracy of doctors and judges to kill her. I know too many doctors to believe that you would get away with the kind of stuff that they are accused of in this case. Some of the claims are simply not believable, like that they won't let her family come in and give her water not through the tube. Even in hospice if you're capable of drinking yourself they would let your family in to help you do that. Thats the difference between turning off a vent and holding a pillow over the face of someone who is capable of breathing without one!

But there is certainly enough that is confusing and doesn't make sense to me that I would have liked to have seen a review with some fresh people. But in the end I think that the freedom of our families to decide what to do with us in these situations is more important than legislating anything new. I don't have a lot of faith in new laws to cover these situations, especially when the technology of health care and end of life issues grows and changes so much faster than a law could keep up.
 

VidPro

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Re: Terri Schiavo

if it was me in the bed, i would rather not be fed
if i was the husband, i wouldnt fight the parents, i would just want them to pay for it
if i was the politician, i would keep my nose out of it, because it wouldnt be my business
if i was the judge, i would realize that its way different compared to a person who is on resperator, and dies 30 seconds after you pull the plug
if i was the hospital, i would do what i could, and leave the family alone
if i was a greedy jerkweed, i would charge all these people everything they have to house her, keep the problems going in the law junk, and milk the media for all that it is worth.

i think this case IS different, but i would not want to be the one to decide.
 

gadget_lover

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Re: Terri Schiavo

When my brother was dying of multiple organ failure, the doctors made my mother decide if they should with-hold care and medication, making a quicker end to what was going to be a several week long ordeal. My brother's wife had deserted him, so mom was the next of kin. It broke her heart to have to make that decision.

She was faced with a similar problem 5 years before, when my late step-father was near death. Gene was a strong man, proud of his sharp mind and good heart. His health had been failing for 12 years due to emphysema. His children said to let him die, and mom said no. He did come though the crises, but with mild brain damage. He suffered from constant pain for the last 9 months of his life. He died blind, unable to walk or read or cook. He could barely talk the last 6 months. He told me what he could not tell my mom, and that was that he wished she'd let him die. He did not even tell her about the pain he was in. He did not want to hurt her.

I hope I'm never position where I have to make the decision. I do know that I would rather die than be in Teri Schaivo's condition. I've stated that in writing for my wife's benfit.

I have nothing but compassion for both the husband and the parents.


Daniel
 

Frangible

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Re: Terri Schiavo

[ QUOTE ]

I believe that this will force the country to revisit how we handle and treat people who are in Terri's condition. I don't think that starving her to death is right.


[/ QUOTE ]

Don't worry, she's not being starved to death... she's being dehydrated to death. In all seriousness though, I definately think people have the right to make their own decision concerning when their life ends; if you don't have freedom over your own body, how can you be free at all?

Still, I'm not necessarily sure that's so much the issue here, as we just don't know what she wanted because there was no will or statement in writing.

So yeah, I say, if someone wants to die, give them a nice overdose of morphine or some pleasant way out, but if you're not sure if they want to die or not... perhaps it's best to err on the side of caution.

A stance unpopular with everyone politically, I know /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

junior

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Re: Terri Schiavo

11 days and still she has not passed on. Seems to me that she was more alive than most thought or GOD is trying to say something.

Just my .2 cents
 

James S

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Re: Terri Schiavo

[ QUOTE ]
I believe that this will force the country to revisit how we handle and treat people who are in Terri's condition. I don't think that starving her to death is right

[/ QUOTE ]

But it's not the nation, it's the state of florida that has a law that treats withdrawal of the feeding tube the same as withdrawal of a ventilator. In most places in the country this would not even be an issue as the docs would not do this even if you asked them as it's a different thing legally. But in Florida, you can do this. Which is part of the misunderstanding I think, as barbaric as you might think it is (and I tend to agree) you have to do more than review terri's case, you'll have to change that law too. Which might be a much better place to start than creating whole other governmental systems to control when someone gets withdrawn. It is the fact that it's a feeding tube which is causing so many people including myself so many issues. If she had been on a vent for 15 years I don't think we'd be hearing anything about this at all, but a feeding tube is just different.
 

Frangible

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Re: Terri Schiavo

[ QUOTE ]
junior said:
11 days and still she has not passed on. Seems to me that she was more alive than most thought or GOD is trying to say something.

Just my .2 cents

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not hard to live for that long without water... especially if you don't move and one of the major resource using organs (brain) is mostly dead. The problem is permanent organ damage sets in after a certain point.
 

Malpaso

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Re: Terri Schiavo

The irony of it is that her bulimia is what precipitated the state she is in. She didn't want sustenance then...
 

Frangible

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Re: Terri Schiavo

I thought it was due to excess fluid consumption that resulted in an imbalance in potassium/sodium levels that led to cardiac arrest and then brain damage from the oxygen deprivation?
 

Malpaso

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Re: Terri Schiavo

[ QUOTE ]
Frangible said:
I thought it was due to excess fluid consumption that resulted in an imbalance in potassium/sodium levels that led to cardiac arrest and then brain damage from the oxygen deprivation?

[/ QUOTE ]

As I understand it, the bulimia was a contributing factor to the heart attack, maybe not the only factor, as you say.
 

raggie33

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Re: Terri Schiavo

i iwsh i had the detail explaned to me in simple terms. but i doubt i under stand still
 

UncleFester

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Re: Terri Schiavo

I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, but since these people obviously decided to kill her, why couldn't they do in some humane manner instead of dehydrating/starving her to death. This is unbelievable. We treat our pets with more dignity and sympathy.
 

Frangible

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Re: Terri Schiavo

[ QUOTE ]
UncleFester said:
I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, but since these people obviously decided to kill her, why couldn't they do in some humane manner instead of dehydrating/starving her to death. This is unbelievable. We treat our pets with more dignity and sympathy.

[/ QUOTE ]

The people in favor of killing her, for the most part, believe dehydration is "humane". I still think the morphine overdose is the way to go, personally...
 

gadget_lover

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Re: Terri Schiavo

Not trying to start anything, but....

I've only been involved in a few cases of terminally ill friends and family. In all cases where hospice care was used, high doses of morphine was also involved. In one case the cargiver was told exactly how much was the lethal dose. In another case the hospice worker simply said to give him however much it took to give him comfort. No limits.

I believe that if outsiders had NOT gotten into the case, if the parents and lawyers and everyone else had stayed away, she'd probably have passed in her sleep by now. Just my opinion. Probably wrong.


Daniel
 

ACMarina

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Re: Terri Schiavo

If nothing else, I hope people learn from this situation and have their own wishes in writing, so there is no doubt about what is wanted in situations like this.

As far as the situation itself, there are far too many tangents and rumors to really know what's going on. There are ways that I can argue both points and completely convince myself to agree with either side. Hopefully there will be some good lessons learned across the board, both personally amongst the American people and legally on the books. We shall see..
 

James S

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Re: Terri Schiavo

[ QUOTE ]
i iwsh i had the detail explaned to me in simple terms. but i doubt i under stand still

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Raggie, we would ALL like to hear a simple point by point review of the entire thing to find out just what happened at each step in the road, but there has been so much press and obfuscation and he said/she said at this point that I can't sort out anything that sounds like truth either. So it's not just you /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

If nothing else, there are a lot of folks discussing with their husbands and wives what their end of life desires are lately. So perhaps some others will be spared or saved as per their own wishes without having to involve so many lawyers in the future...
 

Frangible

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Re: Terri Schiavo

[ QUOTE ]

If nothing else, I hope people learn from this situation and have their own wishes in writing, so there is no doubt about what is wanted in situations like this.


[/ QUOTE ]

So if I write I want a morphine OD if I fall into unrecoverable PVS, would it be legal for someone to do so?
 
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