Terry Schiavo - RIP

[ChileMass]

Terry Schiavo just passed away at age 41. What's your opinion on discontinuing medical support for her?

 

[Greg]

Each case is different. My feeling is she should have had a better evaluation before pulling the feeding tube. There is a lot of evidence that she could've made some progress with proper therapy. Also, the parents should have had more say in what happens. Apparently, Michael Schiavo didn't even let them into her room as she died. I can't imagine having to watch my daughter die of dehydration due to some whacked-out jackass son-in-law's wishes. Just an unfortunate situation all across the board.

 

[Vortex]

I chose other. I'm not part of the family. My opinion does not matter on this one. In general this seemed to have gone to far for me. I wish people would make clear their intentions while they are alive. A clear will or living will. I can understand someone on life support having the plug pulled ( sounds horrible), I think this went to far.
RIP

 

[ctenidae]

if you seperate the emotional content, its a pretty disturbng case. Medical decisions are, or were, private matters. The Florida courts got involved, which is proper, but then so did Jeb adn the Florida Legislature. That's not good. Then the Federal Government got in the act- Congress had no place there, and the Supreme Court absolutely had no business hearing the case, particularly after the federal Appeals Court had ruled, even though it never should have gotten there, either.
End result- the Government now has precedent to get even more involved in your personal affairs. I thought the Republicans were the party of smaller, responsible government. Not that the circus wouldn't have happened no matter who was in power, but 10-15 years ago the GOP would have squelched it double quick.

 

[loafer89]

Speaking from experience, I can say that it is a good idea to have your wishes written down if the same fate should ever befall any of us. My wife's mother died of MS in February of 1997, and she was in really bad shape at the end and not able to make any decisions on her own. My wife made sure that her mother had a DNR in writing, as the nursing home wanted to keep her alive on a respirator, something her mother did NOT want.

My mother also past away in August of 2003 from an illness similar to MS that she had been fighting for nearly 30 years. My mother had a tracheotomy done against her own will by my father and this kept her alive for another 5 years afterwards. Luckily my mother past away easily on her own free will after she lost the will to live any longer.

In both cases there was no chance for improvement, just a prolongation of misery and helplessness. I do disagree with the way that Terri Schiavo life was ended though, as starving someone to death seems inhumane to me, but what other options are legally available??

 

[ctenidae]

There are no other options, loafer89. Another issue that's being overshadowed by the emotional bits. Dr Kevorkian is in jail.

 

[madman]

We all confide things to our lovers [spouce] that we dont tell our families . My wife and I are both active people and both have stated we want no extreem measures taken in a situation like this. She has never told her family because of what we both consiter extreme religious views. We paint Mike Schivao as a monster, he worked side by side with the parents for 7 yrs. His only fault was desiding to end it before his inlaws were ready. If I know my inlaws the plug would never get pulled no matter my wifes wishes. Get it in writing ,keep the govt out of it,hope you never get into this situation.

 

[dmc]

Terri Schindler Schiavo
Born December 3rd, 1963
Departed Februrary 25, 1990
At Peace March 31, 2005

 

[ctenidae]

Absolutely, dmc. I agree 100%

 

[riverc0il]

who cares about terry schiavo, what this entire ordeal was all about wasn't a human life unless you were a family or a friend. what this media circus boiled down to was government power and congress over stepping it's bounds. let's not forget how quickly the president jumped to sign a bill but waited days after the recent school shooting to make a statement about that incident. terry schiavo's image, the husband, and the moter and father were used as pawns by various factions fighting for legal precident vs. a human life. it was extremely disturbing watching this personal family matter that has long since been settled justly and legally come to the national spot light and command such attention.

regardless of your feelings on whether what was done was right or not, you just gotta feel disturbed about how the government interferred with the legal proceedings.

most people that degrade into a permanent vegitative state never come out of it unless it's within the first few years. fighting for human life when there is a desire on the part of said human to life and thrive is one thing. fighting for a human that doesn't want to be fought for, wanted the plug pulled, and legally was entitled to what they want is quite the other. if i am ever in the same position, someone stick a fork in me before the media could grab onto the case. a little dignity in death isn't such a bad thing.

my other objection is why not use a lethal injection instead of "pulling a tube" and watching a body desolve itself. we "humanely" put down animals and death row inmates but we do not offer a humane death for terminal illness.

okay, back to skiing before this thread turns into a medical ethics discussion. just watch out for your government is the most important thing to take out of this whole thing.

 

[pedxing]

Looking at some of the court opinions and the evidence reviewed, it seems like there was an excruciatingly thorough review of the case before Jeb Bush got involved. It's easy for highly opinionated people to confuse not being heard with not being agreed with, but it is clear that the parent's and their allies were heard quite clearly.

No amount of therapy can create brain tissue where there is now fluid. Stem cell research holds some promise for providing a means of regenerating brain tissue - but we are a very long way away from that point at this time.

It is stunning that those who profess deep faith in God and in Heaven would insist on artificially maintaining a prolonged vegetative state in a person. What ever happened to "let go and let God?"

I've made my wishes clear - please deliver me from those who would keep me in such a state for decades.

The Bush brothers have given us a glimpse of what a theocratic state might look like, where religious doctrine dictates intrusion into private individual matters.

How many lives could have been saved if those who mobilized to back Terry Schiavo's parents had tried to save people who had lives that were endangered?

 

[riverc0il]

How many lives could have been saved if those who mobilized to back Terry Schiavo's parents had tried to save people who had lives that were endangered?

this is a great point. all your points were great, but this one really stands out. if they put half as much money, mobilization, and media coverage they did into TS into say people starving to death on the streets of america or into say people dieing from lack of medical insurunace, amazing things could be happening.

 

[57stevey]

FWIW, I think it's a tremendous credit to the community on this board that topics like this can be discussed here in a serious and thoughtful manner.

 

[ChileMass]

FWIW, I think it's a tremendous credit to the community on this board that topics like this can be discussed here in a serious and thoughtful manner.

Thanks. All of the AZ folks try to keep it civil. We are able to have discussions on these kinds of controversial topics regularly, and they almost never get heated. As you say, it's a credit to our participants.....

 

[smitty77]

my other objection is why not use a lethal injection instead of "pulling a tube" and watching a body desolve itself. we "humanely" put down animals and death row inmates but we do not offer a humane death for terminal illness.

I'll second that! All some of these people want is the sweet release from a life of agony, and yet we deny them. In Terry's case, it would have been the more "humane" way of letting her pass, if it was indeed her wish to do so. I tend to believe the husband. I don't know if I could have fought as hard as he did for my wife's wishes for 7 years.

Smitty

 

[riverc0il]

I don't know if I could have fought as hard as he did for my wife's wishes for 7 years.

i suspect he was also fighting to ease his own pain. i would have done the same thing. a co-worker was recently involved in a long drawn out worsening of a parent in late age. it was incredibly draining on both her and her husband being put through an emotional wringer nearly everyday for an entire year before the parent passed away (the parent actually said she wanted to die at one point, how aweful can that be on someone?).

 

[Stephen]

i suspect he was also fighting to ease his own pain.

That would be the pain of having a wife who is still living while he had 2 children with another woman?

This was a choice of convenience, nothing more.

-Stephen

 

[ctenidae]

Stephen- I see your point, and I agree, to an extent. However, Michael has said many times that, as far as he was concerned, Terri had died 15 years ago. He needed to move on with his life, something her parents couldn't seem to do. It's a pretty reasonable viewpoint, despite the slimyness of some of Mikey's actions. So yeah, it was convenient, finally putting an end to something that should have been finished 15 years ago.

 

[nancie2k]

he could have let her parents take care of her, as they wished, got on with his life that way.

 

[dmc]

"1 life lost is murder. 1,000 lives lost is foreign policy."