Terry Schiavo

[simple]

I understand this topic may be controversial, but I for one am sickned by this event. I forgot what state it was, but someone got arrested for starving their cattle. We can starve a human being to death, but not animals? Also, how can Terry's husband be living with another woman, have kids with this person, and still say he loves Terry? Would you be with another woman knowing that your wife is still alive and sick? Not me. I don't care how long Terry's been in the state that she has, you just don't go off with another woman. What happened to the vows that say death till you part? In my opinion, I'm not so sure of the accuracy of Terry's husband saying that she want's to die. From all the info I gathered/heard, this is far from it. I don't think this guy cares about Terry at all. I can't even imagine what Terry's parents are going through. Let's pray for Terry and her family.

 

 

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[facn8me]

Well I guess I will put mine in print so everybody knows. I DO NOT WANT TO BE KEPT ALIVE BY A MACHINE. I have told my mother my GF my sister and anybody else that will listen. Why because this kinda mess with terry can hapen. I do not ever want to be a burden to anyone. Now I personally have experience with this sort of thing. My father shot himself in the head. He used a davis .380 not enough power to put it completely thru his head. I spent 5 min with him at the hospital. I spoke with the doctors about any chance of recovery since he was breathing on his own. Nope was the reply. He will be on life support till he expires. Could be 20 yrs ,but he will be a vegatable. I decided right then. Do not put him on life support let him die. I was screamed at by aunts and uncles. Called all kinds of names, but ya know what. He wanted to die. He told 2 people. Himself and my girlfriend.(not the present GF) She didn't tell me cause she didn't think he would do it. And he's the one that pulled the trigger. So I knew he wanted to die. At what point do you not love a person enough to let them have thier wish? . You do not know what transpired between husband and wife. What they talked about at 3am lying in bed. Neither do her parents. Terry is dead. she is not the person she used to be. Never will be. Who is he cheating on? I do not know what I would do if this happened to my lovely Gf. But if I knew what her wishes were I would fight till the end to have here request fulfilled. Now this is all my opinion. But reality gave me this opinion.

[simple]

At what point do you not love a person enough to let them have thier wish?  Terry is dead.

 

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I repect your opinion. However, we DON'T know 100% if this was her wish. That's the whole point. Terry is dead? Go on her website and look at the pictures. Tell me how is this dead?

[Frank S]

I DO NOT WANT TO BE KEPT ALIVE BY A MACHINE.

 

That's about all I can say on the matter myself. I'd hate to be in the position of making the decision on a loved one but your quote above echoes my thoughts exactly in regards to myself.

[simple]

Read this people.

 

Renowned neurologist: Schiavo can eat with aid & is not in ‘persistent vegetative state’

 

Mar 21, 2005

 

By Joni B. Hannigan

 

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (BP)--A doctor close to the Terri Schiavo case claimed that the 41-year-old disabled woman could actually be fed orally if it were allowed.

 

"The important thing for people to understand is that she can eat and swallow right now,” said William Hammesfahr, a neurologist who has examined Schiavo. He is in many of the videos circulated through the news media showing that Schiavo is at times responsive and aware.

 

"They are truly withholding food from a person who is awake, alert, and can eat and swallow,” Hammesfahr said. After spending at least 10 hours with Schiavo several years ago, he told Florida Judge George W. Greer that she can improve with therapy.

 

Hammesfahr was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1999 for his work in brain injury and stroke. He is a recognized expert in treating neurological disorders, having successfully treated thousands of patients using vasodilator therapy, which increases blood flow to the brain, thus healing conditions previously thought to be untreatable.

 

Standing with a handful of supporters outside of the hospice late in the evening Mar. 19, Hammesfahr told the Witness Schiavo previously has swallowed pudding and daily swallows almost two liters of water by virtue of being able to process her own saliva and sinus drainage.

 

"That’s liquid and that’s the most difficult thing to swallow," Hammesfahr said of her saliva. "If she can swallow that she can swallow food or pudding."

 

Other doctors who testified before Greer in 2003 had limited exposure to Schiavo and did not complete standard evaluations for brain injuries, Hammesfahr said.

 

"Terri’s not that bad," Hammesfahr said. "She is like a child with cerebral palsy. She can speak. At least when I saw her, she would speak very slowly. She would sort of form words, she would move her arms and legs at command. She could understand questions in English.”

 

Hammesfahr said there are at least 50 physicians he knows of, in private practice and related to medical universities who have said Schiavo is not in a PVS or in a coma.

 

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, as well as family and supporters have argued that she could improve were she provided rehabilitation services. Michael Schiavo has refused to provide those services since around 1993, they say.

 

Although Michael Schiavo says his wife would want to die, no written request from her exists. Terri Schiavo’s parents have challenged his continued guardianship of their daughter, citing conflict of interest. Michael Schiavo has lived with his girlfriend, by whom he has fathered two children, for 10 years.

 

Greer ruled Feb. 25 that Schiavo’s nutrition and hydration be discontinued and in subsequent decisions ruled she cannot undergo more medical testing and cannot be fed by mouth. Greer also rebuffed a request by Florida’s Department of Children and Families for a 60-day stay of his motion so that they could investigate allegations that Michael Schiavo has abused and neglected his wife.

 

Hammesfahr said that about 30 percent of his cases are more severe than Terri Schiavo’s, and that she most likely could improve, whether by his approach or another.

 

"You can get almost anybody with a brain injury or a stroke better," Hammesfahr said. "I think that’s the long and short of it.

 

"It’s not that [schiavo simply] deserves a chance, she deserves rehabilitation," Hammesfahr continued. "She’s not going to get the rehabilitation if she gets killed off here."

 

Each day Schiavo is off the feeding tube increases the chance that she will end up in a coma, Hammesfahr said. He described what happens to the human body when it is deprived of food and water.

 

"People who die of starvation, their acid eats through their stomach, they develop infections in their body, their body starts to dissolve from the inside out, they develop seizures, [and] frequently it breaks their back," he said. "They have to have medications to essentially put them into a coma to not have their body break their back or something of that nature."

 

He explained that the process of putting someone in a coma after withholding nutrition and hydration is part of an "exit protocol" that involves delivering powerful drugs like Morphine and Valium to the patient when they are expected to die.

 

"The danger for Schiavo is that if she is in a coma, she will not have the type of monitoring that could help her recover if the feeding tube is reinserted.

 

"Putting a person in coma is very dangerous,” Hammesfahr said, and after 7-8 days she might end up in an irreversible coma or with further brain damage.

[General Lee 01]

Everybody knows the husband doesn't give a crap about Terry anymore. If he did, He wouldn't have found another mate.

 

If she ever gets out of this, can you imagine what's gonna happen when she sees and hears that her beloved husband has been with another woman and had kids with her while she's been in this coma?

 

 

If she ever gets better, she'll have a tough time coping with the fact that more than 10 years have passed since she last walked, and lived life like a normal human being should be able to. And cope with the aging of all the people that she has known her whole life.

[facn8me]

I pray none of you ever have to make the decision whether somebody lives or dies. I would not wish that on anyone. Looking in from the outside gives a warped view of life. I will live with the fact that I have murdered someone for the rest of my life. But I know that was what he wanted. Never speaking to many of my relatives again was a small price to pay to carry out his final wishes.

[Wingnut]

I pray none of you ever have to make the decision whether somebody lives or dies. I would not wish that on anyone. Looking in from the outside gives a warped view of life. I will live with the fact that I have murdered someone for the rest of my life. But I know that was what he wanted. Never speaking to many of my relatives again was a small price to pay to carry out his final wishes.

 

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No need to pray about that for me. Been there, done that.

 

 

And guys. There are 3 times as many people that are just as smart saying that she's in a vegatative state. All these neurologists, doctors, and various other experts have testified in NO LESS than 19 trials. EVERY SINGLE TIME they have ruled in favor of the husband. Liberal judges, conservative judges alike....The law is very, very clear in this area. It's his right. She had also had conversations with friends years ago (they have testified as well) saying to not let her live like this.

 

This issue happens every single day to hundreds of other families around the country. It's happened in my family. It's not anything new, groundbreaking, or different from 1000's of cases per year in this country alone. This is a private matter that should not be the lead story on national news.

 

I'm not saying to leave her tube in or to take it out. I'm saying that debating this is moot. The law is clear.

 

And it's none of our business.

 

The press should be concentrating on Iraq, N Korea, and whose pants Michael Jackson has been in.