O/T Should Terry Schiavo be made to live or die?

O/T Should Terry Schiavo be made to live or die?


  • Total voters
    927
The difference between this case and those sitting on death row is that the people on death row have killed people and are a danger to our children our friends and to us and Terri isn't.
There is so much controversy on this issue, and I have looked at it from every angle, the family's and the husband's, and what I would want if I were her, and this really is heartbreaking. I would never for my family to have to be responsible for me like that. But, at the same time, we don't know how much she really can hear or understand. She may be screaming but noone can hear her. And she is on a food pump, not on a venelator. She IS alive. And to be honest with you, if my husband was Terri, I would NEVER be able to let him go. I couldn't do it to my kids, my mom, my cousin, or my 80 year old grandma. The decision to let someone die is not mine but God's and we should leave it his.

p.s. I REALLY don't like her husband. There really is something going on with him that isn't right.

I don't call bringing your girlfriend to visit your sick wife "impressive commitment"
 
I'm afraid we took many death decisions out of God's hands when we started putting people on life support. God didn't mean for us to eat with a feeding tube I don't think.

I hope I never have to follow through but I will do this for my husband because he's entrusted his life to me in our living will and DNR. I hope he does the same for me.

In this day of being able to keep people alive by artificial means, people need to let their wishes be known in writing so the survivors don't have to make that critical decision for them. They kept my 16 year old niece alive for almost two months on machines that breathed and pumped her heart for her (ECMO machine)and a dialysis machine that did her kidney functions. She had tubes coming out of every orifice. It was absolutely the most horrible sight to see. She was on a bed that actually moved her around automatically to try to minimize the bed sores but she was getting them anyway within a matter of days.
 
Well, I just hope she's allowed to die in peace. Poor thing...I'm sure she would never have imagined her life would end up like this.

Another reason to be thankful for every day we're alive and well :)
 
Dani,

Hopefully you've put this in writing so DH or DS won't have to make the decision for you :-(
 
I'm an undecided as well. It was just on the news. It gives me chills and makes me feel sad for all involved. I actually had tears while reading all the above posts. One thing that seems wrong to me is that rehab or PT was never tried. Am I correct? My thinking would be why not at least try. Why wasn't it ever tried?

I guess this IS a lesson for all of us to make sure we have our wishes in writing.

Dallas
 
Candi,

We've talked about it a lot! DH agrees and said he'd fight until the end to keep me alive, if I were in Terri's condition. He thinks something isn't right with her husband too. He wouldn't let me go. But you are absolutely right! I need to get this in writing asap.

Dallas,

I agree! I've cried about this too.
 
>It troubles me that Michael (her husband) has refused
>treatment for her since 1993. 12 years? Why would he do that?
>
>I've heard a few times now that they cannot do an MRI because
>of some tubes that were surgically inserted years ago. They
>could do a petscan (sp?) but haven't, but can't do an MRI.
>
>There is a lot of information coming out today that I've not
>heard before -- some of it from nurses who cared for Terri and
>say they fed her with food in baby bottles when her feeding
>tube was pulled in the past (and Michael was furious). They
>also said that Michael would ask the medical board, "When is
>this b**ch going to die?" ... and that he attempted to kill
>her with an insulin overdose. They found the concealed needles
>and the injection marks under her breast.
>
>It's really emotionally exhausting.
>
>Starving someone to death is horrible. I don't know if you've
>heard of Kate Adamson. Check her out. Her feeding tube was
>pulled when she was completely unresponsive, and she felt
>everything. She, however, was rehabilitated and is alive to
>talk about it.
>
>Lord help us. I hope the correct decision is made. It's so
>terrible.
>
>

I agree with your post! DH heard this too, that her husband attempted to kill her. Her husband is up to no good.
 
>Macska,
>
> And what happens when her parents die, they are quite
>a bit older than her...who is going to take care of Terri
>then?

She has a sister who is willing to do it.
 
I feel the same as you, Dani. Feeding tube is different from life support. I have a cousin out of state who was born with severe brain damage, she will never go to school, walk, talk, or do anything of the things we do. She is nine now, almost ten, and she just sits in her wheelchair/lies in bed, also with a feeding tube. Her mother left her so my cousin, her dad, and my aunt and uncle, great aunt and great uncle, all take care of her. They bathe her, they watch movies with her and take her to the zoo, take her to the beach. Does she speak ever? No. Does she laugh? No. What is she thinking? Is she suffering? We don't think so, but who knows. What would she say? Everyone has gathered around her and loves her. It is not a sacrifice to. Should they take the tube away from her?
 
There was just a press conference in which Jeb Bush said that Terry may have been misdiagnosed and is in a state of minimal consciousness instead of persistent vegetative state. He said that it would be imperative that she be stabilized until drs. can review her case.

Thought I would share what just came over the TV.

Dallas
 
Terri's husband has probably already in his mind accepted his wife as dead and is now trying to get the medical community to do what he feels is the right thing with her body. All of the attacks on his character do not change the facts that this woman is in a vegetative state, she is not going to get better and all of the legal decisions have pointed towards termination of artificial life support.

For all of the flack that this guy is taking, he could have divorced her, he could have taken the money and eventually returned to a normal life.

None of us know what was discussed between husband and wife, we are all guessing. There has been how many judges, how many doctors that confirm the diagnosis ( doctors that were even appointed by the courts independently).

Attached to my living will is a letter to my spouse and attourney. An excerpt "I did not work to provide a standard of living for my family in order to have it sucked away by perpetual care." When it's time to die, it's time to die.

Dave
 
I agree with Candi. AND, of late, I feel like I am living in the state delineated by Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid's Tale. I would never have had an abortion, BUT I think many conservative politicians are right-to-birth advocates, not sincere right-to-life advocates--else why do they often support the death penalty? The so-called "culture of life" should protect every living thing, shouldn't it? Tom DeLay was in the extermination business before he became the hammer. Terry Schiavo is becoming a very sad paradigm of this highly politicized/polarized and media-crazed culture. What her fate might mean will be decided, no doubt, on the braying mule, Chris Matthew's show, HARDBALL next.Sigh.
 
1) She has no living will
2) Her husband is not her legal guardian nor is he financially responsible for her. I too have heard the rumors that he was cheating on her before her heart attack and he is the only one who remembers that she stated that she wanted the plug pulled if she was ever in this state
3) She is not brain dead...she is brain damaged
4)There is disagreement amongst physicians about how aware she is of her surroundings.

Based on all of these, I don't believe the plug should be pulled especially in the absence of a living will.
 
Does anyone know who her legal guardian is? They've already stated it's not her parents. Just wondering.
 
Candi,
I am so sorry about what happened to your niece. Seeing my uncle in that condition was bad enough when he was in his 50's, I can't imagine watching a young person of 16 suffer like that. Bless you and your sister.
 
The question we all need to ask ourselves is: "If I was in a persistent vegatative state would I want to be kept alive like this?"

Its one thing to debate the life or death of someone we don't know or care about and quite another to imagine yourself in that situation.

How many would like the government to intervene and decide?
 

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