Your view on the Terri Schiavo case

Duty Honor Country

Active member
The Terri Schiavo case has been raging in the US media for the last 2 weeks. I have read reports that the international community has taken a limited interest into this situation. I would like to know what people think.

If you are not informed on this matter, click on the link to google news. If you want, you can read all of the 5,739 articles on the matter

GOOGLE NEWS
 
This is a perfect example on why you should have a living will. You have the husband on 1 side her family on the other. He feels she would not want to live like this the family is looking at it as murder. I was completly on his side till I heard she is not in a complete vegatatative state. That she is in fact a little bit aware. I dont know. All I do know is while this debate is raging that poor woman is starving to death. If she is even partly aware how cruel.
 
I have very mixed feelings about this. I think that with no living will you should automatically be considered to want your life extended by law and that neither the spouse nor the family can make decisions for you in that matter. That would rule out extended bitter lawsuits like the Schiavo's and (besides this case of course) encourage people to make living wills. It should be something like when you get your drivers licence and decide whether or not to be an organ donor.
 
I have to agree with Charge 7. Until this case came up, how many people other than the military, police/fire/resq and other "high risk" occupations even knew what a living will was?
 
ARMYMOM said:
This is a perfect example on why you should have a living will. You have the husband on 1 side her family on the other. He feels she would not want to live like this the family is looking at it as murder. I was completly on his side till I heard she is not in a complete vegatatative state. That she is in fact a little bit aware. I dont know. All I do know is while this debate is raging that poor woman is starving to death. If she is even partly aware how cruel.

I agree with this, my biggest problem is the method of death.
 
People would serve prison sentences if they were caught killing an animal like she is being killed. Comatose people don't have 20% of their faculties left. She responds to sound and movement so she should be kept alive unless it can be proven that she is truly comatose. I think it is murder, no matter who does it.
 
I can't believe how the court can decide who lives and who dies???
The fight between husband and her immediate family is probably a normal emotional response. One wants to end her suffering or poor quality of life, the others are grasping onto the emotive side of things not wanting to let go?
Just my thoughts.

How can the court decide that starving to death is ok????
Do you have human rights laws in the USA?

Wheres Dr Nishki (spelling) when you need him. He is an Euthinasia activist in OZ.
 
This is a tough one, I hate to be frank but I really just wonder: who's paying for her medical bills? Her husband? Her parents? Us?
 
Re-Your view on the Terri Schiavo case

My personal view is....

Its horrible, it is cruel beyond human dignity, it is murder, it is evil in its purest form. I have seen this happend with my own eyes in my line of work. But then it was papers and the person was completly in a vegatatative state, 5 days and then dead. This women still reacts for god sake, no human that dont want to live fights 11 days without food and water. She has become in my eyes a modern sacrificant lamb. More ppl should react and solve this situation. The husband dont give a damn, he has a new girlfriend and a new life so why should he care? He just want to move forward with his new life. This is murder commited right before our eyes LIVE-2005. :evil:

*It makes me SICK*

Doc.S
:viking:
 
Re: Re-Your view on the Terri Schiavo case

Doc.S said:
My personal view is....

Its horrible, it is cruel beyond human dignity, it is murder, it is evil in its purest form. I have seen this happend with my own eyes in my line of work. But then it was papers and the person was completly in a vegatatative state, 5 days and then dead. This women still reacts for god sake, no human that dont want to live fights 11 days without food and water. She has become in my eyes a modern sacrificant lamb. More ppl should react and solve this situation. The husband dont give a damn, he has a new girlfriend and a new life so why should he care? He just want to move forward with his new life. This is murder commited right before our eyes LIVE-2005. :evil:

*It makes me SICK*

Doc.S
:viking:

The husband has supported her for the past 15 years, I'd give her husband more credit than being "just a guy with a new girlfriend who doesn't give a damn about his wife".

It's really unfortunate that people who probably care about her the most don't agree on what needs to happen.
 
The mode of death is something that I do not agree with. As for the case, I think what is happening is very sad. Her husband wants her to die (citing her wishes from a conversation) while her parents want her alive. The government did all they could to get her feeding tube back in, the courts sided with the husband and the Supreme Court would not hear the case.

Personally, I would have liked to see her husband give Terri to her parents.

Terri's death will not be in vain. Her situation has brought to light what happens when someone does not have a living will. Quite a few people will establish a living will so that their wishes to live or die can be carried out. With any hope, her death will prevent a simular situation like hers from ever happening.
 
I am not sure how much you believe her doctors, but due to her inability to feel hunger or thurst (nerve damage to the brain), she will not feel anything from the removal of the feeding tubes. Most will question that statement, but just like anything else it's the most possible assumption based on the test results from her doctors.

Like what Doody said, a living will is something that everyone should have, this is truly the lesson to be learned from this case. This ugly mess could've been avoided if what Terri Shiavo wanted were written on paper. Now what's the process you take to get a living will, how much does it cost? Anyone with experiences on this?
 
The thing is that after 18 parents cannot decide for their children. In the eyes if the government the husband is the closest relative. If she cannot move and is stuck in a bed fed through a tube down her gut, what kind of life is that. She seems to be brain dead, so she may not even realize what is going on around her. For all purposes, she died 20 years ago.
 
Zyca said:
This is a tough one, I hate to be frank but I really just wonder: who's paying for her medical bills? Her husband? Her parents? Us?

In August, Terri Schiavo is awarded $250,000 in an out-of-court medical malpractice settlement with one of her physicians. Then, in November the medical malpractice trial against one of Terri's other physicians results in a $1 million malpractice judgment; $750,000 of that amount is put in a trust fund to pay for Terri's medical care.
 
Are the funds running out (or already run out)? She collapsed in 1990, that's a long time ago. I don't know the costs for her daily medical care but I assume it's not low...
 
Zyca wrote:
The husband has supported her for the past 15 years, I'd give her husband more credit than being "just a guy with a new girlfriend who doesn't give a damn about his wife".

It's really unfortunate that people who probably care about her the most don't agree on what needs to happen.

Yes that is exactly what I am saying.

If my wife would be in the same situation I would not 1: Have a new girlfriend I would rather cut my dick of. It would not matter if it was 15-30 or 60 fxxxx years of no puxxx. 2 I would never have terminated here life as they are doing right now, It is more humane to put a bullet in the head and then finish yourself with the second one. What they are doing right now is nothing else then torture with our without morphine. I have seen this with my own eyes, but then the patient wanted to die with good reasons cancer tumors growing right up trough the patients scull for god sake. Even plants can feel pain! Plants have been proven to feel the pain of living crayfishes being boiled in the next room. That is a scentific fact since many years back. Yes she may be braindead but there are apperently people that would give her a rehabilitation chance. How hard can it be to leave the responsibility back to her parents? It smells jealousy all the way back to sweden sir, and I just think that the new lady in the house cant stand the thought to share that man with a "package." Sick? I may be sick but I know women. "And a comment about money issues. When did money get more worth then a human life"? This world is going straight to hell and no one seems to care anyway. So what the heck, let the shit burn down to the ground. That is the feeling I get when I read about it here so now I will not speak nothing more of it. :evil: :lol:

Let it burn
Doc.S
:viking:
 
Okay, I've been holding off from posting this because it cuts so very close to home and my eyes well up just typing it.

My brother had an aneurism a year ago last October. Doctors said he had an 80% chance of complete recovery and a 20% chance of having problems out of which 5% included death.

The doctor seriously screwed up the operation. I'm not a medical professional but my sister is and she knows the specifics of how they messed up. Suffice it to say that even though the aneurism was in the back of the brain they wound up taking out half his cerebelum which is in the front of the brain. They also installed metal clamps instead of the usual plastic ones. This means that a MRI can't be done to see the details of their mistake. We also know that for several minutes his brain was bathed in blood which damages tissue and should never have happened. We also know that a resident performed the surgery rather than the lead surgeon. A lawsuit is in the works now.

This left my brother very near death. For seven months he was on a resperator with no signs of function even as much as Terri Shaivo has. Doctors urged us to pull the plug, but we kept on. Then one day he came back to consciousness. And little by little he was able to be removed from the resperator. He has steadily improved. Now he can walk with the aid of a walker and he can talk to us at about the level of a seven to ten year old child. He remembers old memories just fine but his short term memory has as much problem as his motor skills. He has a great deal of difficulty swallowing still as well.

Now some of you may think this is no way to live, but I'll tell you how I feel. I have my brother back. I can share our memories with him again and see the light of love in his face when I talk to him. Yes, he is greatly deminished, but none of us would trade that for his abscense ever. Before this happened to my family I thought much as some of you do that life so greatly diminished is not worth living, and to be clear, my brother is not so bad off as Terri, but it makes me understand her family very well indeed.
 
Charge_7, I am very happy for you and for the decision your family made on your brother's behalf. A human life could simply be lost if not for the strong support and belief you had in your brother and his ability to recover. You believed and it paid off, faith is more important than fate in many cases. I see how you can relate to Terri Shiavo's parents, because they believe in something just like you did, 15 years to them was no different from seven months to you.

And Doc.S, before we get too emotional, we have to realize this: no, money is not more important than lives, but some lives cannot be sustained without money. When that money runs out, a decision needs to be made. That's why I am wondering about the funding issue. And I just found out that no one other than the husband himself controls the money from the malpractice compensation, and he claims that the money had run out three years ago on legal issues and medical expenses. Whether that's true or not we won't know for sure, different people will have different opinions.

And for thsoe who wished to see Terri going back to her parents... I am 100% with you, but unfortunately that's challenging marriage. Fathers give their daugthers to their husbands (I am sure if you attend weddings you will hear the lines), therefore it's hard for the court to rule otherwise. It's really unfortunate and I cannot begin to imagine the heartbreak Terri's parents suffer, it's like wanting to take care of their daughter but not being allowed to. This whole mess really pulls more than one nerve in the society.
 
Wow Charge, I congratulate with your family for the way you guys faced the challenge.
Must have been superhard.
Thanks for sharing the story with us.
As for Schiavo, I believe they shouldnt have taken the decision to stop feeding her. She does not live thanks to any machine, she just needs to be helped for nutrition. That's what happens to milliongs of tetraplegics and similar. She never said she would want to die-
On top of that, since they say she ain't suffering, that's not to be considered euthanasia, in my view. Because euthanasia is done when you want to prevent people from keeping suffering.
 
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