Unclear on the concept

[docwebster]

You know, this Terri Schialvo thing and peoples reactions here on LJ have got me skeeved just a bit. Why? Because I'm not real sure people are clear on just how that woman is apparently now going to die.

Starvation and thirst, people. She is either going to starve to death or die of thirst.

I just don't understand people.

Apparently, her "husband" wants to "put it behind him".

PUT IT BEHIND HIM?

She's your goddamn wife, you sack of crap, not some old car!

Comments

[poisoned-flower.livejournal.com]

Who?

[nokturna.livejournal.com]

i haven't posted anything about it honestly because it is really distubing me to the core of my being... how on earth can we do this to a fellow human being.. hell we don't even do that to animals in shelters or convicts, they get euthanized... but nooooo her slimy shit of a husband (who in my book is WORSE if not the same as that fucker Scott Peterson) decided that he knew what was best for her... yes this is why i haven;t posted about it, but it is why i have a candle burning for her and am considering fasting like many others are

[bassbone.livejournal.com]

I would tend to agree with you. Especially after hearing some of the things about how she's responsive... It's amazing the kind of support Terri is getting from both sides of the aisle.

[bassbone.livejournal.com]

I'll further say that I was siding with the husband until I heard the details of her condition and how responsive she really is.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

check out Rivkas stuff on the subject, it's pretty revealing

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Um, she doesn't have a cerebal cortex anymore.. it's fallen to pieces and been replaced with a pool of spinal fluid.

Seven different courts have looked at all the evidence and stated the following:

1. Terri made it clear she did not want to be kept alive by heroic measures.

2. There is no hope of recovery.

3. Those wishing to keep Terri alive have used edited video tapes. Take the famous "watching the balloon" bit. It took them over forty tries before her eyes sort of tracked the balloon. Yes, she smiled at her mom.. once. She also smiles in the middle of the night, at random strangers.. it's not any sort of reaction, just a misfiring brain.

She died 15 years ago. Let her body catch up.

[kshandra]

You know, beyond a doubt, that I love you.

But here we must disagree.

(When gridlore went in for his surgery, he had a DNR on file, and I had power of attorney. It was incredibly fucking difficult for me to sign the POA, because damnit, he's my husband, and I want him to stick around if at all possible. But it's HIS fucking life, and if he doesn't want heroic measures employed to prolong it, I have to - need to - respect that.)

Quoting from rivka's blog:

None of the 17 affidavits are by providers who examined Schiavo.

Only one of the 17 providers claims to have reviewed her medical records. The remaining 16 providers apparently based their statements primarily on six snippets of videotape, totalling 4 minutes and 20 seconds, which have been posted on Schiavo's parents' website and broadcast repeatedly on the news. Several of them explicitly say that they viewed these clips on the net, and the others all refer to the same short samples of behavior (e.g., Schiavo's eyes tracking a balloon). Many of them say they read news stories about Schiavo. One admits to only seeing news stories and photographs. They all reference their experience with "similar patients," but without qualifying what they mean by "similar." For example, one doctor draws comparisons to catatonic patients - but catatonia simply refers to an absence of voluntary motion or interaction, and can be caused by any number of things. Another references stroke patients, and two more talk about patients with Alzheimer's. As Ampersand points out, not one of them mentions the specific degree and type of brain damage that Schiavo has, as documented by her CAT scans.... (all emphasis mine - KMB)
Perhaps more when I'm sober. Perhaps not, as this is a difficult subject for me to contemplate.

[yobadself.livejournal.com]

I like how under the picture here it says her death will be "very serene":
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Schiavo/story?id=531907&page=1

[yobadself.livejournal.com]

"Overwhelmingly, what will happen is nothing."

Yeah, cuz you know...starving to death is absolutely NOTHING.

"Some people can last four or five days — some people can last 20 days." I'm sickened.

[yobadself.livejournal.com]

And can I just say, even if she said she wanted to die beforehand or whatever, starving to death is NOT a good way to do it. Just...sick.

[inkmistress.livejournal.com]

And this, my friends, is why we should have euthanasia for our people.
We have it for our beloved pets so that we can end their misery when they become terminally ill or horribly injured because it's the humane thing to do.....

I would hope that my husband would put a bullet in my head before it came to something like this!

[freakyme.livejournal.com]

I agree. I don't think anyone should be kept alive the way they have kept her for so long. I don't believe that anyone should die that way though either.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

amen.

As for him being her husband, and wanting to put it behind him...

It's been 15 years. He's remarried. He probably went through the greiving process for her 'death' *years* ago. For 15 years her parents have, in essence, been ressurecting her zombie and bringing it back to haunt him.

Excellent post on the subject

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/community/liberal/2322678.html?style=mine

[thatvoiceguy.livejournal.com]

What gridlore said.

Seriously, though: Whether or not her husband is a great guy, the larger issue --- at least now --- is that GOP lawmakers are stepping in (not only at the State level, but at the Federal level) and meddling with ALL these people's lives. This is right-wing politics run amok.

The idea of her starving to death is terrible, but once again: She is not going to feel it. She doesn't have any capacity to "experience" it the way you or I might.