Try and pay attention, people.

[docwebster]

I wasn't arguing the validity of her final wish (although the sole source we have of that being her final wish seems to be her incredibly creepy husband). What I was arguing was the manner of that death. It's babaric, and it's just plain wrong. We don't let people do that to dogs, why in the name of all that's holy, sacred and true are we doing it to a human being?

(Plus, I can't find my damn wallet so that makes me even grumpier.)

Comments

[kylakae.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I was sitting here thinking the same thing this morning, as I read the story. Is the only alternative STARVATION? While I absolutely agree with her right to die, why is this the only method? Surely there is a more humane way that would allow her to die with dignity? Ugh...

[cavalorn.livejournal.com]

The rationale is that one is not killing, one is allowing death to happen. Administering a lethal injection would be killing. Disconnecting food and water apparently absolves those who do it, because the death results from inaction instead of action.

Bullshit if you ask me, but there it is.

[ex-deliveryboy.livejournal.com]

"It's babaric"

It involved the King of the Elephants?



all joking aside, I agree with you 100% Personally, I think the final right belongs to her parents. They brought her into this world and raised her for most of her life. They should have final say on if and when and HOW she should leave this world. The husband has nothing but "she told me this" which doesn't hold water in any other case besides (apparently) this one.

You'd think that with so many conservatives and "right to lifers" out there, This shouldn't even be an issue in this case.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

If the final say lies with her parents, than everyone who's ever gotten married is *screwed*. It's one of the hallmark rights of marriage that your spouse becomes the person you *VOLUNTARILY* give the right to make health care decisions.

"They brought her into this world"?!? That's just *offensive*. Tell that to any person who's ever been abused by a parent, that that parent has the right to make life and death decisions even into adulthood. Gah.

[ex-deliveryboy.livejournal.com]

so by your logic, any husband or wife who beats their spouse has the same exclusive right that they live or die?

I wasn't making general claims that *all* parents should be the ones to make such decisions. I was commenting on this case and this case alone.

These people obviously feel very strongly and believe that their daughter can improve and has been responsive. I had heard several months back that the husband is due a pretty large settlement once his wife is dead.


If one has actually filled out power of attorney/living will/whatever or there is absolutely without a shred of doubt that there is no hope of recovery, pull the fucking plug. In this case, their daughter obviously cannot make that decision, or at least express that decision one way or another. Her parent's firmly believe that she can recover and make progress with the proper treatment, which she has been denied.

Tell you what, when YOUR child's life, regardless of their age, is completely and totally decided upon by someone who has for all intent and purpose moved on with his or her life, I'd be very interested in hearing how you feel then.

This asshat is blocking his wife's LOVING parents from being able to take on the responsibility and care for their own daughter, and he's doing it for money, and allowing this poor woman to be starved to death.


I'm all for assisted suicide. Death should be quick and painless. However, the person on the receiving end of that dose should be the one to make that decision. Absolutely no one has any idea what's really happening inside her mind.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Terri no longer has a cerebal cortex. It's gone, nothing but a pool of spinal fluid. Her brain is gone. Do you understand that? None of the medical experts that the parents have used have ever even examined Terri. When the judges vierwed the full video of her alleged responses, they found that the parents were taking any random movement as a response.

He's doing it because TERRI DIDN'T WANT THIS! She said so, and not only her husband but her brother and his wife have testified to this! There is no hope that she will ever get better, none. Let the body die.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Her husband, and both her brother and sister-in-law testified that Terri stated that she didn't want to be kept alive by artificial means.

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

Is an excellent summary.

Since we don't allow mercy killings, we have to let nature take its course.

[the-unnamable.livejournal.com]

Starving is one of the more gruesome ways to die, but I can imagine that it would be very gruesome to watch, as well... I'm thinking they might give, and put the tube back in...

The whole thing's so... sad.

[kshandra]

Quoting acelightning from another discussion elsewhere on LJ:

...how did Terri Schiavo wind up brain-dead in the first place? she starved herself. she was anorexic, and she fasted and purged until her heart stopped beating. by the time the medical team got it started again, her brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long, and was incapable of operating her body without assistance. in effect, Terri Schiavo already starved to death, of her own volition, fifteen years ago.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

It's because we don't have the balls in this country to allow doctors to help someone die peacefully and with dignity.

[shadowduchess.livejournal.com]

You have said in two different responses what I have felt 100% thank you for your eloquence.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

What she said.

Go Eleri.

[thatvoiceguy.livejournal.com]

Hope I didn't come off too cold-hearted here.

I'd also rather see something more peaceful and humane than starvation. However, it's the family members who will truly be undergoing the suffering; Terri Schiavo is unable to "experience" this event any more than any other heretofore-uneffective stimuli.

Not to mention --- okay, I'm mentioning it --- that GOP lawmakers are swinging the pendulum in completely the opposite direction. Humane death? Pshaw. They're determined to keep this woman a vegetable to the very end. Removing the tube at least means that she'll have peace relatively soon.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Her husband is not the sole source. Something like fifteen of her close friends have testified that she always said she did not want "heroic measures" to be employed to keep her body alive if she was effectively dead.

That said, as Eleri pointed out, yes, in the name of all that's humane and compassionate, allow her a quick, painless death with dignity. Not this fucking seven-year legal freakshow.

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

Just curious, how do you feel about partial birth abortion? It seems to me an equally barbaric act on a living being, capable of far more pain-sense and cognition at a few months in utero than Terry Shiavo possesses now.