March 27, 2006
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Terri Schiavo Part 3
About a year ago, Terri Schiavo was in the news. I wrote a post about it and I want to basically deal with the same issue since it is in the news again.
She is the lady who was considered brain dead by the doctors. People saw tapes of her on TV moving around a little and they were concerned about her. Her husband wanted to have her feeding tube removed. There was a long court battle. The issue was played out in the public and it also became a political issue.
If you were Terri Schiavo, would you want your feeding tube removed?
Comments (230)
yes, please.
yess
I get really bored easily and there would be little dignity for me.
yes
Yes.
Yes, and I will have a document stating such. I would not want people to have to assume one way or the other with me, resulting in a similar circumstance (though thankfully my wife and I aren’t in the same marital circumstances)
Yeah I think I would..sad but true…
Yes without a doubt!
i think that i wouldn’t want it remove if i could just live a little bit longer with the family, but if it was drawn out into court battle, then yes. I would rather die knowing that i would not be the cause/burden to those around me.
If I am alive, I want to have a purpose aside from stirring turmoil in politics. Life without purpose is meaningless.
yes
Yes!
if there was no chance of life in the normal sense…then yes…that would just mean I would be with Jesus sooner…
Yes.
i would say yes to your questions
however…
what is the definition of brain dead?
in the can. crim. code if a person ceases to have brain waves then they are legally declared dead.
Yes. In fact when this came up I made a point of telling my parents, my sister, and all of my close friends that if anything like this ever happened to me, to make sure the tube was removed, or whatever it was that was keeping me alive. If that doctors dont think I am coming back, then let me die. Use the money to save some living people.
That is my stance on it anyway.
~~~megan
No. I would like to be injected with something that numbs me and kills me. Starving to death is frightening.
Feeling pain when about to die is just as bad.
yes
there was a case where they removed the respirator off of a supposed brain dead patient, but new impulses had grown through her lungs to help her breathe on her own so they had to remove her feeding tube and it took her like a week and a half to die. first slightly suffocated, then starved to death.
im greedy and restless and i would want to have the feeding tube removed even if i could still sense emotion becuase it would be sentimental and heart-warming, but boring.
God bless her. The Bible clearly states he giveth life, he taketh it away! no stupid husband or doctor, just God!
If I was in pain and/or had no chance of ever fully recovering.
yea
yep
If I had a family who loved me and cared for me I’d let them decide. I wouldn’t want to put them through the “Randy wanted his life to end” if they were willing to take care of me. But in the case of Terri, she had no living will. So her husband, although the courts disagree with me, murdered her.
Yes.
most definately. I would have wished to have died long long ago.
give me obscene amounts of narcs w/ the tube removal please…
Probably yes, for myself.
But I wouldnt remove it because it would devastate my family to completely loose me.
Without a doubt. That is not living.
yes.. i think if i was brain dead and there was no change i could come back i would want to be let go.
Yes
In a word “Yes”.
Candy
Yes.
Absolutely not. Life is not ours to decide. We’re not the author of life, God is. Even if we decide for ourselves whether we want to die, it’s still not right.
That’s my take.
It really depends on how “brain dead” she was. Basically, if she was so brain dead, and I was her, I wouldn’t care because I wasn’t thinking to begin with. Now, if she was more in control than doctors thought, then I would probably be scared witless when they pulled out my feeding tube. So, either I wouldn’t want it out, or I wouldn’t care.
yes, I’d rather die.
I would want the feeding tube removed, I would not want to go through a lifetime of that pain.
was she concious enough to have realized what was going on, but couldn’t communicate?
Yes, most definitely.
I think I would want it removed.
Yet, if I were her family, I’d never want that.
If that were me…you BETTER KILL ME!
absolutly
Hands down: Yes.
yes. if you can’t do anything, say anything and you don’t know anything, what’s the point of living? wouldn’t it be too painful for her family to watch her there like that every day? not to mention the bills racked up…. what the point of that feud was, i guess i can just never understand.
I agree with buytheroses.
no, read the book Stuck In Netural. Its amazing. Its just one point of view or guess, but its really good!
If I had a WILL specifiying that, YES, HOWEVER-
Who gets to decide when someone should die if there is no will?
I believe only God has that right.
I would not want my child to die by starvation. It’s cruel and UNSUAL punishment.
(((((( GRANDMA HUGS ))))))
Lori
Yes.
I would.
Yes…
… I think?
(I’m a little undecided still)
Yes; if the only life I’d ever have would be in that kind of state, then I’d definately want to be let go and allowed to die. Being brain-dead, not truly conscious, is just no way to live. If there were no chance of ever being normal and functioning again, it would be time to just give in and accept the fact that there’s no reason to keep the body living after the soul, the core of the person, is gone.
not if there was some chance of me recovering enough of myself to testify about what the hubby did to make me that way. if not, pull the plug.
megan
Probably
I would want to be killed outright, with an injection or something. I don’t want to starve to death, and I don’t want to live out my “life” in that horrible, not-really-alive state.
That’s not life, that’s hell on Earth.
yes, that’s not living….
I belive that artificially sustaining life with no chance of recovery is like playing God just as much as pulling the tube. If I was in that situation, I would totally pull the tube. In fact, I think the scariest thing in the world would be to have thoughts, but be unable to express them. That’s essentially like being in limbo.
I don’t know honestly… Would have to think about it.
No – Unless I were brain dead, which she wasn’t, she had brain damage. – big difference. – Greedy husband should’ve just divorced her.
Perhaps NO ….. if I knew in that apparent state that I WAS ….Terri Schiavo.
Interesting thought that, huh?
* Oh, that’s right, he didn’t WANT to divorce her because he wouldn’t have gotten any money had he divorced her…
Yes. Then take any organs or tissue or whatever they can from me. Let others have a chance at a fuller life.
Defiinitley. I’m pretty sure something like that could very easily happen to me, seeing as I am a lesbian and my parent’s may or may not believe what my partner says…but we would have all that in writing.
It COULD happen but the chances of it happening are slim.
I just don’t think there is any dignity in that quality of “life.” I’m sure my family would love me enough to not be that selfish in seeing me suffer that way. We all have to go at some point.
yes, either that or hemlock.
Yes…..I would be so dying on the inside to have become that….’til the next
Yes.
Hell yea… I think it was obscene how the courts and media were so obsessed on keeping her alive, when she was clearly brain-dead for years. If it was me, I’d say just pull the damn plug already. Except I’d be unable to. Eesh…
I’m not sure. I really disaprove of suicide, but on the other hand…
I DUNNO. i was soooooooooooooooooo split on the whole thing. i still don’t know what to think.
If I were in her position before, I would say yes, no feeding tube, but once I’m on one, I don’t want to starve to death, so no.
Yep.
If I were her and could, I’d take the feeding tube and strangle him with it.
I agree with aied8pes.
HELL YES! I wouldn’t want anyone wiping my ass and feeding me. I already have a living will all prepared in case that ever happens to me. DO NOT REVIVE ME. LET ME DIE. DO NOT BURY ME. DO NOT PRAY AT MY SERVICE EITHER..
Toss my ashes in the air. have fun at my service. play loud music. serve good food. remember the fun times.
No, I would hate to be starved to death. I would also hate to have the expenses laid heavily on my family, without them having the benefit of knowing my true state. I would prefer to be killed quickly, and as painlessly as possible. Maybe a lethal injection, but I would prefer being even shot or beheaded over having to starve to death.
After 7 years of no brain activity… YES.
yes.
I agree with Megan (a_philosophress) completely. Use the money for something better. If the doctors strongly believe I am brain dead or anything else..Don’t let me stay. Kill me off. The food they are shoving into me could be giving to someone who really needs it.
yep. I find it interesting that no one is answering no…
I have a pact with all of my friends that if I’m ever in the positition where I’m brain dead, or quadripelegic that they’ll do everything within their power to pull the plug. That is not life. Life can’t be measured in time but deeds, and I don’t care how long I live so long as I’m living it to the fullest.
no.. not the way she did in which she starved to death after removing it.
i wouldn’t want to be like that.
she wasn’t really living; she was just dying.
There is a reason for every activity under heaven. … a time to kill and a time to live.
YES!
yes… i’d wanna go home, i’d consider it a disgrace tohumanity to have my body artificially kept alive like that…
yes
She was bulimic. She wasn’t even living technically.
It was selfish to keep her alive, wasting resources.
So, yes, pull the tube.
No. I wouldn’t want to go out like that. Dying of starvation is possibly the most painful and prolonged way to go. If you really intend to die, then please do it in a merciful and painless manner.
There are better ways to die than starving someone to death. If killing someone because of medical reasons is now acceptable, then lethal injection would seem to me to be a more humane practice of euthanasia.
Goodness, but you sure pic volatal subjects. I remember very vividly what was going on during that time.
Personally, I would not want to be a burden on my parents/husband/family/friends/whoever.
But, that isn’t the real issue in Terri’s case, or in countless other cases. I did a little bit of research on the subject while attempting to find a subject for a paper I had to write. The results were frightening. There were many cases where doctors had been advising parents/relations to just take out the tube, or to just let their family member die beacuse they would never be able to function properly, live a normal life, etc… And some of these people were only mentally handicapped, not brain dead. It’s a huge moral dilema, and everybody has to make the decision for themselves.
If I am ever in this situation, I want the end to be quick. Having my feeding tube removed is a horrific idea. When I saw the video clip of Terri, and heard the reports that she could feel, I nearly lost it. The thought that she went for days without food or water before she died pains me. She would have been in agony, and wouldn’t realize why, or know what was happening to her. That’s torture, and completely unnecessary. I could not do that to another human being, let alone someone in her condition. It doesn’t matter that she couldn’t think… she could still feel, and that’s enough for me to still have extremely uncharitable thoughts about her husband and about the whole horrible ordeal in general.
Sorry for the enormous comment, but this touched a hot botton for me.
Yes
i did some research on the case too and discovered that terry was receiving speech therapy, which was helping her find alternative ways to communicate (which doesn’t sound like she was brain dead to me!), but her killer, i mean husband put a stop to it. if i were terry, i would’ve wanted everything that could’ve helped me get better!
Removing her tube would be like somebody committing suicide. It is choosing that you will decide who lives and who dies, not God. I would not want them to remove my tube. God decides when I die, not a man.
God bless,
Shohna
Yes. If I were in that state I wouldn’t even call it life or living.
Why does everyone say god will decide. Her fate was decided and then people used machines to override that fate. But then suddenly it falls back under “god’s” jurisdiction again when they figure out that they screwed up? How does the logic behind that operate?
no
once again, you offer a complicated question to which there is no real answer… I can say now in this state of consciousness I would want it removed, but if I was Her in that situation I would not know… I’ve never been considered brain dead.
-kenneth
No, but I would want to be killed humanely vs. starved to death.
yes
yes, but at that, I think my family should decide over my husband
yes, especially if my wife was still alive. I’d want her to move on.
WOULD U WANT TO LIVE OUT UR DAYS WITH NOTHING BUT A HOSPITAL ROOM AS UR VIEW, NEVER BEING ABLE TO ENJOY YOUR OWN LIFE OR WOULD YOU WANT TO SPARE YOURSELF THE TORTURE.
yeah.
yes, but unfortunatley that was not the case…we don’t know what her wishes were because she didn’t have anything in writing…I find in her case that if there is someone who is willing to take care of her in her state than so be it…the parents should have had more rights there…
Most of the people on here keep stating stuff about “loss of dignity and purpose” as justification for killing a human being as well as themselves were they in that position. That’s a poor argument since your level of dignity is determined by how you use what you’re given, not by your medical condition. If you are lying in that bed braindead, but still manage to be genuinely nice to the people around you, you have more dignity in my eyes than all the smartest, richest, and most athlectic people in the country.
Hmmmmm, that didn’t sound how I wanted it to sound and I was gonna hit on another point, but I’m too tired. Goodnight/morning.
funny i just watched those videos yesterday and it broke my heart. i don’t blame her parents, but i would rather die than be a veg
yes, I’ll be better with God.
No. I am not my own, but belong body and soul to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. It is totally up to Him whether I live or die, and I trust Him with my life. I cannot say yes, because that would be almost equal to taking my own life, which is a sin. Christians are supposed to do everything in their power to preserve their own life, and the lives of others. Just in case, I apologize in advance for being a nuisance. But I would still be a child of God, precious in His sight. His person, not yours.
One question: After you start killing off people like Mrs. Schiavo, where does the killing stop?
Yes, I would.
Yes, I’ve already discussed this with my parents and husband – now I just need to put it on paper. If I’m never going to be me and a feeding tube and machines are the only thing keeping me with the living, then let me go – just shut it off.
If I truly were brain dead then yes… if I were like her and were alert and maybe even had a chance of some recovery, then definitely no. I would want my parents to be happy and I would be glad to have them with me, even if there was no chance of recovery. At least I could spend the rest of my life with the people I loved, and yes I would be aware of it. Michael Schiavo is a murderer. You can even tell that from his interviews on TV.
And to everyone who says “She was living on machines, she wasnt alive anyway” in that case we’ll just take all the babies off incubators and take away all the feeding tubes for people in nursing homes and for children with severe acid reflux. We will basically just wipe out every wekaer person on this planet because we are too selfish to take care of them.
*weaker
No! I would want to be fed , if I were alive….my family wanted to be with me and would help me. In Terris case….her husband had already moved on , had another family and did not spend money for Terris health.
Is he the pig?
I am not much of a reader but plan to read the book by her family.
Brain Dead = Basically Dead.
So why would I want to prolong the suffering of others.
I don’t want them to be forced to mourn for me for 10 years with their wallet.
That’s selfish.
But hell, if I was Terry Schiavo, I’ld be brain dead,
So I couldn’t answer your question.
Or even know you were asking it.
Or even care much.
Or care about anything at all.
I dont know, i personally would want to die and be with Jesus sooner rather than later, but letting a person starve to death is awful,
No — who wants to die of dehyrdration and starvation. But I’d be inclined to leave it up to my family.
“God bless her. The Bible clearly states he giveth life, he taketh it away! no stupid husband or doctor, just God!
Posted 3/27/2006 at 9:53 PM by xx_ExtraordinaryMachine_xx”
Going by that logic, I’m just curious if you forgo all medical treatment. After all, who are you or the doctor to interfere with G-d’s will to cure and/or treat cancer, heart attacks, respiratory ailments, traumatic injury, etc? If G-d wanted you to die from a ruptured spleen from a car accident, who are you and the trauma surgeon to impede his will?
Absolutely yes. My sister and I disagree totally on this….but different points of view are OK. I’d hate for my son to have to make that decision…but he knows how I feel….so he would respect my wish and let me go….
Yes definately. I wouldn’t want my family sitting around with false hope thinking one day I would be ok. If I’m brain dead and not able to sustain my own life without a feeding tube, then by all means, remove it and let my family grieve over my death and then move on.
Probably
I wouldn’t even want the fucking thing put in. If I’m not going to be able to recover and there is NO way I’m going to be able to do things without help and it’s just lenghtening my death… don’t even put it in.
Besides the fact of my physical pain… I wouldn’t want my family to baby me all the time… they have lives too.
after that incident, my spouse and i had an agreement on the length of time before the tube is to be removed.
not at all. everybody has the right to life, no matter what their situation is. thats one of the principles our country was founded on.
“we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” – declaration of independence
what determines the quality of a persons life? better yet, who? nothing and nobody can. only God has that power. who are we to say who should live and who should die? if i were ever in terris situation, i would want to live. my life is a precious gift from God, one that nobody should have the ability to take away from me (which enters into the abortion debate, but lets not go there for right now.)
your life is the most precious thing in the world. cherish it.
i have read and reviewed all sorts of matter involving Terri, living here in Florida i can’t help it. I can not even imagine the torment that she was going through physically. even though there is evidence that says she could not “feel” anything. not being able to speak with her personally, how do we really know that? maybe it’s considered inhumane to feed a person through tubes and such, but if her parents were willing to step in and take care of her … then why would the judicial system and Michael take that away from them? especially if (according to most sources) she couldn’t feel anything, how would it be wrong to live her last days with her parents providing for her? i can’t say that i believe that. i do know that i have a living will that says … recessitate me. but i do not want to live by artifical means, unless i can breathe on my own and my heart is beating all by itself and there is brain wave activity. so in a sense, if nutrition was all that i needed, give it to me! from what i understand terri was breathing on her own. she didn’t need a respirator, all she needed was food and hydration to sustain life … doesn’t every human being need the same? in this case i think i would choose to be left alive for no more than 2 to 3 years and if significant medical procedures could not help me to maintain at least half the quality of life that i had previously sustained, then i would want to be put out of my misery. i’m just not completely sure that everything was tried to help her regain a better quality of life. i think this case was simply a matter of, it had gone on too long and everyone involved (except her parents) were just tired of dealing with it. which is sad … very sad.
absolutely. twice in my family we have had to make decisions about terminating life support for relatives who were brain-dead > my uncle as the result of a fall, and my grandmother. fortunately my uncle died before they could implement our decision, and my grandmother, at 88, had made her wishes known so it was much easier. it did prompt talks within the family, though, so that each of us is clear about what the others want.
i say hell yeah now. but i wonder if i were actually in the situation, would i be terrified of death. right now i’m choosing between my perfect health and that. but if i were there, i would be choosing between that and death. big difference.
if god “giveth and taketh away” and no “stupid doctor or husband” where do we end our intervention? it’s obviously a big no-no to intervene to take life, but why isn’t it the same to give life. if it’s up to god, not the doctors’ then arguably we should remove all the doctor’s technology and let god do what he will with her, live or die, no?
first off, she wasn’t brain dead… originally… her husband terminated her rehab early on… ( The woman was learning to speak and hold a spoon by herself, for crying out loud!)… She could still look at others, and communicate… yes, she was on respiration, but she was ALIVE… and it wasn’t like they gave her a shot, they took her feeding tube away, and let her STARVE to death…
I think that what was done to her should be done to her odious cheating husband : they should restrain him to a hospital bed, and watch him slowly starve to death… allowing her mother and her father and the rest of her family watch, and allow THEM the option as to whether or not to give him life…
Also, he didn’t even let her family bury her the way she wanted…. but he fought them to have her cremated (presumably to save on costs…)…. The man is vile and sick…
YES, I WOULDN’T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THAT AT ALL. IT’S SO SAD FOR THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU.
GOOD MORNING DAN! WE HAVE TO TALK…LOL
DEBBIE
Yes, you can’t call what she had living
Yes. One thing I’ve noticed about people who are dying is that they quit eating on their own. Force-feeding them is not a kindness.
yes. release me.
I would never have wanted the feeding tube or any of that to begin with. What it all comes down to is that you need to make your family (all of them) aware of what you would want in such a situation.
I don’t think anyone can say unless they were in her shoes and only then would they know for sure.
I guess it wouldn’t be considered killing since she couldn’t sustain life without artificial measures.
The carnal instinct is to cling to life by any means, but that doesn’t mean that it always has to prevail. I am guessing that if she is capable of thought on a high enough level to even consider the question, then she is likely to have periods wherein the desire is to cling to life and periods wherein she wants to pass on.
But in the end, who really could say?
L,r
yes. if there were no chance of my brain being normal again… i don’t think i’d want to live life as a vegetable. what’s the point?
I can only speak from what I would want, and my values. I would not want the tube removed, and would not want to be murdered. Death comes naturally; there is no need to hurry it. Where there is life, there is hope, and miracles are naturally occurring events. That case illustrated how barbaric and foolish people think they can play God.
Yes. I wouldn’t want to live in that state.
Poor Terri. We had to watch this whole thing play out for a long time down here in Florida.
I think that when Michael Schaivo divorced Teri and remarried, his power of attorney should have been placed with family. He’s a cruel person, and I think it’s a total joke that he’s trying to make money on a new book calling it the truth. You can take one look at that guy and know he’s an ass, and his actions have proved it over the years. Think about it, you say something in passing while watching a movie -I’d never want to live like that, but then it happens to you. Wouldn’t you want every last moment…REALLY? Besides, he didn’t visit her, he didn’t care about her. He took her money and spent it on legal fees to have her tube removed. He fought long, hard and mean to let her die-and there was a chance she could have lived. He took her money-money that could have been spent on physical therapy and rehabilitation. Who knows what her quality of life would have been like-but she had a relationship with her family and still responded to them, especially her mother. Then, he tried to have her buried out of state away from her home and her family. He changed his mind at the last minute, anyways…There was a whole lot more to this story-but the one thing I can say I learned was that everyone should have a living will. Really think about it and really decide what you would want. As for me? I say FIGHT. FIGHT FIGHT! Keep me kicking. Miracles happen every day, and as long as you see me responding in some respect-then I’m fighting to be there. On the other hand, I am glad that Terri finally has some peace. I wish her dying moments didn’t have to be with that asshole though. He must have been a stranger to her by that time. Yeah, he kept his promise alright. He took her money, he divorced her, he married someone else, and he sued the country to have her killed.
>Absolutely! No ifs, ands or exceptions. There is, in my opinion, NO quality of life for this type of injured person and for anyone to demand that she be kept alive in such a non-communicative state is selfish and stupid. I personally don’t believe that God intended any such stupidity, just that it turns out some folks don’t catch-on.
Peace
she was in a vegitive state, so she didn’t know anything was going on. For her, se was asleep. And a feeding tube is a big deal. If I’m on a respirator, unplug me, but a feeding tube???
What would you want, Dan?
Amazingly you’d have to think like her to make that decision, I won’t say if I wanted it removed or not, no one can truely understand it unless they were her. It’s easy to throw a yes or a no up there. ‘If you were her’ you’d have to be brain dead and then decide.
i guess id let my family decide i was never good with decisions
Technically speaking, if I were Terry Schaivo, I wouldn’t want anything because I wouldn’t be able to.
But untechnologically speaking, I would want it removed. No sense in living if you’ve got nothing to live for.
Yes. If I’m not coming back, greive for a few months and then pull the plug. Don’t drag it out for ten years and don’t try to keep me alive only because you want to be my legal gaurdian and take some money away from it. Why would her parents not have agreed to let the money be donated to charity? It was there in wiritng and they declined to use it to help others. Anyone could see that there was no hope that she’d just “snap out of it”. It’d been over ten years. I don’t know many people that would want to be left laying a bed, drooling on themselves and having someone change thier diaper day in and day out. No, thank you. If we didn’t have all of this medical machinery? If nature would have been left to take it’s course? She wouldn’t have laid there those 10 years. She would have dehydrated and died long ago. So wouldn’t that, logically, seem to be God’s will?
Hmm… If I had her husband, please remove the tube. However… There is always some chance that a person will wake up from that. Slim, but there.
You bet – I even have a living will to make sure that is never a controversy.
I think I’d prefer a lethal injection or perhaps a bullet.
[God bless her. The Bible clearly states he giveth life, he taketh it away! no stupid husband or doctor, just God!
Posted 3/27/2006 at 9:53 PM by xx_ExtraordinaryMachine_xx]
The problem with that is God isn’t the one keeping her alive, the doctors are. God put her in the position she’s in in the first place, as long as you believe in God that is, the doctors are the ones trying to help her cheat “God’s will”…
If I was totally brain dead, and there was no way of bringing me back, I’d probably want it removed. Though I would prefer some time to elapse first, just in case. I have no clue how much time however…
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I did a bog post on this last year when the story was hnfolding. See my April 1st 2005 post
The story has been on the news every where you turned. Some media outlets provided in-depth coverage. Others—they did the cliffnotes version of covering the story and failed much like the freshman college student taking Shakespeare who didn’t read everything his professor assigned, and failed the final exam because he relied on cliffnotes to prepare for the test. The result of failing to prepare and do the details amounts to a failing grade upon which his scholarship requirements at school mandated for receiving the funding. Thus the word picture for some of those media outlets who didn’t perform due dilligence for the story.
.
The saga lasted 13 days. A family desparate in saving their daughter and sister exhausted every means possible and then some to save Terri Schivos life. They encountered legan obstacles and suffered at least 11defeats in their appeals to the courts asking for the restoration of Terri’s feeding tube in order to give her the sustinance to survive. A critical chapter break in the story came yesterday with her passing
The judiciary in their denial of 11 court appeals is drunk with the power of being able to dismiss laws, and issue court orders where more harm is being done than good. A woman who has been sick for awhile, was ushered to her death because she was denied nutrition and hydration for the last two weeks. She was given a death sentence without due process, and treated more cruely and inhumanely than convicter murderers who await their execution on death row. At least those guys are able to eat and drink. This woman was denied the right to live because what was readily available in terms of food and water was not an option for her to have. She died at the hands of an unelected, unaccountable, and out of control judiciary.
There are a lot of thoughts and opinions out in the marketplace of ideas across america, and a lot of questions.Was there a living will with direct instructions on how Terri wanted to live out her days? Did she want to live and be maintained via the feeding tube? Did she want to die by whatever means possible to move things along quickly? Lots of questions and speculation, but no documentation or evidence indicating what Terri wanted in that situation.
I think about the government’s intervention in this whole situation and a lot of people are skiddish and skeptical of the way the US government handled things in this case. What should have been done? What should people have done properly. As President Bush stated earlier this week, when it comes to life and death decisions and dilemmnas, we need to lean towards the side of life.
Another issue that comes to mind which was throughly sad and unconscienable was the conduct of a Circuit Court judge named Grier. The legal authority of Governor Jeb Bush’s ability to do something was literally handcuffered by means of a court order. Governor Bush should be applauded for his willingness to take the risk and step out in desiring to see that something was done on Terri’s behalf, but a former lawyer, now appointed to the bench, who dons a black robe and sits up on high in the courtroom issued a court order to make sure nothing could happen to save the life of a woman held hostage inside her body because of her condition. Add to that her inability to communicate what she truly wanted, and you have a situation that is unconscienible.
What next? The story will continue to unwrap and a lot of unanswered questions will hopefully have some answers to them. Another obvious task is the need for President Bush to be able to select some new Supreme Court Justices for the bench to replace those vacancies of those who will soon retire. These new appointments neeed to be men of Character, Integrity, Conscience, Morality, and need to have the ability to discern rulings and judgements with the wisdom of Solomon.
It’s all 20/20 now. Perhaps Governor Bush should have excecuted the game plan to go in under his Executive authority to take Terri and place her under the protection of the state. He did have that mandate until he revealed some of his thoughts and intentions of the plan. It has been said you cannot make a rescue from a position of comfort. You need to risk. As a leader, Governor Bush should have just taken the risk and asked forgiveness later. But that’s now hindsight looking at this story via the rear view mirror in the middle of a story not totally yet unfolded.
There will be a day when a Judge who has a higher authority than the United State Supreme Court will have His say on decisions which have been rendered by all parties involved. There will be an accounting for every decision rendered. Every appeal that was denied will finally be granted. Every wrong suffered will be made right, Every debt will be satisfied. Justice will finally be served because every judgement, sentence, appeal, and rendering will be made right because the one who judges is Just.
This story will have some continuances. While most of america is tired of seeing this story continually being told in print, in broadcast and on the internet, it is a story that needs to be paid attention to because the legal, ethical, and moral implications have an impact on potential constitutional trends in the future.
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6:58 PM – add eprops – add comments – email it
If I were that far gone, then yes.
defiantly. it would hurt my family for a while, killing their hope that i might survieve but in the end they would move on and find someone who could play the role i played in their hearts. i wouldn’t want them to waste their lives at my bedside. if my body isn’t there to serve as a constant reminder they would be able to spend less time thinking of me. I also feel that a life without your mind intact or any brain capabilities is like a corpse with a beating heart.
Yes, I don’t want my loved ones to see me in that condition. If by chance I do get better, but I doubt I’d be able to do the things that I do now and that would just kill me inside.
If I were Terry Schiavo, I don’t think I would want anything either way, because presumably I’d be brain dead. I truly hope she was, and that she was not conscious of all the mess that surrounded her.
It’s rather amusing that some people still feel the need to debate whether or not she was actually brain dead…
“I can only speak from what I would want, and my values. I would not want the tube removed, and would not want to be murdered. Death comes naturally; there is no need to hurry it. Where there is life, there is hope, and miracles are naturally occurring events. That case illustrated how barbaric and foolish people think they can play God.”
Posted 3/28/2006 at 10:17 AM by merfolklore
But wasn’t it playing god in sustaining life when the body was horrible damaged and the mind inside absolutely gone? I really really wish someone would explain at which times one IS allowed to “play god” and when it becomes odious and morally reprehensible.
If i were Terry, and if i could talk for one moment. i would say ” Mom, Dad, i love you so much for being there for me through out this. But you have to learn to let go, and know that i am going to a better place”
I wouldn’t want to ‘live’ like that.
<33
well if i was that concious to be able to make a decision no.
Yes wiuth no doubt
yep
No, and bash me if you will, but I don’t think they should have taken hers out either. I think it was murder.
I wouldn’t want my tube to be pulled because I’m a huge believer in miracles. The only time I’d want it to be pulled if it was causing someone I know anxiety or depression or something hurtful. I want everyone to just be happy…
Pesky
Yes. It’s not like I am going to get any better, it’s not like I know what is happening, it’s not like I am aware, and so it’s not suicide.
Even if I my brain was fully functioning, what good would it be if I was trapped in my body? 15 years would be way too long to be trapped in a body unable to communicate. While I would prefer a nice peacefull overdose, if having my feeding tube removed was the only way to go, then so be it.
Yes… I have already made it clear to anyone who could ever be in the situation to have to make that call for me. That should I ever be in that situation, I would want the tube removed, or the oxygen, depending on what the case was.
Yea..
Yes, I would have no reason whatsoever to survive, and anything that comes after life would, at the very least, be about as boring.
Yes, I’d like the tube removed.
yeah
god yes. did anyone find out how she ended up in this state? i looked into it…and she got her brain damage as a result of anarexia…from starving herself. isnt that ironic?
if my family wanted me to live i would and if not i would not want to slowly and painfully die of starvation almost anything else would be better.
I’m betting that if I was Terri Schiavo, I wouldn’t have opinions about much of anything.
Yep.
I made a promise to myself that when I’m older and know who i’ll be spending the rest of my life with, I will tell them very firmly that if something like this ever happened to me, please let me die. Don’t make me suffer.
yes! please let my brain waves wave bye-bye..
yes
Yes!!! I pray that if I’m ever in that kind of situation, my family would plug the plug. I would rather go home to Jesus then live as a vegetable.
If I were ill I would hope people would feed me. If you are going to murder someone why do give them a shot of potassium or overdose of morphine rather than starving them to death. I guess a murderer usually does not take into account the pain they may cuase with their action.
btw in the case of Terri Schiavo she had no cognative abilities and only the most primative of brain functions. There would have been absolutely no suffering in the case of starvation because she had no way of knowing about it. I personally believe she died years ago and only a shell of a body was all that remained toward the end.
Somebody damn well better remove mine if it happened to me. I’d hate to just sit there like a vegetable.
Yes. I don’t see how anyone can consider that living. Yes, you may technically be alive, but for what? You can’t enjoy life or do anything. You can’t communicate. Who wants to spend the rest of their life like that? You can pull my plug anyday.
Yes.
Of course.
On another note, when the subject of ” God giving life and only he can take it away”… the reality comes up of bringing up the natural course of death. Before all of the technology we have today and life saving measures, our bodies died without interference. We were not a deciding factor. So, that being said, in the case of Terri Shiavo, all of the technology was keeping her from where she was supposed to be.
yes I would, as a matter of fact , I myself being the oldest out of ten children (my dad married 2 times) I had to make a decision last May when he was on the oxygen machine, nobody wanted to make a decision but I had, the machine was breathing for him 95%. It is a hard decision if you have not been there I pray alot of you don’t ever have to be in that situtation.
Yes, I think I would because what’s the point in living then? Sure the family knows you’re still alive and all, I’d really hate to be a vegetable.
i’D HAVE TO SAY YEAH. iF i WAS DEFiNETELY BRAiN DEAD AND WAS GOiNG TO BE i WOULD WANT TO. i DON’T THiNK i WOULD WANT TO STARVE TO DEATH THOUGH. i WOULD HOPE THEY WOULD MAKE iT QUiCKER AND LESS PAiNFUL. THAT’S WHAT WAS THE WORST PART OF THE WHOLE ORDEAL i THiNK. iMAGiNE LAYiNG THERE STARViNG AND NOBODY DOiNG ANYTHiNG FOR YOU.
<3 EMMiE
yeah, definitely.
yes people especilly some teens would be laughin because im a “tard”
nope
yes
Yes, I would not want to live in that state.
If all that could be done to help me was tried, and there was no way I could live as more than a vegetable, I would want to me taken off life support. Living as nothing is not worth living.
[ariana]
Yes– I would hate to be burden on my family.
Yes, there are more important things for the courts to be battling over than rather or not a practically dead person should be kept alive to suffer more. If I am going to be in a vegitative state for more than a month, and it is not likly I will ever recover from it again, take me off of whatever is keeping me alive.
i wouldn’t have wanted to be on a feeding tube for that long in the first place. if i’m so ill/injured/persistently comatose that machines are the only thing that would keep me alive, i’d rather die. save my body the suffering (as i’m sure my soul would have already left), and my family the expense of paying to keep my body alive.
yes if God wanted me to die I would die. However, I do not agree with the proceedings that went on with that case. My opions for my own life should not affect whether someone else lives or dies. If she isn’t worth living than when do we draw the line for who is worth living. I mean how old or messed up do you have to be to have your life taken away from you. I stood alone in this view at my school for a while until she died. We are NOT God. We should not decide whether someone wants to live or die.
Yes, I would like my feeding tube removed..no way would I want to suffer and have it publicly fought over!
<3 Olivia
P.S. those pics are horrible! :*(
if u were terri schiavo you wouldnt know the difference between feeding tube or no feeding tube becaus eyou couldnt process thoughts
yes, that is not a good life to live. why would you want to live there ONLY livein gbecause you are on a feeding tude? what do you think?
Most likely, but I think its the burden of the doctors and family to determine what she wanted. I’m not sure that any of them did this in an unselfish way, and let their feelings rule the fight.
yes
but also, i think it is the parents decision sometimes, but they were not putting them in her place though.
¢¾
yes, i would want the feeding tube removed. i think what some people may not quite understand about terri schiavo’s case is that SHE WAS BRAIN DEAD. meaning she had no sense of emotion, no feeling, no nothing. i don’t mean this rudely to anyone that has had to deal with this before, but she was basically just a shell. she couldn’t think for herself, not to mention she wouldn’t have known she was starving to death. i’m all for not having my family keep me on any kind of life support. if god wants to take me, then there’s nothig man can do about it.
britney
yes
i don’t know what i would say until that day comes…but i do know this i would never leave it up to a husband whom i was divorcing or to a doctor. personally i wouldn’t leave it to my dad either (he is both a doctor and the ex husband of my mother) and he would see me starve to death before he’d help me
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Interesting question this time, because my dad’s side of the family just decided to remove my grandmother’s feeding tube. Hard decision… even though everyone tends to say “yes” to your question. And I, for one, also say “yes” as well.
starving would be a very bad way to die…then again all ways to die are bad sooo…quick and painless…a shot would work…at least that’s what i would want…
~k-ryu
I’m glad we all are comfortable with deciding when a human being’s life gets to end yet we cry bloody murder when a malicious dictator who tortures his own innocent subjects is taken out of power. That’s very consistent.
Yes, I would, theres a difference between paralyzation and brain dead, she was brain dead. You can’t live being brain dead.
I wouldn’t have them starve me to death. Lethal Injection, if I was of no use to anybody.
We aren’t here just for ourselves. If we aren’t worth anything to anybody, we shouldn’t expect them to keep us alive.
Yes.
Absolutely not. Life is not ours to decide. We’re not the author of life, God is. Even if we decide for ourselves whether we want to die, it’s still not right.
That’s my take.
Posted 3/27/2006 at 10:18 PM by WideEyesofLife
How is NOT removing the feeding tube letting God decide? Isn’t that deciding for him, since it’s artificially keeping you alive? Without technology, she should have died a long time ago.
I don’t see how anyone would want to stay alive like that.
yes… i woulsn’t want 2 suffer like that 4 soooooo long… and im glag she got it removed.. she’s alot happier this way i think…. c/b -ryan -
Whatever God wishes.
Once again with the shit… Ok… She’s dead… her bastard husband is re-married with a slut and Shiavo parents are grieving… once again thanx for the Supreme Court. Maybe they should give death sentences in the lapse of 24 hours to Sexual Predators…
you better believe it
if there is breath yet in me, then God is not done with me yet; its not our right to say when we should die. so…NO!!!
well, i have serious issues with mr. shiavo and maybe her family – whoever decided to put the feeding tube in. I wouldn’t want it in the first place if i didn’t have brain activity! if i am that bad off, let me die in the beginning, then this situation would never come up.. at this point mr. shiavo is commiting what i think amounts to murder… if they decided to keep me alive with a feeding tube then keep me on it until i die… “naturally”
and how long was she on the feeding tube?
yes
Yes.
yes
No I would not want it turned off, in case there was a very slim chance that I could be revived…
Different question.
If someone wants to die and you kill them, is that murder?
NO! My feaading tube? The thought of starving to death really does not appeal to me. As long as I wasn’t in a lot of pain in the physical and mental state I was in, I would like to remain living. Terri Schiavo was a living breathing human being. She had the capability of communicating with those that spent time with her. What happened to her wasn’t “the right thing to do”. It was murder.
Terri Schiavo may have wanted to remain living… For all anyone knows she was screaming on the inside saying “please don’t kill me”. And to “the_moesy” Life without purpose is meaningless… But her life had purpose pressed down, shaken togther abd running over.
Who are any of us to judge whether or not somebodys life has meaning? Is not the meaning of everyones life different? Who are we to judge?
Yes
yes
God bless her. The Bible clearly states he giveth life, he taketh it away! no stupid husband or doctor, just God!
Posted 3/27/2006 at 9:53 PM by xx_ExtraordinaryMachine_xx
If God had had his way, she should have died when her husband found her on the floor after her stroke. God doesn’t keep people alive; people keep people alive. If you’re going to argue that God wanted her to stay alive with the help of machines and PEOPLE CARING FOR HER, then you would HAVE TO SAY that god wanted her to die because people were going to remove her feeding tube. Otherwise you’re just being a hypocrite.
Speaking of which, removing the feeding tube, is an entirely cruel and inhumane way to die, but it is the only thing we can do since assisted suicide is illegal. Your pet can get put to sleep peacefully by a lethal injection, but if you want to die you have to wait it out and suffer. Intolerable cruelty. Even criminals get more humane deaths than braindead people.
Needless to say, I would never want to be in alive if I wasn’t myself. I want to be remembered as the intelligent, artistic, eloquent person I am, not as a vegetable.
So I would say, “Yes.”
My band is called the Terri Schiavo Experience
We would love our feeding tubes gone.
No, I would not like it removed. Do anything in your power, to keep me or anyone you may love, alive. I do not believe in mercy killing. I believe you ask God to receive the answer to your prayer, and …anything may be possible. So, pray, and use commands to God for him to release power. And you can heal in Jesus’ Name! You can raise people from the dead. You can… fix cars? Yes. You can raise a person out of a coma. If you believe. I can do it. So can you.
yes. people die for a reason, science shouldn’t always interfere with that.
yes, yes, yes