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wijg

wijg

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The Old Same Place
Ok, we have a topic on Blake and Peterson. I refuse to start the one about the Michael Jackson trial, however, I would be interested in hearing opinions on the Schiavo issue. Should she be kept alive or not? What role does the government have, if any, in this issue? If you were to create a living will, what would your choice be?
 
I wanted to start a thread about this a week ago, but just didnt want to cause a stir. This is a serious situation and something needs to be done immediatly to put her feeding tube back in.

1. Her husband has been accused of mistreating his wife by 2 nurses.
2. Her husband has a new family and children.
3. her husband has refused treatemtns for his wife that some Doctors say might help.
4. Her family wants the feeding tube reinserted.
5. Some doctors say that it is possible for her to recover with new or undone treatments.

Just 5 reasons that they need to reinsert the tube, not to mention the fact that starvation is one of the cruelest ways to die.
 
[a]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7290818/[aa]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7290818/[/a]

This is so sad.
 
Not to mention, she still communicates through grunts which shows she's aware of the outside world, even if she may not be completely present mentally. She is not in a complete vegetative state, and starving someone is terribly inhumane. I typicallly support the position to let people die when there is no hope, but all circumstances are different and hers is extenuating. With a possibility for recovery, I would think it would be considered wrongful death. She's been starving for 10 days now. That's torturous.
 
I am not sure how I feel about this situation. On one side I do not think that her husband, does not care about her or in any way wanted what heppend to her to happen. She has been in that state for some time now...Almost as long as I been alive. That alone is one of the most painful things to see a loved one go through. Also when she wakes up what will she wake up to? Her husband has left her and has raised another family. Sure she has her parents, but Its hard to believe that she wants to live in the state that she is living in. One more thing...there is a very very slim chance that she will ever get out of the state that she lives in.

Then on the other side, she is still responsive to some things, and my very well want to live. And like you said before starvation is one of the most inhumane things a person could do to another. If they can't kill her then they should just let her live out the rest of her life and put the tube back in.

These are one of the few situations where there is just no right answer. Take out her feeding tube, you are makeing her suffer and theres a chance she wants to live. Put the feeding tube back in, there is a chance you are making her suffer even more. I am glad I am not the person making this decision.
 
I do think it is a decision for the family and not the US government. But unfortunately, it sounds like there is debate about who qualifies as family. Her husband wants the feeding tube out, the parents want the feeding tube in. Who gets to make the call? I must be reading some of the wrong articles. I didn't realize that some doctors give her a chance. I thought it was pretty much hopeless with current technology.

Again, I think it is a family issue. If they have the means, and her life support resources couldn't better be used with someone who has a higher probability of success, I say they can keep her alive indefinitely. They have done it for 15 years. I do think that detail is very daunting with regards to her recovery. I know nothing about brain injury sufferers, but I think the fact that she has been in the state she is in, vegetative or not, for so long is a bad sign for her chance of recovery. But who knows. The Dark Tower works in mysterious ways.
 
I think as long as she's in the state she's in, it's murder and not anyone's decision. I think the law should redefine its definition of "vegetative state." If she's interacting--even if she's not making sense--she's not in a vegetative state, or at least she shouldn't be considered to be in one. Communication is strong proof that she is at least somewhat aware of her surroundings--she's aware enough to interact with the people in her surroundings.
 
It doesn't matter what I would want or what we THINK she would want. Noone has the right to kill her because they THINK she wouldn't want to be alive when the variety of medical treatments they haven't tried on her because her husband wouldn't allow it might actually help her. Her husband--who'll be rich after she dies--has a girlfriend and has only stayed married so that he can have her killed and get the $700,000. There will no doubt be a wrongful death suit...
 
What's the money from? Savings? Life-insurance policy? I hadn't heard the issue of the inheritance brought into things.

I do think it is interesting how much attention this story is getting. It just goest to show you the power of the media. I mean, she has been in this state for 15 years, and the sudden attention causes many people to think all of this just happened. If they reinsert her feeding tube, are all the vigil keepers going to stay until she wakes up or dies of natural causes? Are we going to get continued news updates every few weeks? Somehow I doubt it. If she dies, I imagine we will get reports of the ensuing trial (I have to agree with dissonantfeet on the fact that if she dies there will be some kind of trial. Someone will sue someone over this) for a few weeks, but I think interest will eventually fade. This post may be showing my cynical side, but the power of the media intrigues. While I think Teri Schiavo is in a terrible situation, I just find it interesting that all of this attention is being directed towards one person, when almost no one else but the family should have any say in the matter. I wish the media would direct some of their attention to the research scientists somewhere who are working on a solution to this medical quandary. Then, maybe they would get more support and this situation wouldn't have to happen again.

Anyways, sorry about the rant. Like I said, the media phenomenon intrigues me. We can return to the comments about Teri Schiavo now.
 
If you're going to talk about money, don't forget that the parents have not had to work in several years. Charities and churches are paying for thier mortgage, food, and legal fees. When she dies, the money stops coming.

This doesn't change my mind though, I still think whats going is awful. But there is a lot more to this.
 
That may be true. So should she die for that reason?

Further, her husband has 2 kids from his fiance. They've had a long relationship, he's engaged to her, but hasn't divorced his wife yet. hmm. There's a big difference between staying married to her so he can become rich when she dies and receiving charity.
Her parents may very well be keeping her alive for all the free chicken dinners they're getting from their church, but that's not something that's easily proven. If this guy goes to court in a wrongful death suit, you can bet his position will be more difficult to defend.

I'm normally on the other side of this argument, but this case includes important differences, and one is that there is the possibility that she can improve. We don't know for sure, however, because her husband has refused to allow the doctors to try them.
 
I think the biggest issue with this case is that her husband's motives have been questioned. Some ask why he doesn't divorce her and let the parents assume the responsibilities of caring for her since they clearly want to.

In this respect, it's difficult to let the family decide, because they don't agree. The husband normally has the right to decide, but again this case is peculiar for a number of reasons. That's whenrethe courts come in.

I think you're right about the media. It's a powerful tool and it does affect how we feel and what we consider to be important. I dont't think people will be holding vigils if they did reinsert her feeding tube for good. But, they wouldn't have to. People meet up, protest and sit in in order to create change. Once the change is made, they move on.
 
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