Headlines what is this world coming to? Florida woman thread.

[tzedek]

LINK

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Supreme Court (news - web sites) on Thursday struck down a law that was rushed through the Legislature last fall to keep a severely brain-damaged woman hooked up to a feeding tube against her husband's wishes.

ok has anyone else heard about this? Well basically the story is (if you dont want to read it off the site) this woman got brain damage when he heart stopped beating 15 years ago or so and has been on a feeding tube ever since. Well to make a long story short her husband wanted to remove the tube and let her die but her parents want her to stay alive. So the courts got involved and the of course good ole Jeb did what he could. Well now the law has been struck down, probably with good reason. But still, how fucking sick is this guy? I mean we arent talking about taking someone off life support we are talking about not feeding someone anymore here. She can breathe on her own. So he wants to take away her feeding tube and then let her starve to death. And to top it all off he is going to court to be able to do this. It's sick....

Terri Schiavo, who lives in a Clearwater nursing home, can breathe on her own but relies on a feeding and hydration tube to live. Courts have concluded she is in a "persistent vegetative state," but maneuvering over her fate has produced a closely watched right-to-die fight.

 

[MaxPower]

If I was in that state. I would want someone to do that for me.
My GF works in a nursing home, every once in a while you get a resident that will refuse to eat. If the courts decide that they're mentally capable of making that decision, you can't force them.
I think this is the same thing, except for the fact that he is trying to carry out what he believes are her wishes.

15 years....time to let go.

 

[Shurikane]

Ditto. If I become a veggie, let me die and go sign up somewhere else.

 

[tzedek]

If I was in that state. I would want someone to do that for me.

you would want to be starved to death also?

 

[DanGeo23]

[/QUOTE]A good read on this case...

Highlights...

"And the court has other facts that it is also ignoring. Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband, filed a medical malpractice suit regarding his wife’s injury that caused her to be cognitively disabled. He promised that he would provide her care for the rest of her natural life because she’s not on intensive care or anything of that sort. He brought to the jury a rehabilitation expert with a plan to help Terri get better, but as soon as the money was in the bank, which was $750,000 in a trust fund for Terri," he refused to allow any rehabilitative treatments whatsoever.

"He also got $300,000 more for loss of consortium, and the money went to lawyers," Smith explained.

"Not one day, not one hour, not one minute of rehabilitation time has Terri been given so she could get better. It’s unconscionable.

"This despite that there are doctors testifying under penalty of perjury, not only is Terri not unconscious, but that they believe she could be better. There’s a speech pathologist who has testified most recently under penalty of perjury that he believes that Terri can be weaned from the feeding tube."

Smith said, however, that "as soon as the money was in the bank, Michael put a 'do not resuscitate' order on the chart, realizing back in the early 1990s he would inherit $750,000 if Terri died, and began to refuse medical treatment such as antibiotics for infections and so forth. In 1998, when Terri didn't die he filed a request with Judge Greer to be allowed to remove her feeding tube, and that’s how this whole business started."

Michael would say 'When is she going to die?' 'Has she died yet?' and 'When is that bitch gonna die?'"

on Michael Schiavo's possible motives, Smith emphasized that it was important to realize that Michael Schiavo is engaged to be married.

"He has had one baby by his fiancée, she is pregnant with a second child, they live together and want to get married, and the reason they can’t is that Michael's wife is still alive.

"A conscious person would feel it (dehydration) just as you and I would. They will go into seizures. Their skin cracks, their tongue cracks, their lips crack. They may have nosebleeds because of the drying of the mucous membranes, and heaving and vomiting might ensue because of the drying out of the stomach lining. They feel the pangs of hunger and thirst. Imagine going one day without a glass of water. Death by dehydration takes ten to fourteen days. It is an extremely agonizing death

 

[MaxPower]

you would want to be starved to death also?

what the hell would I care? It would be over soon.

 

[DanGeo23]

10 to 14 days is soon... re-read that last quoted paragraph in my other post... it would suck.. but since the people that are starved don't complain we don't care..

 

[MaxPower]

10 to 14 days is soon... re-read that last quoted paragraph in my other post... it would suck.. but since the people that are starved don't complain we don't care..

I know how long it can take to starve to death. But after 15 years of lying in bed as a vegetable, I could do 10-14 days standing on my head.
Too many people, who put this value on human life, look only at the biological functions. You can be breathing and still not be truly alive. If I were in her state, (aware or not) I would hope someone would be fighting to end it for me; especially if I were aware of my surroundings. Free from having to lay there year in and year out, feeling my bedsores, watching everyone else live their lives. Being able to do nothing but lay there in my own excrement.
Thanks for thinking of me Dan, but if I'm ever a Vedgi, please don't do me any favors.

Now I don't know about that other stuff, like the "When's the bitch gonna die" quote. (couldn't find that on anything but the "NewsMax.com" site) Seems to me this site is like some kind of right wing propaganda site, if you ask me.

It all boils down to Preparing for situations like this. As an individual, we need to make provisions for these events. I have someone who is authorized to make all of my decisions in the event of my inability to do so on my own.
This case is a perfect example of why we all need to plan for these things. I don't need anyone fighting to keep my body alive, when I have no use of it.

 

[dustinzgirl]

Just give her a fatty load of morphine....then she will die smiling. that is how I would want to die If I were her. fuck starving to death.

 

[DanGeo23]

True the quotes came from a site that reports the news from a right wing prospective.. but what truely unbiased news organization is there... and doctors have said she could benefit from rehab... her family wants her alive to fight this.. her husband wants her dead for her money ... and so he can marry his girlfriend that he already has a kid by...

 

[MaxPower]

Because newsmax.com said so.

 

[magnolia]

10 to 14 days is soon... re-read that last quoted paragraph in my other post... it would suck.. but since the people that are starved don't complain we don't care..

It wouldn't matter to me how long it would take. If there was no hope of me recovering to the point where i could live normally or close to normally, then I'd like to be taken off of whatever was keepin me there. I think that 15 yrs. is just too long. Think of the money that it's costing and the emotional stress on the whole family. I say it's time to let this woman go and let everyone grieve.