Even if you're unable to walk, talk, nourish yourself, change your own clothes, or communicate in any way whatsoever with the outside world, the government will still make sure you'll be fed by a tube for the remainder of your cognitively inactive days:
The House of Representatives stepped in with legislation that would delay removal of a feeding tube from a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband has been given permission by a state court to let her die.
The House acted late Wednesday evening after a Florida appeals court refused, earlier in the day, to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
...
The House bill, passed on a voice vote, would move such a case to federal court. Federal judges have twice turned down efforts by the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to move the case out of Florida courts, citing a lack of jurisdiction.Senate Republicans are introducing a separate bill to give Schiavo and her family standing in federal court, and they hope it can be debated on Thursday, a GOP aide said.
Finally, we can add "Persons in Persistent Vegetative State with No Likelihood of Improvement" to "Zygotes and Blastulae" on the comprehensive list of Organisms the GOP Care About. Poor children, pregnant women, and just about anybody else can go piss up a rope, apparently.
Fifteen years. Forgive me, but I don't care what kind of rudimentary swallowing relexes have been witnessed, fifteen years without speaking or moving independently seems pretty demonstrative of "vegetative" to me. Let the poor woman die already.
Under the House legislation, a federal judge would decide whether withholding or withdrawing food, fluids or medical treatment from an incapacitated person violates the Constitution or U.S. law.
It would apply only to incapacitated people who had not left directives dealing with being kept alive artificially and for whom a state judge had authorized the withholding of food or medical treatment.
Consider this another argument for getting your living will in order, I guess.
It's been asked before, but are there any actual conservatives left in the Republican party? Now they're going to clog up federal courts with this kind of case? I guess states' rights only apply to things over which the Christian right don't get their panties in a bunch.
The Florida appeals court said in Wednesday's ruling that the issues the Schindlers' raised were not new ones and had been dealt with previously by numerous courts.
"Not only has Mrs. Schiavo's case been given due process, but few, if any similar cases have ever been afforded this heightened level of process," Chief Judge Chris Altenbernd wrote.
Silly judge. Now, more than ever, there's no facet of your life the federal government isn't happy to screw up. If we allow Terri Schivao to die, it will be yet another victory for the terrorists who don't value the culture of life the way we do.
And we'd appreciate it if you didn't bring up those 35 people Florida executed in the last 15 years, mmmkay?
This annoys the piss out of me. I don't believe in heaven or hell, but if there is I think these people who refuse to let the woman finally die are in for a big surprise. It's not really particularly nice to torture the poor woman indefinitely.
Fresh off their decision to confront the terrible, culture-shattering scourge that is steroid use by multimillionaires, the Republican-run Congress has rushed to action to put a stop to judicial proceeding in Florida (the Republicans sure do have a dee......
| --Posted to Bloodless Coup on Mar 17, 2005 10:28 AM:. |
"Let's accidentally bomb all those the able-bodied, non-in-a-coma Iraqi civilians. Screw 'em. It's not the same."
Here's some food for thought:
You gotta wonder what would happen if you threw all these right-wing fundamentalist Christian conservatives in a room with a bunch of Christian Scientists (who are against medical technology). Who would win?
Note to self: do not retire in Florida.
I continue to struggle with this issue. Some of the video I've seen of her makes her look pretty normal and communicative. She is blinking and has some semblance of a smile on her face. Other video, she looks truly vegatative. It just depends on who (parents or husband) released the video.
I'm afraid that this is an issue that will continue to divide the country until it is resolved to its final conclusion.
I think the nation, for its own benefit, should send me to Florida to settle this thing once and for all. I'll poke her with a pointy stick and stuff. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Dear Internets:
I recognize that you are not a Living Will, and only an attorney can help me prepare a truly legally binding document of that sort. Nevertheless:
Should I ever enter a persistent vegetative state, and any reasonable statement of consensus by medical professionals would reveal that I had no statistically significant chance of improvement, I would like to be turned off.
I do not consider this euthanasia. The portion of me that make me 'me' is not present in the dysfunctional remains of my body. I, for instance, do not sit around and drool. Well, not that I'll tell any of you, that is. Dema, hush.
I recognize that the body of law of the United States of America does not agree with this claim. As a counter-argument, I will state that the body of law of the United States of America is stupid, written as it was by persons ignorant of the future ability of modern medicine to extend a body's survival long past the death of its controlling mind, and maintained as it is by reptiles who I would not trust to build a small doghouse, let alone control the fate of this great nation.
Therefore: should any of you discover that I am a vegetable, and yet, for whatever reason, dumbasses are keeping me alive, I would be most obliged if you would kick the plug out of the wall as you walk by. I'll save you a seat in Hell, and I'll keep the beer nice and warm.
I think people are missing the point here...
When you marry, that's a legal contract which makes your spouse your closest relative, and therefore your mouthpiece should you be unable to communicate or make decisions for yourself.
I saw on some other blog where someone said parents should always have more say than a spouse because "blood is thicker than water". But that's hogwash. The law does NOT support that. Indeed, even the Bible doesn't support that! Doesn't it say something in the Bible about commanding a person to leave their parents & "cling to" their spouse?
If the husband really was abusive or whatever, as some allegations suggest... well, that would be a different story. But one must prove that.
I just think of some of the in-law horror stories I've heard. The fact is, most people DO TRUST THEIR SPOUSES to be the ones to make their most important decisions in their absense.
If you don't believe that... Either don't get married, or set up some kind of living will & will & some kind of power of attorney stipulation or something.
The other thing that confuses me is these people who are claiming to have "woken up" after being in seemingly worse conditions than Shiavo... But were they truly in worse condition? Shiavo is not in a coma... I was under the impression her higher brain areas were non-functioning. That's a big difference.
As for poking her with a stick... I do believe she was given various stimulus tests... From what I read she does not respond to pain at all, or respond to anything.
A lot of the photos and video they show... the experts seem to think are just normal involuntary movements, which might occasionally just appear to be reactionary. But I think the deal is they can't reproduce that.. and if she won't respond when it really counts, when it's a test where her life is on the line, that would seem to further the idea that she's not aware, and the seemingly reactionary movements really are involuntary.
Are there any doctors at all who believe that Shiavo will one day walk out of the hospital and lead a normal life?
This sad story has disintegrated into a battle between egos and a quest for power. Terry's struggle and welfare have been lost in the political crossfire.
HWRNetc:
Actually, the laws of most of the states of the United States, including Florida, support a wide variety of Living Will stipulations. You should have no trouble arranging to be discretely deadified at your earliest mental incapacity.
(The S[c]hiavo case is only an issue because she had nothing written.)
Chloe wrote:
Shiavo is not in a coma... I was under the impression her higher brain areas were non-functioning.
Not only are her higher brain areas non-functioning, most of the cortex has actually died and been replaced with cerebrospinal fluid.
peenman wrote:
I continue to struggle with this issue. Some of the video I've seen of her makes her look pretty normal and communicative. She is blinking and has some semblance of a smile on her face. Other video, she looks truly vegatative. It just depends on who (parents or husband) released the video.
According to Abstract Appeal:
"Doctors hired by Terri's husband say the deterioration of Terri's brain left her without thoughts or feelings, that the damage is irreversible, and that Terri's life-like appearance is merely the result of brain stem activity -- basically involuntary reflexes we all have. An independent doctor hired by the court reached the same conclusions. Doctors hired by Terri's parents did not dispute the physical damage done to Terri, but they claim there are new therapies that could improve her condition. In two separate trials, the trial court found such claims of potential improvement to be without merit."
Didn't "euthanasia is wrong" used to be solely an issue of the Catholics? When did the evangelicals get on board? At least the Catholics are consistent--from abortion to euthanasia to death penalty, no killin' nohow.
As topnotch science writer Carl Zimmer has been writing over on his blog, there are different kinds of long-term coma, and it's abundantly clear that Terri Schiavo's in the kind that has no chance of waking up.