In light of the tragic events that occurred in Florida earlier today, please say a prayer for Terri Schiavo, that she is not slowly murdered, but that her feeding tube is replaced....please say a prayer for the little girl they found murdered there as well.
This is truly a sick world we are living in today ladies and gentlemen, please say a prayer that respect for life will be restored.

***

Sarah

I pray regularly for Terri Schiavo.

I pray that she will be spared the revolting indignity of being continuously exploited by so many for political purposes.

Her opinions were expressed to her husband and her friends. I pray that eventually someone in a position to do something about it will listen to her, rather than others.

Medical science is a wonderful and marvelous thing. However, medicine falls squarely within the realm of free will, not God. Keep in mind, the world God created in six days was one designed to function under the rules of survival of the fittest.

IMO, if God were indeed particularly keen on medical science, there would have been a fully equipped and staffed hospital in the garden of Eden.

**I have stated a personal opinion and will not be drawn into a religious arguement. I will not respond further on this topic.**

I feel bad for Terri Schiavo, however I don't think I'd want to be kept alive if I were her, however no one knows what she feels, it's just a sad and unfortunate event.


About the little girl....what the the young girl who was kidnapped a few weeks ago? I haven't been able to watch the news the past couple of days

I pray regularly for Terri Schiavo.

I pray that she will be spared the revolting indignity of being continuously exploited by so many for political purposes.

Her opinions were expressed to her husband and her friends. I pray that eventually someone in a position to do something about it will listen to her, rather than others.

Medical science is a wonderful and marvelous thing. However, medicine falls squarely within the realm of free will, not God. Keep in mind, the world God created in six days was one designed to function under the rules of survival of the fittest.

IMO, if God were indeed particularly keen on medical science, there would have been a fully equipped and staffed hospital in the garden of Eden.

**I have stated a personal opinion and will not be drawn into a religious arguement. I will not respond further on this topic.**


I second the above and will not respond further on this topic either.

This is why it is important for everyone to have their OWN living will that states what YOU want done.

It is sad that Terry Schiavo's life is now part of a poltical play of power. Leave the poor woman have her dignity! I hope someone explained how horrible a death starving is and just what happens to you to her husband! I would not want any extraordinary efforts to be taken to save my life if I were in a unconscious/coma state with no hopes of ever functioning again but I'd want my family to be really certain that my brain was also gone - that the essence/spirit/soul that is me was gone forever! But from what I've seen on tv it appears that Terri does react to her family with smiles, that some part of her is still there. It is such a hard call to make until you are in the situation yourself. Years ago my aunt was very sick and in a coma (no hope) and we were asked about her feeding tube (and explained what would happen -in detail- if we took food away from her) we couldn't do it. Felt if we took her feeding tube out we were 'actively' helping her die (okay to be blunt, we would be killing her, as noone can survive without food) And please if any of you were in a situation where you've had to make that decision and took away the feeding tube understand I am making no moral judgement on you - I didn't walk in your shoes so don't have a right to judge your decision. I am only stating what we thought at the time. As long as whatever decision that is made was made with all in the heart for the other person then noone else can judge. Maybe I've just hit on what bothers me most about this - I doubt the love in the heart in the decision that was made for Terri.

I pray regularly for Terri Schiavo.

I pray that she will be spared the revolting indignity of being continuously exploited by so many for political purposes.

Her opinions were expressed to her husband and her friends. I pray that eventually someone in a position to do something about it will listen to her, rather than others.

Medical science is a wonderful and marvelous thing. However, medicine falls squarely within the realm of free will, not God. Keep in mind, the world God created in six days was one designed to function under the rules of survival of the fittest.

IMO, if God were indeed particularly keen on medical science, there would have been a fully equipped and staffed hospital in the garden of Eden.

**I have stated a personal opinion and will not be drawn into a religious arguement. I will not respond further on this topic.**


I agree with most of what you said, and that which I disagree with I will not drag about. It is not our place.

Maybe I've just hit on what bothers me most about this - I doubt the love in the heart in the decision that was made for Terri.


i believe it was totally love in the heart that made the decision, my neighbor had to make that decision last week about his wife who was hooked up to life support, and this was his wife of 70 years, he was heartbroken to do it, but they had both stated to the other that they did not want extrordinary measures taken to prolong their lives. her passing was sad, but lying in a bed for years having machines doing all your basic functions is not living, i commend terri's husband for being loving and brave enough to make such a decision.

Terri isn't hooked up to life support though. That would be extrodinary measures. She is 'alive' but she cannot fed herself so she has a tube from which she gets nutrition.

That is where the controversy comes in. If it were just a matter of pulling the plug and letting her slip away most people would have no problem with it. This is removing her food source and letting her starve to death.

She will not die with dignity. She won't slip away peacefully. It will pretty bad.

However as someone said this is the very reason why having a living will is so important.

Sorry, but I feel obliged to comment further, though not on the religious aspect.

It takes MUCH longer than 2 weeks to starve to death. If it only took 2 weeks, people who were fasting and having hunger strikes (not to mention anorexics) would drop dead like flies all the time.

She will not die of starvation. She will die from an electrolyte imbalance within 2 weeks. The same thing (to a lessor degree of severity) which makes you feel faint if you exorcise too much in the heat.

"She will starve to death !" is a VERY misleading battle cry being irresponsibly tossed around to sensationalize the situation as much as possible.

Ok....but its still not a simply a matter of pulling the plug is what I was trying to get at.

I'm not trying to sensationalize it at all.

I'm not trying to sensationalize it at all.

I didn't mean you Elfdream. :)

I was referring to the press, her parents and the alleged pro life advocates.

She will not die with dignity. She won't slip away peacefully. It will pretty bad.


Actually, it won't be bad at all. Withdrawal of food and liquids is done every day in hospices and hospitals around the nation, _including chosen by fully conscious patients_, such as stroke victims and terminal cancer victims. People in terminal conditions don't respond to withdrawal of food and water the same way a healthy person does, and what little bodily distress does result is a problem hospices are well-experienced in managing.

And while she can 'feel pain', in the sense that she has an intact brain stem that processes pain signals, she has no cerebral cortex left to actually experience them; her brain tissue has necrotized and dissolved, as revealed in CAT scans Her skull is filled with spinal fluid and a brain stem; this is what her parents want to keep alive for perhaps another half-century of bed stores, spasming, rigid muscles, and wastage, so they can use the dead doll in their fantasies of a loving daughter 'communicating' with them. What a horror show, and what a bunch of evil bastards are encouraging their delusions for political profit.

Are they removing Terry's feeding tube? If so, I believe that that is a gross decision. Her husband cheated on her, had children with another woman, and now wants the feeding tube removed? Her parents want her to stay alive. I don't get why he doesn't divorce her and spare her life. That's the least he can do.. I'll pray.

I have no side on this issue, but I can't help thinking what a terrible "life" it would be if I were in her position.

Are they removing Terry's feeding tube? If so, I believe that that is a gross decision. Her husband cheated on her, had children with another woman, and now wants the feeding tube removed? Her parents want her to stay alive. I don't get why he doesn't divorce her and spare her life. That's the least he can do.. I'll pray.


Gosh. Why would someone not divorce his wife? Maybe for the same reason he spent three years seeking out every therapy possible for her, including taking her to California for a experimental brain implant. Maybe for the same reason he went to nursing school to learn to take better care of her. Maybe for the same reason he has been her most constant visitor over the last fifteen years.

Because he loved her, and won't turn her body over to her necrophiliac parents. Because he's sane and doesn't have fantasies that someone whose speech center is not just dead, but dissolved into liquid is not carrying on 'conversations', as her brother has claimed happened when nurses and doctors are out the room. Because he wants her body treated with dignity.

I strongly recommend that instead of reading the fantasies of the Schindlers, you read the report (http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/WolfsonReport.pdf) of the independent Guardian Ad Litem appointed to review the case. Note that he was appointed under HB35-E ("Terri's Law") and was reporting to Jeb Bush; in other words if there was any bias at all it was against Michael Schiavo. In it you will find many enlightening facts:

-- In regards to your snideness about him 'cheating' on her: "It took Michael a long time to consider the prospect of getting on with his life – something he was actively encouraged to do by the Schindlers, long before enmity tore them apart. He was even encouraged by the Schindlers to date, and introduced his in-law family to women he was dating."

-- In regards to the common libel that Michael Schiavo is in it for financial gain: "The court established a trust fund for Theresa’s financial award, with SouthTrust Bank as the Guardian and an independent trustee. This fund was meticulously managed and accounted for and Michael Schiavo had no control over its use. There is no evidence in the record of the trust administration documents of any mismanagement of Theresa’s estate, and the records on this matter are excellently maintained." "Michael Schiavo had earlier, formally offered to divest himself entirely of his financial interest in the guardianship estate. [ie, his inheritance rights]"

-- "Throughout the course of the litigation, deposition and trial testimony by members of the Schindler family voiced the disturbing belief that they would keep Theresa alive at any and all costs. Nearly gruesome examples were given, eliciting agreement by family members that in the event Theresa should contract diabetes and subsequent gangrene in each of her limbs, they would agree to amputate each limb, and would then, were she to be diagnosed with heart disease, perform open heart surgery."

-- "In the month during which the GAL conducted research, interviews and compiled information, he sought to visit with Theresa as often as possible, sometimes daily, and sometimes, more than once each day. During that time, the GAL was not able to independently determine that there were consistent, repetitive, intentional, reproducible interactive and aware activities. When Theresa’s mother and father were asked to join the GAL, there was no success in eliciting specific responses."

-- "Theresa’s neurological tests and CT scans indicate objective measures of the persistent vegetative state. These data indicate that Theresa’s cerebral cortex is principally liquid, having shrunken due to the severe anoxic trauma experienced thirteen years ago. The initial oxygen deprivation caused damage that could not be repaired, and the brain tissue in that area continued to devolve."