"If they believe in an afterlife, what do they think was happening to Terri's spirit as they treat her body as a source of joy, rather than letting her go home to the Lord?"-susnhenz
If the Lord had taken Terri naturally without man choosing to deprive her of sustenance, I'm sure Terri's parents would've dealt with it accordingly, and noone, I don't care how sympathetic you are to Michael Schiavo's cause, can say that Terri died of natural causes. This is our outcry, in case you haven't understood the heart of the matter, yet. A few members of a profit oriented and self protecting industry (hospice) sided with the marriage rights of a husband who had abandoned his "marriage" already, to let someone who was a drain on finances and possibly, again, a medical malpractice liability for the doctors, just starve to death. A blind person's eyes cloud over, Terri could see...A catatonic person shows no emotion, Terri could smile, laugh, and cry. Her ability to swallow her own saliva and not drool indicated her ability to ingest liquids.
We as a society need to really ask ourselves, if we are ever as helpless as a newborn baby-but still somewhat aware, can we fully trust our husbands/wives or Government appointed Guardian to protect us for the duration, and is there some legal way, other than the living will, to ensure that as years go by and people change, whoever might be responsible for our care someday will have to meet certain standards equivalent to Child Protective Services? Michael Schiavo did not meet those standards.
If you read the guardian ad litum's report, as I suggested before, you will read:
"Eating and drinking are not unconscious processes. Therefore, Theresa's neurological status is directly linked to her ability to swallow.
A particularly disarming aspect of persons diagnosed with persistent vegetative state is that they have waking and sleeping cycles. When awake, their eyes are often open, they make noises, they appear to track movement, they respond to deep pain, and appear startled by loud noises. Further, because the autonomic nervous system those brain related functions are not affected, they can often breathe (without a respirator) and swallow (saliva). But there is no purposeful, reproducible, interactive, awareness. There is some controversy within the scientific medical literature regarding the characterization and diagnosis of persons in a persistent vegetative state. Highly competent, scientifically based physicians using recognized measures and standards have deduced, within a high degree of medical certainty, that Theresa is in a persistent vegetative state. This evidence is compelling.
Terri is a living, breathing human being. When awake, she sometimes groans, makes noises that emulate laughter or crying, and may appear to track movement. But the scientific medical literature and the reports this GAL obtained from highly respected neuro-science researchers indicate that these activities are common and characteristic of persons in a persistent vegetative state. "
He also stated that the most exact swallowing tests had been performed on her in the past and she could not pass them. To continue to try would eventually cause aspiration of the food or liquid into her lungs and infection. A person in a persistent vegetative state has periods of sleep and non-sleep, but when awake is NOT aware. They are capable only of activities controlled by the brain stem. These are autonomic activities, not requiring any concious thought, such as breathing, swallowing saliva (obviously autonomic, since we do it in our sleep with no conscious thought), etc. The guardian's report also pointed out that artificial nutrition through a feeding tube is considered in all states and by the Catholic Church as artificial life support and can be removed in case of brain death or persistent vegetative state. This whole sad episode has been a big knee-jerk reaction with people believing half-truths and lies about Terri's true physical condition, prognosis, and the motives of the family members involved. Read the guardian's report to see the extreme feelings of Terri's family, including their statement in court that, even if Terri had told them of her desire not to be kept alive in such circumstances, they would not remove the feeding tube because they wouldn't want to lose her. A human being was reduced to the condition of being her family's security blanket.
And for those of you who said Michael wanted to stop her nutrition for the lawsuite money, also read the guardian's report that he offered to give up any claim to the remaining money. That didn't satisfy her family.
It really seems that Terri's family, in the grip of extreme hysteria, convinced themselves that somehow Terri was aware. PVS patients can be un-nerving. They move, they open their eyes, they make sounds, they might even make the sound of laughing or crying. However, it is not conscious activity. Terri was at the far end of the life expectancy of a person in her condition. She probably only lived as long as she did because of the excellent care her husband insisted on. But, I know facts don't mean much when you have "TRUTH" on your side, or "TRUTH" as you've been told by the extreme media. This happens all the time all over the country, and no one hears about it. It's only because Terri's family promoted themselves that YOU know about it. Twenty years ago, Terri would have peacefully died shortly after she first suffered this catastrophic brain injury. Modern science kept her body alive. Lack of oxygen, however, killed her brain a long time ago.