Who Has the Right to Die?

NEWSWEEK ^ | Nov. 3 issue | Arian Campo-Flores

[trussell]

Who Has the Right to Die?

Gov. Jeb Bush made headlines by intervening to keep Terri Schiavo alive. But behind the controversy lies the story of a family’s tragic disintigration

By Arian Campo-Flores NEWSWEEK

Nov. 3 issue — The day before Terri Schiavo’s life descended into a private purgatory in 1990, she indulged in a guilty pleasure: an $80 visit to the hairdresser. When she told her husband, Michael, over the phone, he reacted angrily at the cost and the two traded bitter words, according to Jackie Rhodes, a friend of Schiavo’s. Michael says he arrived at the couple’s St. Petersburg, Fla., home late that night and stirred Terri awake to exchange a kiss. Hours later, he heard a thud. He ran into the hall and found her lying facedown, making a gurgling noise. “Terri, Terri,” he said. “You OK?” She didn’t reply. When the paramedics arrived, they said she had flatlined. “Why is this happening?” he asked hysterically. “Why isn’t her heart beating?” Terri, then only 26, had suffered cardiac arrest because of a potassium imbalance (possibly related to an eating disorder). Though she was eventually resuscitated, she lapsed into what doctors diagnosed as a “persistent vegetative state”—not comatose, but so brain-damaged that she seemed robbed of cognitive ability.

[trussell]

There is lots more at the source.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/985278.asp?0na=x2327280-

[Celtjew Libertarian]

The headline is the wrong question, IMO. I think that if a patient has given instructions that she should be allowed to die, if she is in this condition, those instructions should be carried out.

The question is what Terri Schiavo would want.

[trussell]

Thought you all might want to see this.

[trussell]

I agree, but that was the original headline and I have seen the admin mods get onto people for changing the original headlines to their own.

[lonevoice]

sweetliberty, I'm on my way out the door or would post your letter from Terri's friend here. Since this thread made it to the news page this might be a good thread to post it on?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

had suffered cardiac arrest because of a potassium imbalance

Misdiagnosed. I hope she gets back all her faculties and tells what really happened.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

I wasn't blaming you. I think Newsweek should have done a better job of headline writing.

[trussell]

Ping

[trussell]

They seem to consistantly do a lame job of writing their headlines. :-)

[Cicero]

Eating disorder? I've seen this story before. Is there any evidence of it? This is the second source I've read that tells this as if it were gospel truth without offering a shred of evidence. How about those cracked vertebrae in her neck? How come her husband refuses to let a hospital or an expert physician examine her? Could it be because earlier several doctors testified that she showed evidence of strangulation and earlier marital abuse?

It sounds as if maybe she shouldn't have spent that $80 at the hairdresser, because hubby didn't like it.

[BlessedBeGod]

Eating disorder? I've seen this story before. Is there any evidence of it?

Dr. Michael Baden said on Greta's show Friday that it was extremely unlikely that she had a potassium imbalance.

[windchime]

This is the first major media print article I've seen that includes material that questions Michael Schiavo's role as 'devoted husband'. They've presented enough derrogatory information to make people want to find out more. That's good.

[litany_of_lies]

Mikey definitely doesn't look a saint here. It's progress.

[I still care]

I would say the headline should be, "Who has the decide your life or death if you become incapacitated?"

By the way, I think this article questions the great WHY of Micheal Schiavo.

"She complained that Michael was lazy and so controlling that he tracked the mileage on her new Toyota to ensure she didn’t venture too far. A few weeks before her collapse, Terri broke down crying with her brother Bobby."

[Normally a Lurker]

Misdiagnosed. I hope she gets back all her faculties and tells what really happened.

Why do your allege misdiagnosis?

[windchime]

"Mikey definitely doesn't look a saint here. It's progress."

It IS progress!

[Future Useless Eater]

Lets not forget Dr. William Hammesfahr, who can testify he's only seen Terri's kind of neck bone injuries before in STRANGULATION cases.

Or Sara Green Mele, - Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago - who can attest that Terri has sufficient swallowing ability to handle her own secretions, therefore she [should receive] swallowing tests and swallowing therapy.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

From reading the reports of her being abused by him. Read her website.

[ChadGore]

o/~ Will you still need me
will you still feed me
when I'm 64 p/~

[ctdonath2]

Having a right does not include a right of a court to force you to exercise that right. Allowing (for sake of argument) that there is a "right to die" does not mean any court may order others to cause one's death. Just as an explicit Constitutional right to bear arms does not mean a judge may force a pacifist to carry a machinegun even if he once mentioned a desire to do so, a "right to die" does not mean a judge may force a patient to die even if she once mentioned a desire to do so.