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Disabled Are Fearful: Who Will Be Next?
L.A.Times ^ | October 29, 2003 | Stephen Drake

Posted on 10/29/2003 11:31:59 AM PST by nickcarraway

By Stephen Drake, Stephen Drake is the research analyst of Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group.

Bob and Mary Schindler consistently refer to their daughter, Terri, as a disabled person. They're right.

Although most newspapers are covering this story as an "end of life" or "right to life" issue, what ultimately happens to Terri Schiavo will affect countless other people with disabilities in this country.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Florida; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: disabled; eugenics; florida; health; medicine; righttolife; terrischiavo
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1 posted on 10/29/2003 11:31:59 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Lady In Blue; Canticle_of_Deborah; MarMema; kimmie7; floriduh voter; JulieRNR21; NautiNurse; ...
ping
2 posted on 10/29/2003 11:32:59 AM PST by nickcarraway (www.terrisfight.org)
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To: nickcarraway
Ahhhhhh. Liberal compassion. Disabled people should be worried if the "right to die" folks in this case win. Disabled? Ah just kill them.
3 posted on 10/29/2003 11:38:19 AM PST by Simmy2.5
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To: nickcarraway
Excellent article -- worth the hassle of going to the LA Times. A couple more excerpts:

I was born brain-damaged as a result of a forceps delivery. The doctor told my parents I would be a "vegetable" for the rest of my life — the same word now being used for Schiavo — and that the best thing would be for nature to take its course. They refused. Although I had a lot of health problems, surgeries and pain as a child, I went on to lead a happy life.

< snip >

About 20 years ago, a hospital staff in Indiana was starving an infant with Down's syndrome. A whistle-blower alerted authorities, and the district attorney went to court to order hydration. The judge refused. Public comment supported the idea that "difficult" decisions like starving disabled infants were best left to the privacy of doctor-parent consultation.

< snip >...


4 posted on 10/29/2003 11:47:28 AM PST by CedarDave (I'm a recovering environmentalist - does anyone know of a 12-step program I can join?)
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To: nickcarraway
No kidding. The liberals are salvating to show their compassion by ridding the world of babies and useless eaters, especially if they don't vote Democratic.

After they're dead they can be counted on to cast their votes in the right column.
5 posted on 10/29/2003 11:47:57 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: nickcarraway
Lenin spoke of "useful idiots" who would aid in their own destruction.
Hitler spoke of the disabled as "useless eaters" who deserved to be killed.

In the US today, our useful idiots are starting to go to work on the useless eaters. Scary.

6 posted on 10/29/2003 11:49:33 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (France delenda est)
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To: ClearCase_guy
All in the name of ``compassion.''
7 posted on 10/29/2003 11:51:28 AM PST by nickcarraway (www.terrisfight.org)
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To: nickcarraway

8 posted on 10/29/2003 12:04:01 PM PST by cyn (http://www.terrisfight.org)
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To: nickcarraway
Bump
9 posted on 10/29/2003 12:07:35 PM PST by Incorrigible
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To: nickcarraway
Thanks nick,

And the LA Times doesn't troll for sellable data....nice.

They just went up a minor tick on the loath-o-meter.

10 posted on 10/29/2003 12:10:03 PM PST by dasboot (Celebrate UNITY!)
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To: cyn
Those pics break my heart. Such a disconnect in the minds of them who want to "uphold her right to die". Those same wouldn't throw a bag of kittens into a river off a bridge, but Terri.........
11 posted on 10/29/2003 12:12:30 PM PST by dasboot (Celebrate UNITY!)
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To: nickcarraway
From the LA article: Guardianship — which in this case was granted to Schiavo's husband by the courts — has to have limits, especially when the stakes are the very lives of the people under guardians' power. It's important to remember that guardians have power over people, not property, and those people still have rights.

This is where the abortionists have it all wrong: The fetus is treated by the abortionist as property to be disposed of by the mother (guardian) and not as a person who has a right to life.

A disabled person like Terri draws forth from her caregivers, in a way no one else can, caring, compassion, sacrifice, tenderness, selflessness, commitment,... This in itself gives her life value because she enables others to truly love, and to love is the greatest of virtues.

It is also interesting that Terri, in her present state, is having a huge impact on the consideration of prebirth right to life and also quality of life of the disabled. Continued prayer is needed for her and her situation.

12 posted on 10/29/2003 1:45:13 PM PST by Dusty Rose
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To: nickcarraway
As a disabled person, I applaud these agencies for giving their voices in support of Terri. I am 28 years old now. My disability (cerebral palsy causing extreme difficulty walking and breathing problems) will, according to my doctors, cause me to become unable to use my legs, basically becoming wheelchair-bound and unable to move on my own by the time I am between the age of 50-55. I have been following this case very closely since I first heard about it. It is worrying me, because if Terri's husband gets his way I really feel that it will become the precedent in these types of cases. If it can happen to Terri (who, in my opinion based on seeing photos and clips of her is NOT "permanently brain-dead"), it can happen to me or any of us in the future. I certainly would not want to be starved to death over the span of weeks until I died because I was "undesirable" to someone, or to society. Which is why this case is so important to me and other disabled people. I also commend you people who are fighting for Terri- I just hope that when my time comes, and other disabled people's times of trouble come, that you will continue to fight for us. It is very much appreciated, and I thank you all. However- the important thing now is to fight for Terri, so that we hopefully never even have to worry about this happening to anyone again in the future.

Rich
13 posted on 10/29/2003 2:07:33 PM PST by richmwill
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To: nickcarraway
Here's a comment I received from Chris Hansen who freeped Gary Condit with us in Modesto:

So if someone decides that for my own good, my blindness makes me better off dead, I get terminated? I want to live thank you very much!!! Chris Hansen

14 posted on 10/29/2003 2:33:34 PM PST by Saundra Duffy (For victory & freedom!!!)
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To: richmwill
I would give anything to be able to care for my husband ,like MS could have chosen to care for Terri. But my DH had a living will, and I was bound by his decision. I feel that I was hurried into an irrevocable life-and-death decision by the doctors and by his own family, but that's neither here nor there : Terri, to judge by the videos, is far more responsive to people and her surroundings than was my husband, on that last terrible day-and her heart beats on its own, her lungs operate on their own, and at least some doctors believe that as she does not drool, she can be trained to eat by mouth. While her life is not one I would have wanted for my DH, or would want for myself, in absence of a written directive from Terri, her family should have the opportunity to care for her till the NATURAL end of her ligfe-and as her heart and lungs are working ,that death should not be the result of slow starvation and dehydration.
15 posted on 10/29/2003 2:41:40 PM PST by kaylar
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To: kaylar
This is exactly what worries me the most about this case- There is NO signed living will, by Terri, saying that she wanted to be removed from life-support if something were to happen to her. Her husband and his supporters are going on an assumption, something that she may or may not have said. And something that there is no proof that she did say. Anybody could use that excuse, it's just crazy that it is being followed. It would be like, for example- if I accidentally hit someone with my car, and killed them, if I went into court and said "Well- I heard from a friend of the victim. He said the victim mentioned one time, I forget how long ago, that he was depressed and had suicidal thoughts, so it's OK that I killed him, right?". I would expect to be convicted of vehicular homocide if I did that, because it is not a rational thing to do- to base your actions on what someone MAY have said. So how is this case any different? And, for what you did for your husband, in respecting his true wishes- I commend you. I know it must have been a horrible situation, but you did the right thing, since he did have a living will and those were his wishes. What Michael is doing, however- in my opinion, it is dead-wrong.

Rich
16 posted on 10/29/2003 5:03:29 PM PST by richmwill
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To: Dusty Rose
A disabled person like Terri draws forth from her caregivers, in a way no one else can, caring, compassion, sacrifice, tenderness, selflessness, commitment,... This in itself gives her life value because she enables others to truly love, and to love is the greatest of virtues.

Needs saying again (and again).

17 posted on 10/29/2003 5:21:03 PM PST by Valpal1 (Impeach the 9th! Please!!)
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To: All

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18 posted on 10/29/2003 5:21:14 PM PST by Bob J (www.freerepublic.net www.radiofreerepublic.com...check them out!)
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To: richmwill
Rich --- excellent points above!
19 posted on 10/29/2003 5:37:04 PM PST by Republic If You Can Keep It
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To: nickcarraway
Just call whatever you want "medical treatment" and you have a license to kill. I picture them campaigning against diabetics because insulin is medical treatment.

We must stop these evil, death squads asap. They've gotten to the judicial branches of govt. but we still have hope that our legislative branch and governors haven't sampled the killer koolaid - yet.

20 posted on 10/29/2003 6:06:58 PM PST by floriduh voter (Breaking at baynews9.com...conservative-spirit.org Visit a Local Site)
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