Posted on 03/21/2005 4:05:17 PM PST by goldstategop
Some of you may remember Rush's caller "Peter the Lawyer" during the Monica Lewinski scandal. In my opinion he was Rush's best caller ever -- absolutely brilliant.
His real name is Peter Mulhern, and he has a blog. His recent pieces on Terry Schivo are courageous and insightful.
http://petermulhern.typepad.com/
And it will portrayed as 'a duty to die'. You know, you gotta get the spin just right.
And what have we spent years and years and millions and millions of dollars in medical advances if not to extend the quality and length of life? And now we are told that it is too expensive to keep someone alive. What a waste of all of those resources.
According to his 'logic', an anesthetic is artificial and patients should undergo surgery without it.
Already done. And quietly. Organ donors are now only required to have a stopped heart for five minutes. Brain death no longer matters.
It's yesterday once more.
Consciousness is not proven to be a function of the cerebral cortex. Karen Quinlan destroyed that belief. Yet I keep hearing it about Terri.
What you may find is that we don't place rational thinking on the same pedestal for worship as those in the ivory towers do.
To borrow heavily from Wesley Smith...
Terri's vulnerability offers a magnifying mirror to the world. Our reactions to her plight say much about who we are.
What you will find here are primarily people who see Terri as made in His image, and therefore life, worthy of life.
Tell a lie often enough...
"But to actually create some situation where we would be the source and control of what would eventually kill him, that would be murder."
Precisely. My grandfather also suffered from terminal Alzheimer's and had a DNR from the beginning of the disease. Unfortunately while his brain was ravaged the rest of his physical condition was outstanding.
At the end he was on a feeding tube and in a rather vegetative state. Finally the part of his brain that controlled breathing started to fail and he died of pneumonia. But he was kept fed and hydrated, and well-sedated at the end. It was very peaceful from what I was told.
There is a difference between not treating a terminal illness and purposely hastening someone's death.
I am sorry about your father. Alzheimer's is harder on the family than it is on the patient, in the long run. When grandpa finally passed on, it was a relief.
Thank God so far in my family we have not had to make this heart wrenching decision. If we were in this position my loved ones would never ever be starved to death. I'd fight for them. I'd risk jail.
My Catholic Faith is rich in life and liberty and joyous are we filled with the conviction and knowledge that only God 'giveth and taketh'.
God have mercy on the "Death-o-crats".
Hubby and I discussed it and we are too. I printed out one yesterday from this site
Scroll down to the Healthcare section...it has a valid living will for each state, they are free.
The sad fact is that may of the 'facts-only' folks are relying on the facts as adjucated by Judge Greer. They aren't willing to dig into the possibility that Judge Greer has as much of a death impulse as the Shiavo creep. His comment that the rule for humanity is raising a spoon to your mouth should be grounds for impeachment, both as a judge and as a moral human being.
That is an abomination! His ignorance knows no depths and his physical blindness penetrates to every part of this being!
Adding to the ignorance about the facts of Terri's condition and treatment, we have a new ignorance spreading through the land regarding "living wills," more accurately known as advance directives. They may end up being an exercise in futility anyway.
When you're in relatively good health, what do you know about how you want to die? Not much. Who will determine the point at which your advance directive takes effect? Who will determine that moment of incapacitation when you are no longer able to make decisions for yourselves? Hmmm? There are more variables than the general public realizes. Many more. If you choose no intubation whatsoever, do you know you are choosing to dehydrate as well as starve to death?
You could be denying yourselves measures that would temporarily support your life, and later be able to recover. Will there now be a rush for people to condemn themselves to death?
Living wills = the new ignorance.
This is the first time I've seen anyone say this. Exactly.
I know a boy who is 14 and has severe cerebral palsy. He will never sustain more than the development of a 6-month-old baby. He can't swallow saliva and does need round-the-clock suctioning.
But he feels joy and pain! He goes to a "school" every day. He smiles and even laughs. He is loved by his brother and sisters, and his parents.
I think of him when I think of Terri. How horrible to take away a feeding tube and basically murder someone by the slow torture of starvation! Just because her brain isn't working.
I too have a son with autism, though mine must not be as profoundly touched as your dear one. I have no doubt that if amnios detected autism, people with 5-month-old fetuses who test + for it would abort them!! How awful.
The right to "choose" is so UNcompassionate at either end of life. This culture had better wake up. We do not want to say that we differ from the eugenics of the Nazis "only in degrees."
Bump!!!
You mean death wills don't you.....
That's what they amount to. That's what people are being urged to do now: orchestrate your own death. But you can't do it, no matter what you put down on paper. This is the anti-CHristian death cult on the march.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.