Posted on 04/11/2005 3:54:53 PM PDT by CHARLITE
I know I'll get flamed for saying this, but Terri Schiavo was not "killed" or "murdered" or "euthanized". Terri Schiavo was not really living - she was being kept alive by a feeding tube because she could not eat the normal way. I watched my father die 22 years ago after being taken off a respirator that helped him breathe because he could not do so on his own following a massive stroke. He was not "living", in the usual term, but still had to "die". We did not murder him, we did not "euthanize" him, we let Nature or God take her/his course. In my opinion, Terri Schiavo was helped - which should have been done years ago - the same way we helped my father not suffer further. I think Americans who believe Terri Schiavo was done an injustice are wrong. It's hard to understand until you've been there and done it. Just like combat service.
bttt
Well -- Terri was not your Dad, and HER own Mom and Dad wanted her to live, and she wanted to live to. Three times she hung on longer than mortals wishing to die would have been able to.
What if you thought your Dad was still alive, and wanted to live -- yet a roomful of armed men kept you from giving him even one sliver of an ice cube, one sip of water, one spoon of soup. Don't you think that is heartless, no matter how much you wish to be the hero?
Amen. Thank you for saying what I feel.
Terri was not on a respirator. She only needed food and water to live, just like you and I need food and water to live. Terri was not PVS, she was brain damaged. And according to nurses and her family she could communicate. Maybe not as well as you or I but they claimed they could still understand what she meant and or what she wanted.
To refuse her food and water was nothing less then murder by judicial decree. And now are all at risk of losing the same rights that they trampled in committing her murder. We are all no longer safe under our own constitution. They took away her 14th amendment rights. And in doing that we all lost Our rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit to Happiness. And we are now all at risk.
If she was dead already, then why was it necessary to kill her? She wasn't dead. Her husband and the judge made a decision that she'd be better off dead.
And that may or may not be right, but one thing is clear--the law did not authorize what they did. The courts simply did what they always do, i.e. they applied their own "law."
I never said she was on a respirator. I said she could not eat and drink the normal way. Would you like to "live" like Terri Schiavo was? Put yourself in her shoes then try to decide.
So shall we "help" all the chldren with downs syndrome and cerebral palsy, cause surely they're not really "living"?
Terri Schiavo was not on a respirator.
We really don't know how she felt about it. There was nothing in writing, only what her husband told a judge.
Yes! I would like to go on living, even if I were as handicapped as Terri was. And as hard a Terri fought to hang on to her life, it should be clear to all that she also wanted to live. But her estranged husband wanted her dead.
Who would believe that in this country an estranged husband or wife could bring about the murder thought the courts of a person who was basically their ex?
Don't know what you can call it when food and water are taken away and no effort to feed them by mouth is allowed? Looks like murder - same as a parent locking a child in a closet and not feeding them. Terri was not dying - she was judged not worthy of living.
And, just who designated some with the power to decide when others are too worthless to live?
This woman had constitutional rights - same as you and me - and they were denied to her.
The paramount question that is gnawing in anyone of good conscience is- do we in America, deprive someone of food and water as a matter of law as a means to their death?
Therein, lies the assault not only on our Constitution, but our humanity.
Many in America believe its wrong to put a mass murderer to death by means of lethal injection But here, the law says we can take a disabled woman, and torture her to death over a 12 day period.
I still can't believe it happened in America.
Had your father managed to start breathing on his own, would you have stuffed a pillow over his face to ensure that he died? There is a major difference between undertaking a course of action which is likely to result in a person dying from an underying condition, versus taking a course of action that would be 100% guaranteed to kill anyone no matter what their health. Ordering that all means of feeding and hydration, including oral, be denied is the latter type of action.
Funny thing. TS was able to swallow originally, but the ability was lost over the years she spent in the kind care of her medical/legal professionals.
Would you like to live the way the eskimos do - no, do we kill them too?
Frankly I would not like to live the way you do - so I guess I can kill you. After all, who would want to live your life?
So now, you have set up the plateau that if anyone judges that an ill one would not want to live that way (based on their 20-year-old opinion, their 35-year-old opinion), they have the just right to end that person's life - no matter if there is written direction as to what the ill one wants.
How do you prevent men from killing those they want to erase from this earth because of their estates, money, power, jealousy, greed, hate? All men have the right to judge the worth of the sick and take action if they want.
What a wonderful country. And, you and your family are no longer safe from the ghouls of our society.
If my continued existence was giving joy to my loved ones who in turn did what they could for me, why not? Of course, I'd hope that my loved ones would be able to turn on a TV news story saying that the jerk who tried to kill me was safely behind bars, but even without that if my parents and siblings were happy why would I want to deny them the pleasure of my company?
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