The Schiavo Autopsy Results: Terri Dailies July 6

Accuracy in Media-Media Monitor ^ | July 6, 2005 | Cliff Kincaid

[8mmMauser]

Several bloggers have drawn attention to a strange lead in a Washington Post story about the Terri Schiavo autopsy results. The June 16 Post story by David Brown said that "Terri Schiavo died of the effects of a profound and prolonged lack of oxygen to her brain on a day in 1990, but what caused that event isn't known and may never be, the physician who performed her autopsy said…"

[Halls]

that letter is just sick!

[sfimom]

That was my thought. Nice to see you Halls how have you been?

[eeriegeno]

"Terri Schiavo died of the effects of a profound and prolonged lack of oxygen to her brain on a day in 1990

And a BJ isn't really sex? And 'is' has many different meanings? It amazes me how liberals can twist the truth and get away with it?

Earth to the wizard medical examiner who did the autopsy on Terri Schiavo----She died because she was starved and dehydrated to death!!! Terri's 1990 collapse had absolutely no contribution in the cause of her death. Plain and simple, her husband wanted her dead. Her lawyer, a euthanasia expert, pushed the husband's wishes, and a goofy judge ruled in their favor!

Homicide by the courts IMHO.....

[russesjunjee]

I guess our senior citizens are not as stupid as the death lobby thought. Our seniors have realized that the death for profit mill started full tilt in Florida at the moment of Terri's death.

All retirees who avoid Florida are getting the bonus plan. They don't have to worry about hurricanes or getting turned into soilent green.

[Halls]

Doing ok. Been busy, but still very much around. Thanks for asking.

[T'wit]

I'm sorry, to which post are you replying?

[floriduh voter]

Yes, but the seniors may run to Arizona where John McCain calls Terri "the Schiavo thing". McCain may be pro-death himself. He hated Terri. He still talks about Schiavo sometimes as does demmy Howard Dean.

She was a human being, not a case, not an issue, but a human being named THERESA MARIE SCHINDLER schiavo.

TERRI WAS MURDERED BY THE STARVATION STATE.

[floriduh voter]

http://www.terrisfight.org/terri.html

Terri's Foundation web site is up again. E-newsletter signup too.

[floriduh voter]

Leslie Burke won his "right to live" in another country. We have to prove that we are worthy to occupy space on this planet. But, his point was that he's staying away from Judge Greer. Smart guy.

http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2005/07/fighting_for_th.php

www.judgegeorgegreer.com

[pickyourpoison]

"All retirees who avoid Florida"

Retirees might want to move to Louisana...seems they've put laws in place to prevent deaths like Terri's.

[tbritton]

Retirees might want to move to Louisana...seems they've put laws in place to prevent deaths like Terri's.

No, they haven't. While the originally-proposed bill under consideration in Louisiana would have removed artificially-provided nutrition and hydration from the definition of "life-sustaining medical treatment" under Louisiana law, and would have further created a presumption for the provision of ANH in the absence of a very specific, written advance directive to the contrary, that bill was completely gutted.

The final bill (which passed, and was signed into law) removed all references to ANH, left ANH among the "life-sustaining medical treatment" subject to removal (same as respirators, chemo, etc.), and created absolutely no presumption for the provision of ANH in the absence of a written advance directive.

The original bill was replaced (totally) with language which defined "spouse," and which placed 3 situational restrictions on when a spouse may NOT act as a guardian (empowered to make health care decisions) for his/her wife/husband:
1. When they are "judicially separated" (this was already in the law)
2. When the spouse is cohabiting with another person (this is new, and the only part of Louisiana's new law that relates to the Schiavo case facts)
3. When the spouse has been convicted of violent domestic abuse upon the (incapacitated) spouse (as we all know, Michael Schiavo has never been legally accused of domestic abuse, much less convicted).

The Louisiana law with regard to end-of-life care and decisions (even with the recent modifications) is actually far more liberal and permissive with regard to the decision of a proxy/guardian to withdraw ANH from an incapacitated person than is Florida's law. Of the three, relatively insignificant, "spouse as guardian" restrictions, #1 and #3 already apply in Florida, and #2 is easily avoided as a problem. The restriction doesn't prevent (or penalize) adultery, only cohabitation. If this law had been adopted in Florida, Michael Schiavo could have still had a relationship with another woman, and could have still had children with her, without endangering his guardianship status. All he would have had to do is maintain a separate legal residence. Not a big deal (although who knows if it might not have motivated Michael Schiavo to seek the withdrawal of Terri's feeding tube even earlier than he did, so perhaps it's a good thing that wasn't a facet of the Florida law).

Altogether, in the state legislative sessions held earlier this year, bills which were "related" to the Schiavo situation were introduced in Florida, Louisiana, Delaware, Alabama, Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, and Hawaii (and probably a few more states). Only in Louisiana (with it's new law, above) and Delaware (which passed a law allowing for a driver's license notation as to whether or not a person has a living will--much like whether or not a person is an organ donor) were any laws (or changes to laws even remotely related to end-of-life choices) passed. The truth is that the actual state legislative impact of Terri Schiavo's situation and death was net zero in 2005.

[8mmMauser]

Here is more detail on friend Frist:

Frist's support of stem cell research may signal rift within GOP

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Coleus has another thread on a person in a supposed "PVS" state.

We recall over the years the many doctors and health care people who slapped that label on our son. Maybe it was their way to dehumanize him so they no longer had to consider him a real human. For example we caught them having dentists doing unnecessary work, for practice, on him without even a touch of novacaine and he was obviously in pain. But labeled PVS, he wasn't human so it didn't twinge their consciences.

Bethlehem man

[8mmMauser]

Pinging to the Coleus thread and #1,692-3 above, I remind of the formidable collection summarizing the legacy of Terri by backhoe. It is an excellent way of catching up on items perhaps missed and of the enormity of the growing legacy of Terri.

Useless Eaters vs The Death Cult

God bless you, Terri, Requiescant in Pace

8mm

(this includes Ohioan from Florida's ping list, v.7-10-05 with personal updates 7/28.)

[8mmMauser]

Ping to above.

Thank you backhoe for all you do.

I'm with you on your tag line!

8mm

[8mmMauser]

From Cheryl Ford

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/living/religion/12258920.htm   Wichita Eagle | 07/30/2005 | Brother of Terri Schiavo to speak Posted on Sat, Jul. 30, 2005

Brother of Terri Schiavo to speak BY JOE RODRIGUEZ The Wichita Eagle Bobby Schindler says he can't even begin to describe what it was like seeing his sister, Terri Schiavo, die. For the last 13 days of her life, when her feeding tube was removed, Schindler said his older sister suffered from dehydration and hunger. In March, a court had ordered the removal of her feeding tube. Since then, "it's just been a day-at-a-time process," he said in a recent phone interview. "It's been extremely difficult to come to terms with the manner in which my sister was killed." Schindler will be in Wichita on Friday to share some of his family's experiences when they were the focus of national and international media and offer his views on other related topics. He will be the featured speaker on the opening night of the Midwest Catholic Family Conference, which runs through Aug. 7 at Century II Convention Hall. Friday's event begins at 5:30 p.m. with Stations of the Cross, a welcome by Bishop Michael Jackels and comments from the conference directors. A "Concert of Hope" begins at 6:45, and Schindler is scheduled to speak at 8:45 on "We Must Obey God Rather Than Men." "It's very important to speak about what happened to my sister," he said. Schindler said he and his family get frequent requests to speak. He plans to cover several topics related to his sister's death, including examining the laws that allowed the removal of her feeding tube. "What we like to speak about, what we found was how relatively easy it is to walk into a courtroom, petition the courts to remove the feeding tube to people like my sister," he said. Schiavo had relied on a feeding tube for 15 years. On March 18, at the request of her husband, Michael, a court ordered the removal of the tube. She died March 31. Results of the autopsy on Schiavo were released last month and showed that she had suffered from severe and irreversible brain damage. The report generally supported the contention of Schiavo's husband -- also accepted by judges in six courts over the years that her case was appealed -- that she was unaware and incapable of recovering. Schindler criticized how some people referred to the autopsy results as a way "to vindicate the killing of my sister." "To my family, it didn't matter how much brain damage she had, we wanted to care for her the way she was," he said. "Yet, it seems to be in our society, more and more these days, that it's turning into a 'quality of life' issue." As a result of his sister's story, many people began talking about such issues as living wills and the use of life-sustaining measures. But Schindler is concerned that, with such issues, people may be "signing their lives away." He said people ask him whether he would choose to live in a state such as his sister's. "Nobody would choose to live that way," he said. "But that doesn't give society the right to starve these people to death."

Coming Soon!

READ
Over 400 pages
Trafford Publishing: Our Fight4Terri
http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/robots/05-1041.html

The first expose and sourcebook on the Terri Schindler-Schiavo case! Discover the true facts behind the most significant legal battle over constitutional rights of the disabled in history. Read the actual documents. Discover the dangers all Americans face with Terri's death!

Fight4Terri @aol.com

Theresa Marie Schindler
December 3, 1963 ~ March 31, 2005
Light a candle For Terri at her online Memorial Website
Memory-of.com - Memorial website in memory of Theresa Schindler (1963-2005)
http://theresa-schindler.memory-of.com/about.aspx

Visit: www.fight4terri.blogspot.com

Cheryl Ford, RN (Fight4Terri@aol.com) is not affiliated with any other group and works to protect the rights of the disabled community.

[backhoe]

Ping to above. Thank you backhoe for all you do. I'm with you on your tag line-

Your support is appreciated, and thanks for the crosslink.

[Dante3]

Thanks!

[backhoe]

[Goodgirlinred]

I did not agree with what the courts did to Teri. I do not think that food and fluids should be denied a living human being.

However, a person does have the right to write an Advanced Medical Directive and to make a decision on whether to receive treatment or not.

My aunt fell in her assisted living facility a week ago Thursday. As fortune would have it (make that God) I went to visit her that day. The director of the assisted living facility met me at the door and told me that they had just sent Auntie by ambulance to the emergency room.

I went over there and spent the entire evening and into the night with her. When they decided to admit and evaluate her for TIA's (little strokes) and for the spot on the lung they had found on x-ray the day before when she was brought in for fever, her doctor came in and asked her all of the questions regarding medical directives. Auntie had had some dementia, not much. However, she had been perfectly lucid with me the entire visit. Also, she had written an advanced medical directive years ago. In talking with her, the doctor did ask about feeding tubes, but just said "a tube inserted if you can not eat if you have had a bad accident or a stroke and fluids." "Or, do you want nature to take its course." She said she wanted nature to take its course. I was a little uncomfortable with the way he explained it and would have clarified it had the diagnosis the next morning not been what it was. She had advanced terminal lung cancer. She had elected no treatment. He was going to send her back to the assisted living facility with hospice as soon as it could be arranged. Her little dog was there and that was a familiar environment.

However, over the next few days Auntie's condition deteriorated rapidly and she was in excruciating pain. Her breathing became more and more labored. She was on oxygen, as she had been for years only at night. She had emphysema as she had always been a heavy smoker for over 60 years.

A morphine drip had to be started and increased in dosage to keep her as comfortable as possible. While she was still responsive she kept asking me why God didn't just take her instead of dragging it on, because she was in so much pain. I fed her as much (make that little) as she would eat and gave her fluids as she could tolerate. When she became unresponsive to our voices, she still cried out in pain each time she was moved or touched. It was agonizing. My mother and I were constantly at her bedside the last 48 hours of her life. She was allowed to pass with as much comfort as they could possibly give her. She died this Wednesday morning at exactly 12:01 A.M. God was merciful.

So, you see, advance medical directives are not all bad. It just depends on the circumstances.