Posted on 06/15/2006 7:44:45 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
Believe me I understand.
Terri's death increased national awareness of incompetent rogue judges, how easily law can be manipulated by those who have obvious major conflicts of interest and the culture of death. If Terri's life here was saved, it could be argued that those entities were self controlling and innocents were safe in that system. We know that to be untrue. Terri carried a message to all those who would see it, and we were able to see all those who would not.
Regular wills (as in "last will and testament") fall under the statute of frauds, which means they have no meaning if they aren't written down. Imagine I said, in front of 500 witnesses, "I want socialismisinsidious to have all my worldly possessions when I die." If I didn't write it down, it would have no legal force.
Yet when it comes to a living will, you apparently only need one person to have heard you say something aboput tubes while watching a movie, and it's rock solid and binding.
The brain is still far more complex than science can fully define. Pain is sensed and many portions of the brain become involved in 'sorting out the sensory' messages. One neurologist who examined Terri not too long before the killing starvation began has testified that she responded to simple commands and her eyes followed objects moving in her field of vision (she was nearly blind by the time her killers put her down, but years before, while still very handicapped, she was not nearly so blind). With that, you will have to decide if you believe she felt pain or not, if her groans were responses to her discomfort, if the expressions of fear seen in her eyes by the Priest who stood vigile with her during her dying were real --when he was allowed into her room by the control freak adulterous husband or his thanatopsic lawyer.
Terri's medical records over the years were replete with notes from doctors, nurses and therapists that Terri could feel pain, most notably during her menses. She could actually communicate being in pain and was duly treated for it.
I have never heard anyone ask, or address, the question whether she might have lost the ability to feel pain at some point toward the end of her life. But I have some memory that it was stated somewhere (autopsy report?) that her brain had not deteriorated beyond the original anoxic insult. If that is correct (and I can't say for sure), then she could certainly feel pain when she was being dehydrated.
ping
Thanks again,
Bill
Another dusty recollection stirred up by this question: It was Terri's extreme discomfort with physical therapy that led to her famous bone scan (March 7, 1991). Iow, she felt a lot of pain. Excellent short discussion here:
preachitbro
shrubbery
I'm with you on Jeb Bush. Profoundly weak and a huge disappointment. Leadership was called for and he stepped backward.
He had a duty under the Florida constitution to safeguard her right to life. The issue, as we suspected, but now is coming out drip by drip, is not what we were presented with--i.e. a brain dead woman. How does a brain dead woman makes sounds and tries to communicate?
And how does a people so concerned about friggin' whales and people wearing fur and global warming turn away when a man seeks the backing of the state to murder his wife?
Not even the NOW hags would touch this with a ten-foot pole.
This was a moment for a profile in courage---and all we got was cowardice.
He could have ordered the state police to intervene, but no, we got the image of them cowering before lowly county officials and police.
Count me in with you--Jeb Bush will never receive my vote.
Another correction for you, Mr. Colson: Terri never had a heart attack. In fact, her heart was still strong and healthy at the time of her death fifteen years later.
The term you wanted was "cardiac arrest," which simply means that her heart stopped for a time. "Heart attack" (myocardial infaction) implies a disease condition -- which would give Michael Schiavo a wholly unwarranted alibi. "Cardiac arrest" on the other hand need not be natural or disease condition at all. It may result from violence, poison, asphyxiation, and so on.
We still await a Columbo to explain what put Terri Schiavo into cardiac arrest. Reasonable guess: assault.
Domestic violence is the #1 cause of death and injury to young women (slightly higher than even the carnage from auto wrecks). By everyone's account, Michael was a controlling personality capable of violence. Both sides of the family confirmed that Michael and Terri were having a raging fight that day over her spending $80 getting her hair done. Michael had to work late that night. Sometime after he got home, Terri went from healthy to nearly dead on the floor.
Here is a professional opinion from Dr. CBB, who specializes in reading CT scans:
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.