Posted on 12/03/2006 3:03:26 AM PST by 8mmMauser
Theresa Marie Schindler was born to Robert and Mary Schindler on December 3, 1963. She was the first of three children the Schindlers would have.
Terri was a shy, but comical, child who had an affinity for music, animals and the arts. She kept a small circle of friends and was dear to schoolmates, neighboring families and her own extended family.
Following high school, Terri came into her own. She developed a knack for sketching and doodling. She enjoyed outings with her friends. She was an adoptive mother to the familys dog, Bucky.
Terri attended Catholic School while growing up and remained close to her faith throughout her life.
In 1983, Terri met Michael Schiavo at Bucks County Community College and the two began dating. He was the first romantic interest Terri had.
The couple was engaged within a few months and married a year later at Terris church in Southampton, Pa. She was 21.
In 1986, Terri and Michael relocated to Pinellas County, Florida and her parents followed three months later.
In 1990, at the age of 26, Terri suffered a mysterious cardio-respiratory arrest for which no cause has ever been determined. She was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy neurological injury caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Terri was placed on a ventilator, but was soon able to breathe on her own and maintain vital function. She remained in a severely compromised neurological state and was provided a PEG tube to ensure the safe delivery of nourishment and hydration.
On March 31, 2005, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of marked dehydration following more than 13 days without nutrition or hydration under the order of Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of the Pinellas-Pascos Sixth Judicial Court. Terri was 41.
I'm sorry. Questions must be properly rigged or they are not scientific. Polls do not allow additional answers. That would allow the public to talk back, which would threaten the entire opinion manipulation industry. You are being extremely naughty even to suggest it. Go to your room.
... he'd be worse off than Terri, who wasn't on life support.
Those who say, don't know.
Those who know, don't say.
I don't understand your point. Could you please elaborate?
The Kervorkian verdict was correct in all particulars.
Every twenty years or so, an elected DA indicts a doctor for "mercy killing".
In REAL euthanasia situations, there has never been a conviction.
Nevertheless, doctors and nurses who have witnessed or participated in "real" euthanasia have no desire for publicity.
What most people talk about when they discuss euthanasia bears no resemblance to reality.
Among the things we come across all the time is a kind of cannibalization -- cutting up supposedly "brain dead" patients for organs for transplantation. These patients still have a beating heart, but they die when the surgeons cut out their organs (including the heart, of course). Would that fall within the definition of euthanasia?
Another one we see pretty regularly is denial of water and food (such as was inflicted on Terri Schiavo) to elderly patients who have a poor prognosis but who are not dying. This kills them, of course, sometimes evidently at the wish of heirs who are impatient to raid Grandma's bank account. Is this within the definition of "actual euthanasia"?
Denial of food and water to people who can take both is quite rare. The court order to make sure no one attempted to feed Mrs. Schaivo was striking in this regard.
Choosing not to tube feed someone who can't take food or water, by contrast, happens every day, hundreds if not thousands of times a day. In a similar vein, choosing not to hospitalize, not to intubate, not to give antibiotics - these things also happen every day, and no, I don't consider them to be euthanasia.
Eh? I'd be surprised if that were so.
What DO you consider actual euthanasia? That was the question. I'm just curious. No need to answer if you don't wish to.
Actual euthanasia is the adminstration of drugs or other substances (potassium, for example) with the intention of causing death and in fact producing that result.
Thanks. I HOPE it's rare. You hear about those death-angel nurses knocking off elderly patients...
What then is nearly two weeks of forced starvation and dehydration that results in death?
Oh right, that's called EUPHORIA. I remember now, stupid me.
Homicide.
That makes it pretty clear, except for the tears in my eyes. It also helps me to better appreciate the unconditional love that surrounds me. I'll never have a Phd., but I'll never be killed for inability to achieve it.
For whatever reason, the story I posted has been deleted. Yours was more complete anyway.
There's something else that I read about every day. The removal of respirators within days after traumatic brain injury. This isn't done because the patient is not expected to live. It's done because they are expected to live, with brain damage. I have yet to read of a patient expiring immediately upon removal of the respirator. It generally takes a few hours.
An emaciated, 2-year-old Pittsburg girl lay brain dead on life support Tuesday at Childrens Hospital Oakland after struggling to breathe and falling unconscious Thursday, possibly from eating baking soda at her new foster home, police and child welfare officials said.
She was not expected to survive.
The girl, who would turn 3 in January, weighed about 17 pounds -- the heft of an average 7-month-old -- when she reached the hospital, said Pittsburg police Inspector John Conaty, who withheld her name.
"She looked like a prisoner of war," he said.
She was brought to the hospital on December 7, weighing just 17 pounds. But of course, nobody at DSS had noticed anything amiss.
Her foster mother claimed she had accidentally eaten baking soda the night before, and the poison control center told her to give her water and put her to bed. There is no record of that call.
Deonna Green died Wednesday at Children's Hospital Oakland, where she had been taken last week suffering from brain damage.
She died Wednesday, December 13, 2006.
DSS ignored complaints against the foster mother, then tried to sweep Deonna's death under the rug. Information has been slow coming. At first, DSS stated there were no complaints against the foster mother. Each day, they release a little more info, revealing that there were several complaints, all swept under the rug.
What remained unclear Tuesday was whether the girl's rail-thin body might have escaped the notice of county child welfare officials. According to a mandatory report filed Tuesday with the state Department of Social Services, the girl underwent a "well-baby check" a week earlier, on Nov. 30. A social worker last saw her Nov. 21, the report said.
Police have been unable to reach the doctor who performed the check-up, Conaty said.
According to the report, Contra Costa County Children and Family Services had "no prior history of caregiver's inability to meet the needs of the children in her care."
Deonna weighed only 17 pounds when brought to the hospital. Severely underweight for what DSS has been calling a two year old child. She would have turned three in January. So realistically, we're talking about a three year old child, weighing 17 pounds. And nobody noticed anything wrong.
A social worker assigned to watch over Deonna visited the child at her foster home on Nov. 21 and apparently did not report any concerns.
This was two weeks and two days prior to her being brought to the hospital, weighing 17 pounds.
According to information filed with the California Department of Social Services, Deonna had a "well baby'' check on Nov. 30 and the doctor, who is required by law to inform Children and Family Services of any problems with the child, did not report anything amiss.
This was one week before Deonna was brought to the hospital, weighing 17 pounds.
"We are looking to see what was known about the child's weight gain,'' Valentine said. (Joe Valentine, director of Contra Costa Employment and Human Services Department)
They're still acting like Deonna was a happy healthy child one week prior to being brought to the hospital. "We don't know how she lost all that weight in a week."
I found over 50 stories about this, but all my excerpts are from these three.
Pittsburg foster child on life support
Brain-damaged girl, 2, dies -- possibly malnourished
UPDATE: CAUSE OF 2-YEAR-OLD FOSTER CHILD'S DEATH UNDETERMINED
I can remember one where death was almost immediate, but cannot think of any details. For that to happen, the brain stem must be destroyed -- which is supposed to be a formal condition of all "brain death." However, the way the term "brain death" is fudged and thrown around in the organ transplant trade, it is plain that many of the patients have lesser injury. It is easier to get relatives to give their consent to cannibalizing if they think their loved one is "brain dead."
Do you know what the accepted medical definition of "brain death" is? To my understanding, true brain death would mean zero brain function. I would understand that to mean death. But I frequently see it used to describe the medical condition of a live patient.
Correction: Not their medical condition, but the quality of their life. "Brain dead" is thrown around by the media like children taunting one another. Even some doctors use it to hurt, instead of heal.
It's not killing to let a person without a brain go back to their Heavenly Father.
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.