Let Lauren Live!

ChristtheKingMaine ^ | May 7, 2008 | Judie Brown

[8mmMauser]

LAUREN RICHARDSON - YOU CAN HELP!
By Judie Brown

It has been a source of ongoing sadness to read of the difficulties Lauren Richardson’s father has had over the course of the past several months. For those of you who are not familiar with her case, Lauren overdosed on heroin on August 28, 2006. She suffered oxygen deprivation and, as a result of the overdose, is now in a coma and unable to speak out for herself. At the time of the overdose, Lauren was expecting a baby. Her parents honored what they knew would have been her wish and did all they could to keep her healthy and comfortable until the child was born. Today, though Lauren may not be aware of it, she is the mother of Ember Grace, who was born in February 2007.

Since the birth of her daughter, Lauren remains unable to speak of her concerns, but she has a loving father who is doing all he can to protect her from suffering the same fate as Terri Schiavo. However, Lauren’s mother, who has been named her legal guardian, is sadly not of the same opinion and is working with attorneys to pressure the courts to permit Lauren’s starvation.

Lauren’s father has kept hope alive, even at times when there appeared to be no hope in human terms. Lauren’s father is a man of hope in Christ and is dedicated to spending every breath he has on defending Lauren, regardless of what it might cost him in physical exhaustion and worldly goods. The most recent update for those concerned about Lauren tells us the following:

We struggle at times as we seek to share with the public the details of what is happening with Lauren because of the disagreement we have with Lauren’s mother. We cannot understand her reasoning in refusing a path of hope, healing and restoration for Lauren and insisting on causing her death by withholding food and water from her. The issue in Lauren’s case is the eternal truth that all people, no matter what their medical condition, bear the image of God and deserve basic care and an opportunity to be restored to health.

Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s brother, has written about Lauren in an editorial earlier this year, "False Compassion," and is working closely with Lauren’s father in order to provide expertise that he is uniquely qualified to share during a trying time like this.

There are many links on the Life for Lauren web site that will assist you in tracking this case and learning who is supporting Lauren’s ongoing care and who is opposing it. More importantly, there is something you can do to express your concerns.

ACTION NEEDED NOW

The governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner, is being asked by pro-life Americans across this nation to intervene in this case in order to save Lauren from what many fear is an imminent court order dictating that Lauren be starved and dehydrated to death. I am asking you to be one of those who communicates your passionate belief that Lauren’s life is sacred and deserves to be protected from those who would order her death. The governor’s e-mail address is governor.minner@state.de.us.

Further, it would mean a great deal to Lauren’s father, Randy, if you sent him a copy of your e-mail to Governor Ruth Ann Minner. Randy’s e-mail address is Lifeforlauren@aol.com. 

During a recent visit to Anchorage, Alaska where Bobby Schindler was invited to speak, he told a reporter from The Catholic Anchor, "Once we accept that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering, we lose any type of parameters. Euthanasia is a form of abandonment. It is not compassion."

Truer words were never spoken. As I frequently tell people who argue that we pro-lifers are being heartless and cruel for fighting to defend the rights of a "hopeless case," "God is the author of every human being’s life, and He has never given permission to a single one of us to arbitrarily rob another human being of life for any reason including disability or illness."

As Flannery O’Connor once wrote on the subject of false compassion, "In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness leads to the gas chamber."

Lauren Richardson is not terminal – she is severely disabled. Lauren Richardson should not be murdered.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

[8mmMauser]

Ping to this thread by jy22077 on situations like that of Terri. Thanks, FV, for the ping.

Many families are faced with decisions about what to do when their loved ones suffer serious brain injury. When individuals are unlikely to come out of so-called "vegetative states," should we discontinue nourishing them by tube feeding? Is there anything wrong with causing patients in compromised states to die from starvation and dehydration under these circumstances? We all lived through such a decision when Terri Schiavo died in 2005 in Florida. Her death raised disturbing ethical questions that continue to reverberate in society today..........

The Modern Anathema Of Living With Brain Damage (About Terri Schiavo)

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[8mmMauser]

A Bishop on embryonic research in a thread by wagglebee...

ORLANDO, FL, June 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a 191-1 vote, the U.S. bishops adopted a proposed statement on embryonic stem cell research during Friday's session of the U.S. Conference of Bishops spring meeting in Orlando, which concludes on Saturday. On numerous occasions the statement refers to embryonic stem cell research as "killing", and condemns three common arguments in support of the practice.........

State-Funded Embryo Research "Makes Taxpayers Complicit in Killing", say Bishops

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[BykrBayb]

What should we expect from a troll who calls Free Republic “any one chat board”

Þ

[wagglebee]

Some time in mid-September a Manitoba judge will make what is likely to be a life or death decision in the Samuel Golubchuk case.

Is it just me or is there something inherently surreal about the fact that we live in a society where people seem to accept the premise that a judge should be allowed to decide if a person who has committed no crime should live or die?

Canada has not executed anyone in over 45 years and the abolished capital punishment primarily out of concern that an innocent person might be put to death. Yet now they seem to think that they have the moral and legal authority to execute a many who hasn't even been accused of a crime. It is disgusting.

[Lesforlife]

Superb analysis.

Brings to mind the scripture - “Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil.”

Isaiah 5:20

[Lesforlife]

Superb analysis.

Brings to mind the scripture - “Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil.”

Isaiah 5:20

[floriduh voter]

Capital punishment for the infirmed. Meanwhile, I was googling for an unrelated matter and found the Petition to Remove Mikey Schiavy as guardian. The propagandists who frequent here should read some facts for a change instead of spewing lies.

http://www6.miami.edu/ethics/schiavo/Nov_22_2002_Petition_to_remove_MS_as_guardian.html

[floriduh voter]

http://www6.miami.edu/ethics/schiavo/Nov_22_2002_Petition_to_remove_MS_as_guardian.html

[floriduh voter]

early Wham.

[floriduh voter]

Terri's group Wham's big hit was "Wake Me Up Before You Go, Go." (the irony).

She was pronounced dead in Feb. of 1990 by one person (HINO) who was stunned when she came around. She then woke up for fifteen years of living and then she was killed by a conglomerate of the nastiest people in Amerika.

[wagglebee]

What is “early Wham”? From what I remember, the painful ordeal of them being on the radio ALL THE TIME only lasted from about late 1983 to mid 1985.

[floriduh voter]

Early Wham is the only Wham there was. They broke up w/George Michael and a solo career and Andy went into auto racing.

[wagglebee]

Early Wham is the only Wham there was.

Right, they sucked and people figured it out VERY QUICKLY!

[floriduh voter]

It is prophetic though for Terri. In their first video for Wake Me Up Before You Go, Go, everyone in the video wore white t-shirts that said “CHOOSE LIFE” (Wham). Too bad I just thought of it or we could have played that video all over the place before Terri was murdered.

[wagglebee]

Interesting, I’ll have to look into that.

[8mmMauser]

Sam Golubchuk update...

Sounds like the death team is withdrawing from the killing project. They are taking their killing instruments and stomping off. No more killing of innocents for them unless we are all nice to them again. What is a poor facility to do when the professional killers leave, hire amateurs or maybe contract with a professional hit man?

................................

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is working with Grace Hospital to ensure that patients get the care they need after two more doctors resigned from the critical-care unit, effectively halving its number of physicians.

The doctors' departures are the latest addition to the controversy over an 84-year-old man on life support.

The case of Samuel Golubchuk is set for court in mid-September, and until then, doctors at Winnipeg's Grace Hospital have been ordered to continue treating the elderly man.

Mr. Golubchuk has been on life support since November, and has a feeding tube and a ventilator.

Earlier this month, Anand Kumar said he wouldn't accept rotations at Grace Hospital that involved providing care to Mr. Golubchuk, calling further treatment, such as surgically hacking away at skin ulcers, tantamount to "torture."

Yesterday, a lawyer involved in the case confirmed ICU director Bojan Paunovic and specialist David Easton have also declined shifts at the hospital.

Mr. Golubchuk's family lawyer, Neil Kravetsky, said Dr. Kumar and Dr. Paunovic had filed letters earlier this month, while Dr. Easton informed the family in writing last week.

According to court documents, chief medical officer Elizabeth Cowden expressed concern that the ICU could be forced to close if other physicians followed Dr. Kumar's lead and resigned.

She said in an affidavit that it would be difficult to recruit specialists to the hospital's rotations because many physicians would feel that providing medical treatment in this situation would go against their professional ethics.

But Heidi Graham, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Health Region says critical-care doctors from the city's other hospitals are being asked to take on shifts to support Grace Hospital's three remaining doctors on the unit.

She declined comment on Mr. Golubchuk's care, saying the matter is before the court.

Dr. Kumar also declined comment yesterday.

Two more doctors resign over life-support case

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[8mmMauser]

More stories from Canada repeat the group tantrum news...

It appears there have been more resignations at the Grace Hospital over the care of an 84-year-old Jewish man on life support.

Two more doctors have left the Grace Hospital, at least one of them is named in the civil action filed by Samuel Golubchuk's family.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority confirms two more critical care physicians have resigned. The RHA says it is managing the situation because some doctors from other hospitals are coming to work at the Grace when needed to deal with the losses.

Two weeks ago Doctor Anand Kumar left the Grace refusing to treat Golubchuk calling the situation an abomination tantamount to torture. The Jewish man's family is fighting the hospital in court to prevent its staff from removing the brain injured man's life support.

More doctors quit over Golubchuk case?

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[8mmMauser]

Karen Weber update...

This is written by Bobby Schindler.

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LifeNews.com Note: Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose husband won a court order to subject her to a painful euthanasia death. Since her death, the Schindler family run the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation that helps disabled people obtained appropriate medical care and legal help. Opinion and editorial articles like this one do not necessarily reflect the views of LifeNews.com.

Recently, yet another situation similar to that of my sister Terri Schiavo has made headlines. In West Palm Beach, Florida, Raymond Weber is asking the court to dehydrate his disabled wife, Karen, to death.

If you have read any of the reports in mainstream media, it’s just another case of a husband looking out for the “best interest” of his spouse. And just as in Terri’s case, Raymond Weber is asking the government to deliberately kill his wife who is not dying and is guilty of nothing more than having difficulty swallowing and therefore needing help, in the form of a feeding tube, to eat.

Not surprisingly, in a story by the AP, was a quote from the husband’s attorney who so touchingly referred to his client’s brain-injured wife as a “vegetable,” thus offending the tens of thousands of people and their families who do live with a profound brain injury.

The reporter also wrote that the decision whether Karen should live or die will depend upon whether or not a committee finds her “competent” to go on living. Yes, that is correct, competent enough to live. I guess passing an IQ test will be next.

Factors such as what is being taught in our medical schools, the breakdown of our health care system, the powerful influence of assisted suicide organizations, and the propaganda of our mainstream media have taken their toll.

As a result, the physically and mentally “inferior” are being denied the most basic care—food and water—in our nation’s medical facilities every day. (Thank goodness we have laws making it a felony if we do the same to an animal, although I would expect there would be a greater outcry if it were the family pets at risk.)

Equally as disturbing is the fact that our politicians, including our two presidential candidates, ignore this issue and because of it are failing in one of the most important responsibilities they have as leaders—to protect our most vulnerable citizens.

Perhaps our general public doesn’t have a clue as to how widespread this problem is in our nation today. This ignorance is in large part because of a stealth and powerful lobby who support patient dehydration based on quality of life judgments. This has slowly but surely changed our laws regarding food and water. Nutrition and hydration through a feeding tube, once considered basic care, are now recognized as “artificial nutrition and hydration”—and therefore a form of “medical treatment.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Competent Enough to Live -- Declaring the Physically Disabled "Inferior People"

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[8mmMauser]

I wish our own state had fighters like in Colorado, combatting the RINOvirus every step of the way.

.......................

"You're headed for another election catastrophe."

Contact: Donna Ballentine, Colorado Right To Life, 303 753-9394, Office@ColoradoRightToLife.org

DENVER, June 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- "Colorado Right To Life is warning Dick Wadhams, the state Republican Party chairman, that by shunning their pro-life conservative base they're headed for another election catastrophe in November," said Joe Riccobono, CRTL president.

"Wadhams banned the nation's oldest Right To Life organization from their state convention while he welcomed a radical pro-abortion group," said CRTL vice president Leslie Hanks. "The state's top Republican is out of touch with his own party's base, where 4 out of 5 Republicans at the convention voted to defend life beginning at fertilization."

The thousands of convention delegates passed all forty resolutions offered, except for the only one that failed, the pro-abortion Resolution #21. Convention rules require literature to be approved by the party chairman. Wadhams allowed the misnamed Republican Majority for Choice to distribute flyers quoting him about the Personhood Amendment 48 sponsors as "on the fringe of the pro-life movement, and they do not represent by any stretch of the imagination the hundreds of thousands of pro-life Coloradans."

130,000 pro-lifers signed the Personhood petition. Delegates overwhelmingly passed all uncompromising pro-life resolutions including the 78% vote affirming that "life begins at conception." 20-year-old Personhood Amendment sponsor Kristi Burton was elected among the top ten most popular of the 46 national delegates.

The Denver Post last week quoted Wadhams regarding conservative leader Dr. James Dobson's refusal to support the Republican presidential candidate. "Dobson's comments that he would not vote for the party's presumptive nominee, John McCain, won't hurt." Further, according to the Post, Wadhams agreed that the party should "avoid social issues," and the liberal ColoradoPols.com headlined their report about the state Republican chairman: "Wadhams: Dobson Is So Yesterday."

"Wadhams sells out Dobson and pro-life voters in favor of pro-abortion lobbyists," said Hanks. "Social issues have motivated Republicans in every presidential cycle since 1980."

In sharp contrast, the ColoradoRTL.org candidate questionnaire has identified many heroic leaders running for office. "But Wadhams has moved U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer to the liberal middle, and he's trying to drag the Colorado GOP to the left."

"Wadhams promotion of abortion will be the straw that elects Democrat Mark Udall," said Riccobono. Wadhams pushing the party to the left helps explain the Rocky Mountain News report that Bob Schaffer's convention speech received, "the loudest applause… when he criticized his own party."

In the past, Schaffer fought for protection of innocent human life from the moment of fertilization. "Now he's allowing the party boss Dick Wadhams to position his own former pro-life belief as bad for the Colorado GOP," said Riccobono, "so Schaffer will be blamed for their third election strike out and game over."

Posted by Leslie at 1:48 PM

Right To Life Warns Colorado Republican Chairman

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[8mmMauser]

This on Karen Weber comes from UPI!

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Another right to life battle is brewing in Florida. Karen Weber, 57, is paralized and her husband wants her feeding tube removed. The case is similar to that of Terri Schiavo (pictured) who died March 31, 2005, following a lengthy battle between her husband and parents.

Related Stories

• Hollywood takes on Terri Schiavo story
• Schiavos speak up about life after Terri
• Schiavo brain damage 'irreversible'
• Terri Schiavo dies

OKEECHOBEE, Fla., June 16 (UPI) -- Family members are battling over whether to remove a feeding tube from a Florida woman who remains paralyzed and speechless after a stroke seven months ago.

Karen Weber, 57, remains attached to a feeding tube in a nursing home despite the belief of her husband, Raymond, that she would want the plug pulled and be transferred to hospice care. But her mother, Martha Tatro, and other family members say she is alert and responsive in a developing legal battle reminiscent of the 2005 Terry Schiavo case, the Palm Beach Post reported Monday.

"Mr. Weber is of the opinion that Karen does not want to live as a vegetable and that she would prefer the body to take its natural course," said his attorney, Colin Cameron.

"She blinks for yes or no. She shakes her head. She waves goodbye and she can laugh at jokes," Tatro said.

An Okeechobee County judge has issued a court order blocking removal of the tube until a court-appointed medical panel decides whether she is capable of deciding her own fate.

Life support debate over stroke victim

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