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I have talked extensively with other nurses about this case. One nurse works in a long term facility that specializes in the care of young people with illnesses they won't recover from. She says it is very common for the spouse of a patient in this situation to move on with the romance part of their life and still care for the one in the nursing home. Just because you don't know it is happening doesn't mean it doesn't happen and isn't quite common.

I tried to get pregnant while at the same time losing weight because I knew I would gain it while pregnant and didn't want to come out of childbirth with a lot of extra baby pounds to lose.
She had also had some issues when she was younger, before she met her husband. I don't know this for a fact, but other nurses who have been doing a lot of investigating on this have told me that her eating disorder began while living at home and that her husband might have exacerbated it by riding her about getting fat.
Bulemia and anorexia patients as a rule tend to have controlling parents. The patient becomes obsessed with her eating because that is the one thing she CAN control in her life. If she also had a controlling husband, then she was a prime target for this kind of eating disorder.

The implant was put in to stimulate her thalamus, I believe, and was experimental. Michael took her to California in an attempt to rehab her with this experimental implant to stimulate dying cells in the brain.

If there was a suspected attempt to kill her, the police would have arrested him. It didn't happen.

I had a patient come into the ER that I work in one night with the police in tow. The patient was carried in and it was reported that she had been found in a field, was unconcious and had been raped. Upon further assessment on my part and investigation on the part of the police, it was determined that she was not found in a field, but on her front porch. She had not been raped, she was drunk and a boy from down the street was on top of her, kissing her, and a family member witnessed this out the front window and stopped the whole situation. She was not unconcious, she was very drunk and decided to play possum when the whole hoopla started swirling around her.
Sometimes, in an emergency situation, or one where all nerve endings are at full alert, things get said and carried forward that are not true. Once cooler heads start to look at it, things become clear.

Regarding MRI for Terri. She cannot have one performed because of the implant in her brain. I don't see a feasibility in removing the thing, even if it is possible to do so.

It was my understanding that it was a lack of potassium, not too much, that caused the heart problems.

For all I know, the potassium in her cells was excreted in an attempt to create balance in her bloodstream, causing it to be too low in her cardiac muscle, thereby playing havoc with the sodium/potassium exchange required for the heart to work properly. But that is just speculation on my part and not a statement of fact, so don't quote me on that one.

I feel like I have almost taken on the role of self appointed hall monitor in this case. I have tried to very simply read the facts and educate myself before coming to a conclusion. And have spent more time injecting corrections of misconceptions and stating facts that I have dug up than actually sharing my personal opinion.

I hate to say this, but I guess as a nurse I can talk about people in my own profession. I have met some nurses who are idiots and I can't figure out how they passed their state boards for licensure.
Regarding that statemtent by the RN who was an LPN at the time...If MS was as big a pain in the rear end to the nurses in the facility that TS is being kept, then they HATE him, regardless of the quality of care she is getting from him. I want to take her word for it because I trust most of my fellow nurses until they prove otherwise, but her affadavit was presented to court and did not stand scrutiny. I really don't want to downgrade a fellow nurse, but well, it is old news and I wonder if she wasn't seeking her 15 minutes of fame.

Bulemia is not just vomiting after eating, it includes use of laxatives and any other form of purging. Terri was drinking in excess of a gallon of tea a day in an effort to lose weight. She had apparently gone from the 140lb neighborhood to 110lbs when she collapsed. Any time you are peeing that much, which I would call excessive diuresing, you are going to waste potassium pretty fast. That is why people who take Lasix, a diuretic, also normally take a potassium pill as well.

If they were getting a divorce, why were they trying to have a child and seeking medical help to get pregnant? Some of that malpractice money came from the doctors who failed to diagnose her bulemia, which caused the potassium imbalance, which was what they believe caused her heart to fail.

1.Terri's parents tried to take her home back in 90 or 91 and were overwhelmed by her care.
2.Michael spent many years taking care of Terri and was a very attentive husband. He lived with her parents for a number of years, in fact.
3.The Schindler family and Michael Schiavo were very close until the lawsuit paid out. There were 2 separate awards, one for Terri's care and another one to Michael for loss of consortium. According to the guardian ad litem that Gov Bush got appointed in 03, the money for Terri's care was placed in a trust fund in a bank and Michael has kept meticulous records of use. Mr Schindler wanted money from Michael's award and when he didn't get it, the two parties became estranged.
4.There have been 3 barium swallow tests performed on Terri. These are the "gold standard" for studying swallowing ability. The fact that she can swallow her own saliva does not mean she is capable of knowing to swallow more than a small amount of water or jello at a time. If Michael got upset by some ignorant fool for trying to put liquid in her mouth, it might be because she was in danger of aspirating the stuff! Aspiration is the act of inhaling it into the lungs, causing a virulent pneumonia, or death. He might have been protecting her, not preventing the woman from getting nutrients.

I am an RN and I can tell you that a lot of the stuff swirling around this case really IS b-s. I tried to inject some reason and some hope of heaven as the ultimate home into another thread and was promptly attacked.
I am deeply disturbed by the emotionalism that is surrounding this circus. If it was up to me, the tube would not have come out, because I don't know what her wishes were. Having said that, I would also tell her parents that if they want to keep their daughter alive, then they have to either pay the cost of keeping her in a long term care facility themselves or take her home and try to care for them there....even tho they were overwhelmed by it once already.

As I stated in my post, this whole thing is too emotionally charged. You really don't know WHAT I think, beyond the fact that I don't view what is happening as murder, because that is an emotion charged word. You don't know what kind of nurse I am, nor have you seen me holding hands with family members over the bed of their dying relative, praying for peace and comfort, and hugging them every day.
Murder would be going into the room and putting a pillow over her head, or shooting her dead on the spot.

I have said over and over again that I wish I knew what King Solomon would have done in this case. I wish I knew all the answers and I certainly wish that there was more information and less emotion tied to it.

The whole point of my post was actually the fact that, as a Christian, my hope of Heaven, which is supposed to be my ultimate home, should also be the hope of Terri, and a good thing! No more pain, no more illness. She will walk and talk, sing, dance and run if she wants to! And she will be with the Lord.

I am a deeply Christian conservative and I am also a registered nurse with a bachelor's degree in nursing. I do not consider this murder at all. I am not cold hearted, I am not evil, and I am most certainly not uninformed, nor am I misinformed.
This issue is so highly charged emotionally that it is almost impossible to have a rational conversation about it.
I have attempted to read the facts of this case and avoid the opinions. In the absence of actual proven facts, I do not give credibility to the allegations made about Michael Schiavo because they were not made until after there was a falling out between him and the Schindler family.
As a Christian, I have the hope and firm belief that Heaven is a real place that is something to be looked forward to, not avoided at all costs. If Terri was a practicing Catholic, then she has that same hope of Heaven, and to be forever young, forever healthy, never again in pain, then to keep her from her ultimate home seems to be more cruel than what is being called murder in these posts.

I don't know about a PET scan, really. It is a nuclear medicine procedure that would require insertion of an IV, and the contrast, for lack of a better word, "lights up" under radiography for the doc to detect a mass.
The purpose of these tests is to see if Terri's brain looks like it is capable of normal function. The results of the CT scan are accurate in the case of Terri's brain.
An assessment by a neurologist along with the results of the CT scan are really the most accurate way of determining function and cognizance.

I just want to reiterate the fact that only one of the three accusers is a real nurse with an actual license that could be in jeopardy. Having a bit of knowledge about what is required of a nurse, and about the federal laws dealing with patient privacy, I just question the public speaking when it comes to a patient. I don't know a lot of nurses who DON'T consider that unethical.

Regarding the CT scan vs the MRI question:
First of all, early in the progress of her condition, I think in 91 or 92, Michael took her to California and had some sort of experimental device inserted into her brain to try and stimulate that part of her brain. It didn't work. Because of this device, she cannot have an MRI without the thing being removed. Secondly, what the Dr said was that, in the case of Terri's brain, an MRI would not shed any new information different from the information gotten from the CT scan.

I don't think that is why it wasn't mentioned and I am pretty sure that women have been aborting babies for many milenia. As Solomon wisely stated, there is nothing new under the sun.
Jesus did not mention many things or they weren't written down by the writers of the NT. The statement he DID make about not coming to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it, should be adequate in itself for making sure that what was a sin in the OT was still a sin after the new covenant was made.

What this article fails to mention is that this "man with no shortage of friends" shot at the homeowner with the gun he had just stolen from the man's house in the middle of the night. The other two had both just gotten out of jail or prison.
I have been following this story since it happened, and will be interested to see what happens to the homeowner.

Three Deaths
02-27-2005 -- Carthage

NASHVILLE, Tenn -- Three men are dead after trying to run from the man they had just stole from. The Tennessee Highway Patrol says they died as a result of actions caused by their victim. Tonight authorities are trying to decide exactly how to charge Michael Kemp. He chased those three thieves through the outskirts of Carthage, Tennessee then helped run them off the road. "I knew Gooch for a long time," says Don Handy. Tommy Gooch had no shortage of friends in Carthage. "He's a hard working man. There won't be another Tom Gooch he was a good one," Handy explains. It's a description that does not explain the wild events that lead to his death. The Tennessee Department of Safety says either Tommy Gooch, Anthony Billings and/or Jimmy Bane stole a handgun from Michael Kemp who then pursued them in his pickup in a chase that involved at least three collisions and gunfire. That chase ended, according to investigators, when Kemp's truck rammed the back of the car forcing it off the road for deadly results. The car hit a tree throwing Billings from the car as went into a creek. Rescuers pronounced the three dead at the scene. Tonight investigators are sorting through crash data with an eye on Michael Kemp's future. "To try to determine what happened and decide what action is appropriate," explains Melissa McDonald from the Tennessee Department of Safety. At least one of Tommy Gooch's friends has her own opinion. Angela Strickland believes Kemp should be treated like a man who killed three people, "I think he should get life in prison." Michael Kemp is home while authorities continue their investigation. We're told there was no sign of drugs or alcohol in either vehicle. (Copyright 2004 by The Sinclair Broadcast Group. All Rights Reserved.)

I don't know if you have read these books, but I suggest Frank Peretti's books "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness".
I think the best way to describe them is to say that there are two stories going on, one is the people living the story and the other is the spiritual battle going on around those people. Peretti is a Christian author who brought the idea of principalities to my conciousness. I think you would like these books.

I tried to work at the Nashville VA hospital a few years ago. I sought it out because of my desire to make a difference in the lives of people in my chosen profession of RN.
What I found there was a mixed bag. The hospital is old and dirty. The employees there are encouraged to become union members, and that goes against every ounce of my character, especially since I consider RNs to be in a profession that should not be in a union by nature of the job we do. The union folks think they are the big dogs there and just HATE our president, which really struck me as opposed to the very people they serve.
The nursing staff was understaffed and overworked. They begin to see the patient population as a never ending assembly line of never ending work. There was a culture of back stabbing and tattletales that is so hard on morale but apparently brown nosing is encouraged there.
Regarding the long waits, yes there is a horrid long wait and nothing can be done about that when clinics are being closed and more vets are coming to seek care there. Apparently, the Clinton administration changed the criteria for who can be seen in the VA system but at the same time cut funding of more clinics. For a long time, the VA system was set up so that a vet needed a greater than 50% service connected disability to be seen. Now, anyone who served can be seen in the system. That is all good and fine, but the funding has to be there and there have to be clinics to see them.
If I had to do something to fix the system, the first thing I would do would be to toss out the union, but we all know that THAT ain't gonna happen.