Terri Schiavo

I would like to hear people's opinions on this.

Especially Kranar's.

If you are not familar with the story you can do a search on google as there is a plethora of information out there.

The case has been going on for 10 years.

Please no flames as there might be people who have been through similar trials and we need to be sensitive to their feelings.

Thanks.

[i remember halloween]

i support a person's right to choice whether or not they want to continue to live. i also support the right of a vegetable's caretaker to make that decision for them.

[Edited on 10-17-2003 by i remember halloween]

[Snapp]

I haven't heard of this case before..but I did briefly read through a couple web pages about it... the only opinion I've formed so far was that it's pretty damn cruel to let someone (your wife especially) starve to death as a means of euthanasia. Otherwise, I really don't know both sides enough to say anything.

I think that people should have the right to choose, however the main question that comes into play here is about the method people are using.

It seems cruel and inhumane to let someone starve to death.

Even if all the experts say she will feel no pain.

I am just bothered by a couple things in this case.

When I got married one of the first things we did was decide life insurance policies, make sure we had our wills written up, and we informed both of our parents where the key to the saftey deposit box is being stored so that when or if something bad where to happen to both of us they would beable to get the information.

I have been told that its morbid to plan all that right after you get married. I guess on top of my concern for this womens care, I find it sad that had they taken the time to get a living will done up by a lawyer there wouldn't be the hard feelings between the family and the husband, and there would be no question in anyone's mind that they are doing what she wants them to do.

[imported_Kranar]

I believe that active euthanasia should be illegal, and I actually think passive euthanasia is wrong too but I wouldn't support making it illegal since that's too extreme.

I don't know enough details about this case to form any solid judgement. The husband seems like a shady character, but who knows, he is her husband afterall and who am I to judge his intentions?

I kind of feel bad for everyone involved in such a difficult decision, hell I wouldn't know myself what to do.

[Back]

I don't see anything wrong with making plans.

[JustMe]

So, when she dies, he gets the million dollars or whatever she has AND he'll be allowed to marry his new fiancee. That's great. :mad: Kill your wife so you can marry a new one... or maybe it's the money he doesn't want to give up. Either way, he's an asshole. It's too bad he wont give her up to her parents who obviously have more in mind than her money and getting rid of her for a new marriage.

Edited because I can't spell.

[Edited on 10-17-2003 by JustMe]

[Ilvane]

I don't think that is what this man is doing. It's an extremely difficult decision to take someone off of life support, food, medication or otherwise. (I know from personal experience, since we had to make a decision to take my father off life support, because he had told my mother that he didn't want to live like that). He didn't have a will either, but we all agreed that he would not have wanted to live that way..

I can just imagine how heartbreaking it must be to have the family disagree and argue with you that there may be a chance. I think of that every day, that maybe if we had kept my dad on the machine that he might have recovered, even if the doctors told us otherwise.:( They basically told us, even if he had recovered he probably wouldn't have be himself.

That is a lot of what is going on here..he has spoken to Doctors who have told him one thing..he also know what his wife wanted. It's been 10 years, it's not as if he is just wandering off with his fiance and killing off his wife to get money, really.

-A

[Ravenstorm]

It's so easy to put it down to money. I imagine it must be hard to see someone you once loved be so damaged that she doesn't even have enough of a brain left to eat.

I don't know all the facts so can't say what all the ramifications of the case are. But if you wouldn't let an animal suffer like that how is it right to let a person? Let her go.

Raven

[JustMe]

The doctors said she could possibly eat by herself again with rehabilitation, he never put her into rehab. Her parents wanted to take over her keeping, he wont give her custody up. It's about money and his new marriage, otherwise he would have put her into rehab and tried to get the best for her.

[Ilvane]

I don't know how anyone could think a decision like that is made lightly. I guess it's hard to make that determination until you are in the situation.

Sure, in our situation, we could have had my father on life support for years, and he would have been alive, but that's all..:shrug: Which is better, having them there, but not themselves, or at peace to die with dignity?

-A

[Ravenstorm]

I'll also point out that the almost every single web sites I've seen is a 'right to life' one. Hardly an unbiased source of information all things considered.

A quote from the MSNBC report:

Oct. 15 — Supporters insist that Terri Schiavo, 39, is responsive and that with therapy she could be taught to swallow on her own. But court-appointed doctors disagreed, saying she was severely disabled. NBC's Carl Quintanilla reports.

So, neutral doctors say there's no chance she can be rehabilitated. Consider your sources people.

Raven

[HarmNone]

Buckwheet, what you and your wife did is not morbid. It is logical, intelligent, and considerate of those who would be left behind to make the tough calls.

In the case of Terri Schiavo, I do not feel I know enough about the whole thing to presume the motivations of her husband, or of her parents. There are too many "what ifs" in the scenario for me to be able to judge. I know that if it were me, I would not choose to live as she is living. The deciding factor should be what she would have chosen. How do we know that for sure if she cannot tell us, and left us no pre-prepared documentation delineating her wishes should the unthinkable come to be? We do not know. It is a matter of which party we believe.

HarmNone

[Tendarian]

It seems like an ugly case all around to me. Personally if learning to swallow someday is my good prognoses id rather die as thats not learning to eat to me. It does seem like the husband is a shady character from some of the interviews ive seen which is a shame as it clouds the issues at hand.

[Ilvane]

[quote]
From one article:
Michael Schiavo said 18 doctors have examined his wife in the past 13 years, that she has been to several different hospitals and even had a brain stimulator placed in her head, but showed no progress.
From another:
"Viewing all the evidence as a whole and acknowledging that medicine is not a precise science, the court finds that the credible evidence overwhelmingly supports the view that [Terri] Schiavo remains in a persistent vegetative state,"
George Felos, a lawyer for Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, said he is "very pleased" with the ruling.
"Terri is in a persistent vegetative state and the court found as such," Felos said. "There are no treatments or therapies that can help her and the judge's ruling supports that position."
"She wouldn't like to live like this and that's all she's doing -- surviving," Michael Schiavo told CNN before the ruling was announced. "There's nothing there."
Schiavo said his wife had told him and others she would not want to live on life support.
[Quote]

[Edited on 10-17-2003 by Ilvane]

[Geoff]

Originally posted by Tendarian
It seems like an ugly case all around to me. Personally if learning to swallow someday is my good prognoses id rather die as thats not learning to eat to me. It does seem like the husband is a shady character from some of the interviews ive seen which is a shame as it clouds the issues at hand.
Amen.
My wife knows that if I'm in that kind of situation, then she better pull the plug. My family knows as well. I have pretty generous life insurance, which is mostly to provide for my son since my wife makes more than I do, but I have no doubts about that becoming a factor. (If I end up being wrong, I probably still want the plug pulled. Let me die thinking otherwise.)

Who's to say that this guy isn't doing what his wife would really want? Her family can't know he's wrong and there's no way they can say they know his wife's wishes better than he does without some doubt. If he was after her money, I think she would have been dead before now without all those experts, etc. sucking money out of the estate.

There's a reason why spouses have legal control of their signifigant other's well being in these situations.

[Myshel]

This is a local issue for me since I live close to Tampa and have been following the case since it hit the newspapers. Modern medicine is a two edged sword, yes it can save but it also keeps alive people who by all rights should have been left to die with a little dignity. I've been though this several times with my own family. First a mother with cancer, she refused towards the end to stay in the hospital and wanted to come home and die in peace with her family. The hospital refused, saying she should stay in because.. because .. well its a money thing I think. My father finally just picked her up in his arms and started out the door with her.. they finally released her. She died with dignity at home surrounded by her family. My oldest brother was in a motorcycle accident and his brain was gone, but the hospital wanted to put him on life support. Why? because they could. We decided knowing my brother that he wouldn't want to live like that, so we refused and he died with dignity instead of hooked up to machines. My grandmother who was sharp mentally up to the end suffered needlessly for 6 months because Doctors keep treating her until her body couldn't go anymore. Finally, despite family member opposition she asked me to let her go, she wanted to stop nourishment and just pass on.. and she did peacefully without another trip to the hospital and all the indignities that entails.
My point is, not to bore you with family stories but to say that modern healthcare can keep anyone alive, but its the quality of life that one has to keep in perspective. I doubt anyone who has had a vibrant life wants to lay in a hospital bed being kept alive with feeding tubes and having your most personal needs taken care of by nurses. Those parents are being selfish, as much as I love my children to let them pass on if they were in that state, would be the greatest act of love.

Myshel

[AnticorRifling]

If I become a comatose for more than a month or show any signs of severe mental retardation from an accident or illness I want to be killed. I could live without legs or arms, sight, etc. But if my mind was damaged I would want to be killed. It's a tough choice for the family though and that's who's choice it should be, the family.

I married my wife for a several reasons, one is trust. I trust she would make the right choice in a situation but I also realize that it would be putting a huge burden of resposibility on her shoulders. I didn't marry some judge or laywer so I don't want them deciding.

Bottom line each case is different and the family should have the final say. I might not always agree with someone's descision but I'm not them or in their shoes. If I don't agree with it I will still respect it.

[Parkbandit]

My issue with the husband was that he sued for medical malpractice and in court he said he was taking medical classes so that he could always take care of Terri for the rest of her life. They settled for $750,000.

Now, he claims that she didn't want to live like this.. that she had a verbal living.

I doubt at this point in time there is any money left over from the settlement... so I don't think he's taking her off life support because of that. But how did the story change from he would take care of her for the rest of her life to her never wanting to be like this.

I hope I will never have to make any decision like this.

[Jenisi]

I'm too young to even want to begin to think about these kinds of things.. But my mother has told me before (she has alot of health problems) That if she ever gets like that, she doesn't want to continue. As for my Grandpa, well, he's already up there in years. He told me one day 'If I had a chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't' I know he would just want to go also. As for myself.. it would depend on my age, if I was young and something crippled me, I'd want to stay because I believe in miracles, maybe not instant ones, but in years to come there would be a shot. If I didn't heal after so much time like this lady didn't, I'd want to go too.