53 MINUTES AGO, BABY! God, I love the AP.

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - With a furious legal and political battle raging outside her hospice room, doctors removed Terri Schiavo's feeding tube Friday after a judge rebuffed an unprecedented attempt by Congress to keep the brain-damaged woman alive.

The whole story is like 5-6 screens, so I just posted this.

Any thoughts?

The husband won a lawsuit when this all started, nearly two million if I remember correctly, saying he needed it to treat her for the rest of her life. That is what he said, for the rest of her life. Instead he used it to get a lawyer, and now she is going to die unless the feeding tube is reinserted (it was removed in 2003 but then reinserted after seven days, so Terri lived...then.) This guy still has half of that money according to CNN that he said he needed to keep her alive, so now him, his bimbo wife who he was having sex with every night despite the fact that he is still married to the mentally impaired women, and of course his two out-of-wedlock children, can go spend the rest of the money and live happily ever after.

The average person on death row gets 17 years....Terri gets 14. The democrats, the party of death with their support of suicide, euthanasia, and abortion have nothing to say about this....NOTHING. Yet if she was a convicted mass murderer on death row I'm sure the so-called compassionate liberals would be there crying tears and holding candle light visuals.

The governor of the state of Florida didn't want this, the President of the United States of America didn't want this, her parents didn't want this, the US house and the US senate didn't want this, the Florida state house and the Florida state senate didn't want this; but because of a greedy husband and some unelected, unaccountable judges, the woman will probably die.

The husband won a lawsuit when this all started, nearly two million if I remember correctly, saying he needed it to treat her for the rest of her life. That is what he said, for the rest of her life. Instead he used it to get a lawyer, and now she is going to die unless the feeding tube is reinserted (it was removed in 2003 but then reinserted after seven days, so Terri lived...then.) This guy still has half of that money according to CNN that he said he needed to keep her alive, so now him, his bimbo wife who he was having sex with every night despite the fact that he is still married to the mentally impaired women, and of course his two out-of-wedlock children, can go spend the rest of the money and live happily ever after.
Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me that there are vulgar ulterior motives behind this case.

The average person on death row gets 17 years....Terri gets 14. The democrats, the party of death with their support of suicide, euthanasia, and abortion have nothing to say about this....NOTHING. Yet if she was a convicted mass murderer on death row I'm sure the so-called compassionate liberals would be there crying tears and holding candle light visuals.
The point is moot because nobody could survive in a maximum security prison on a feeding tube for 14 years.  The prison would furtively the patient  off within months!  And take it easy about generalizing all liberals. I can see some liberals protesting this hypothetical, but not I, nor any liberals I know.
The people of America didn't want this, the governor of the state of Florida didn't want this, the President of the United States of America didn't want this, her parents didn't want this, the US house and the US senate didn't want this, the Florida state house and the Florida state senate didn't want this; but because of a greedy husband and some unelected, unaccountable judges, the woman will probably die.
'Tain't the people's bidness, 'taint the guv'ner's bidness, and 'taint the prezzy-dent's bidness. 

It is the family's business and their doctors' business to decide what shall happen to the most unfortunate woman.  Often in cases of impassioned oppositions the parties become litigans.  They use the courts to help resove their matters.  Thus, it becomes the business of this "unacountable" judge ("unaccountable" being a ten cent epithet the right-wing throws at anybody not directly accountable to THEM!).
If the legislative or executive branch gets embroiled in this, it is THAT branch's "activism" and not the judicial.

I'm sure the DU and the DNC are throwing victory parties tonight.

I'm sure the Right are fantasizing the DU and the DNC throwing victory parties tonight.

I'm sure the DU and the DNC are throwing victory parties tonight.



It is sad that you never stop being so........yourself. ???  I think her husband should yield the reigns to the family, he obviously is in it for the money.  I think her family is in a horrible situation, but Terry is in the worst situation of all.  None of us can speak for her, It is possible that she is aware, and would prefer to die, and it is possible that she is aware and wants to live, it is possible that she hasn't a clue.  We should all use this as an example in our own lives as to what we would want done should we be in the same situation.

The people of America didn't want this, the governor of the state of Florida didn't want this, the President of the United States of America didn't want this, her parents didn't want this, the US house and the US senate didn't want this, the Florida state house and the Florida state senate didn't want this; but because of a greedy husband and some unelected, unaccountable judges, the woman will probably die.

I'm sure the DU and the DNC are throwing victory parties tonight.


Speaking as a very conservative republican, I am embarassed by the behaviour of Republican figures in this affair.

A feeding tube is artificial resucitation and we must go by the woman's husband as to what her wishes were, since she did not have a living will.  He says that she did not want her life to be continued by artificial means if she were in this sort of situation.  As her husband he is her legal guardian and there is no couret in the land who will judge him to be mentally incompetent.  So this decision is HIS in his position as her husband and guardian.  That's the precedent of CENTURIES of common law.

The medical treatment of Terry Schiavo is not the business of any of the governmental bodies that you named.  I don't need the Florida State Senate to tell me how to get my hemmorhoids treated, or to interfere with family decisions. 

What's next? Forcing senile elderly heart patients to get heart-bypass surgery?  After all, it is a life-saving treatment.  We need to have the government decide for these old people too.

And if anybody thinks that somehow Mr. Schiavo is going to get a financial windfall from all of this then they have absolutely no idea as to the cost of health care.  Ms. Schiavo has been through a traumatic medical event and under constant care for 14 years.  That lawsuit money is long gone.

It is sad that you never stop being so........yourself. ???  I think her husband should yield the reigns to the family, he obviously is in it for the money.  I think her family is in a horrible situation, but Terry is in the worst situation of all.  None of us can speak for her, It is possible that she is aware, and would prefer to die, and it is possible that she is aware and wants to live, it is possible that she hasn't a clue.  We should all use this as an example in our own lives as to what we would want done should we be in the same situation.
While we don't always see eye to eye on everything...THIS is something I totally agree with you on. I feel that from what I've seen, she is improving...I agree that the family should be allowed to keep her alive...this is very sad :\'(

14 years, though? I wouldn't wanna live like that for a week. After a point, you're just keeping her alive for... well, what seems like blind hope for something that doesn't seem like it'll ever come. It could, but you gotta give up hope after some point....

  Nobody wins in a situation like this.  Personally, after 15 years I would think it's time to just let her go.  But thats only because thats what I would choose for myself.  I feel horrible for her and her family.  I wasn't aware that her husband received that much cash because of her situation.  I don't think that it's right for him to keep it.

  Nobody wins in a situation like this.  Personally, after 15 years I would think it's time to just let her go.  But thats only because thats what I would choose for myself.  I feel horrible for her and her family.  I wasn't aware that her husband received that much cash because of her situation.  I don't think that it's right for him to keep it.
:(That's not a lot of cash if you live in the Bay Area.Anyway,if her parents feel so strongly about this,why don't they pay for it themselves?Anyway,rest in peace(finally),TerriSchiavo--1964-1990.

Anyway,if her parents feel so strongly about this,why don't they pay for it themselves?Anyway,rest in peace(finally),TerriSchiavo--1964-1990.


Agreed.

ONLY because I watched a story on her and it was said that she was showing small improvements...THAT is why I say she should be kept alive!

SMALL improvements, though. Is it really worth it just for small improvements? I value life, but that doesn't seem like life at all...

The way I see it, the husband has some alternative motive.  The family has the money and the health insurance plan to take care of her for the rest of her life, yet he refuses.  Rumors are that he did this to her, the guy does look like a bum, yet I'm not going to accuse him of anything.  But it is funny:

1. When she went into this state, the husband didn't say anything about her not wanting to live this way.  It wasn't until she was like that for seven years before he suddenly remembered he heard her say she didn't want to live like that.

2. Under the husband's orders, when Terri dies she is to be cremated instantly.  No autospy please.  Hmm.

3. The life insurance policy on Terri's life is 300,000 dollars.

4. The husband has refused to allow the hospital to try and rehablitate her.  He just lets Terri lay there.

If the accusations about the husband are true and he indeed had something to do with hurting her in any way at ANY time...I hope she lives just to piss him off :)

Oh, so there are some outside circumstances... if he did something, let the sumbitch pay, I say. But not at her expense.

Oh, so there are some outside circumstances... if he did something, let the sumbitch pay, I say. But not at her expense.
I agree about him...I just have a hard time letting her go when there is still some chance she could come out of it. There was another case similar to this...I'll have to try and remember where I saw it...where a lady had been in a car accident in 1984...she just came back a while ago...though she thought it was still 1984 :-\\

ONLY because I watched a story on her and it was said that she was showing small improvements...THAT is why I say she should be kept alive!


From what I read whatever small improvement her parants noticed brought her up to the level of a carrot in terms of awareness.  Face it, as unfortunate as it is, and as hard for the parants to accept (I can't imagine their grief) the woman is brain dead.  My will is very clear on that point, "death shall be concidered brain death."



The way I see it, the husband has some alternative motive.  The family has the money and the health insurance plan to take care of her for the rest of her life, yet he refuses.  Rumors are that he did this to her, the guy does look like a bum, yet I'm not going to accuse him of anything.  But it is funny:

1. When she went into this state, the husband didn't say anything about her not wanting to live this way.  It wasn't until she was like that for seven years before he suddenly remembered he heard her say she didn't want to live like that.

2. Under the husband's orders, when Terri dies she is to be cremated instantly.  No autospy please.  Hmm.

3. The life insurance policy on Terri's life is 300,000 dollars.

4. The husband has refused to allow the hospital to try and rehablitate her.  He just lets Terri lay there.


Could it be that for 7 years he held out hope for her recovery?  Christ almighty, I wouldn't want to be vegetative for 7 years.  A year at most, then pull the damn plug and let me rest.

After 14 years in this condition it seems fairly certain that they know what caused her death, and they already know what will be the cause of her heart failure.  Why desecrate the body?  What is to be gained?  You seem to be hinting at foul play, but after 14 years wouldn't that have been investigated?

That $300,000 should have been paid long ago, when she died.

I have read in several sources that there is no rehabilitation.  The woman's brain is dead.  No activity can be detected in the brain areas that control thought or cognition, no response to external stimuli.  I say just let her go.  I can imagine how hard that must be for her parants, having 4 kids and 2 grandkids myself.  Losing any of them would tear me to pieces, but sometimes, life just s..ks.

My guess is that the poor guy would like, after 14 years of waiting, to get on with his life.

Let me make this personal.  In 1990 or so, my mother had a ceribrial hemorrage while visiting us in VT.  She mostly recovered, after a long hospital stay and physical therapy.  A year or 2 later she had another, then another.  Each took a part of her until during her last year or 2 she was living in the past, present, and future and couldn't distinguish between them.  I spoke to her weekly.  She told me of speaking with her father, mother, brother (all long dead), and asked me if I had recently spoken to my brother, the one she was forced to abort when I was like 6 or 7.  She was still "lucid" in that she felt, spoke, evan laughted, but she was not my mother (it really pains me to write this, I love her still, and miss her very much.  My youngest saw her in a dream though, and says she is ok, and that she is now "my guardian angle" and is happy "in the arms of the dragon and the Godess").

During all that time, my dad did everything for her, evan though, at times, she subjected him to terrible verbal abuse.  For years he had no life, and went for so long without sex that he now isn't interested, evan though he has had several opportunities (he will be 85 this coming Oct. but is still hale and hardy, but I suspect he now questions his ability to "perform").  I find that to be tragic.  My feelings are mixed.  I love him for the dedication he showed mom, but  I'm not sure I would be williung to make the sacrifices he made, I don't think Cat would want me to, and I know I wouldn't want her to make those sacrifices for me.  Sometimes you just have to say "goodby".

You seem to be hinting at foul play


Of course I am.  I should add:

1. Woman had bruises on neck, never investigated
2. Husband refuses an MRI or any rehab for Terri
3. Mike Schiavo's (the husband) psychiatric profile fits "wife abuser."  Link: http://hyscience.typepad.com/hyscience/2005/02/_2004_psychiatr.html

Oh course I am.  I should add:

1. Woman had bruises on neck, never investigated
2. Husband refuses an MRI or any rehab for Terri
3. Mike Schiavo's (the husband) psychiatric profile fits "wife abuser."  Link: http://hyscience.typepad.com/hyscience/2005/02/_2004_psychiatr.html


He wasn't home when she suffered her accident.

MRI's would not reveal brain activity, EEG's do that, and she has been hooked up to one numerous time and her lines are flat.

So now we should cast aspersions on people because of their "psychiatric profile"?  I suspect that there was a time when mine would have pictured me as suicidal, homicidal, scitsophrenic...  Get over it.

Goin' on two days now... Someone tried to sneak bread and water in symbolically.

This is the kind of inflammatory ethical question the media loves to prey on. Her semi-conscious state is a dreadful and painful situation for the Schiavo's family going back fifteen years, and I resent being called upon to weigh in on it.  Regardless of whose business the Terri Schiavo crisis may be, I can say for certain it isn't mine!
>:(

Hubby gets money to care for her...then he suddenly remembers that her wish was to die...whatever, dude ::)

Hubby gets money to care for her...then he suddenly remembers that her wish was to die...whatever, dude ::)


Thank you!  That's how I feel.

This guy says "I need two million, it's to keep my disabled wife alive for the rest of her life."  He wins and gets the money.  "Oh yeah!  She didn't want to live like that.  Darn."

Thank you!  That's how I feel.

This guy says "I need two million, it's to keep my disabled wife alive for the rest of her life."  He wins and gets the money.  "Oh yeah!  She didn't want to live like that.  Darn."

Oh, I'm sure he wouldn't object to handing the money back, or just giving it to the needy children of the world, he's just that kind of guy!
;)

So the drama will continue.  I do wonder how many others in the same situation, without the media circus,
are going through this same scenario with a "oh who cares" from everyone around them.  There was a
memo, ostensibly for republican members only, to the effect that they should work hard on the Schiavo
situation because it will garner votes.  Would georgie have returned from Texas, pen in hand, if votes were
not involved?  There was a case recently of a woman with a young child wanting to keep the child on life support.  I'm sure most haven't heard about it, she is a single mother, working class, and the hospital has decided that they should do the same to this child.  Where is the outrage?  Well, first find the votes.

I personally am dead tired of hearing about the Schiavo predicament every time I turn on the news.  There is absolutely no reason why this should be national news.  It's just another case of media and legislators pimping out an innocent person for extra viewership or political gain.  Anyone recall the Elian Gonzalez fiasco five years ago? 

Personally, I would not want to be kept alive for more than about six months in any type of vegetative state.  The longer any such state persists, the less likely recovery becomes.  Terri Schiavo has been lying in this condition for 15 years, making the prospects of recovery near nil.  Life is not life when you can't consume food except via a plastic tube, communicate your thoughts, and move on your own.  The money that has been invested in preserving Mrs. Schiavo's live could have been used to feed starving children who actually have a chance.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Schiavo is basically beyond hope.  Our government has a million more important issues to worry about than such a hopeless situation.

14 years, though? I wouldn't wanna live like that for a week. After a point, you're just keeping her alive for... well, what seems like blind hope for something that doesn't seem like it'll ever come. It could, but you gotta give up hope after some point....
I don't think after 14 years,honestly,she would ever have any REAL brain function....personally I would not want to live like that,unable to have any conscious thought,having someone else do the most BASIC functions for me.....that is NOT a life. I am independent(mostly),and have worked hard to achieve independence....

No thoughts... that'd kill it for me.

Her "Family" wants to keep her alive...the husband suddenly recalls AFTER he was awrded some big bucks, that "Oh, wait...she told me once that she wouldn't want to abe kept alive"  ::) Whatever...give the right to the people who raised her and love her. To the people who want to use this story to continue Bashing Bush, I would hope that you would want something done that might change things for future situations such as this. I'm tired of the negativity, let's all try and be more positive. He isn't making me really happy right now but he's our president, like it or not.

I think it's selfish to keep her alive after so long.... You're only doing it for yourself, you KNOW she's not getting better.

I think it's selfish to keep her alive after so long.... You're only doing it for yourself, you KNOW she's not getting better.


No, she is not getting better, and there is no hope that she will.  The real tragedy is that unscrupulous politicians and the sensationalist media want to use this horrible situation for their own purposes.  Let the woman die in peace, let her husband have some closure.  14 years of vegitation is too long.  They should have pulled the plug after at most 3 or 4 years with no improvement.

Going back to my long post about my mother, I must say that I way relieved when she passed.  The woman who died was not my mother.  My mother was the woman who's picture I have on my livingroom wall dancing with my father at a New Years Eve party, or the sexy babe who's photo dad took in a bikini during their hunymoon.  THAT was my mother.  At least she talked to my dad, sister and me until the end, evan if it didn't make much sense.  This "woman" is just a shell.  There is nothing there.  Why keep that body alive as an empty vessal?  Who gains?  Certainly not her.

From what I read whatever small improvement her parants noticed brought her up to the level of a carrot in terms of awareness.  Face it, as unfortunate as it is, and as hard for the parants to accept (I can't imagine their grief) the woman is brain dead.  My will is very clear on that point, "death shall be concidered brain death."



I just think it should be for the parents to decide...not the suspect husband.

I have a hard time calling anyone who spent fourteen years married to a comatose woman, especially if he was very young at the time, selfish. If he worked and sacrificed for fourteen years to support her, he deserves a government-funded early retirement. Of course a lot of people who deserve help from the government don't get it because it chooses to spend the funds to "help" Iraq instead.

Her "Family" wants to keep her alive...the husband suddenly recalls AFTER he was awrded some big bucks, that "Oh, wait...she told me once that she wouldn't want to abe kept alive"  ::) Whatever...give the right to the people who raised her and love her. To the people who want to use this story to continue Bashing Bush, I would hope that you would want something done that might change things for future situations such as this. I'm tired of the negativity, let's all try and be more positive. He isn't making me really happy right now but he's our president, like it or not.

There is pushy sanctimonious dogma driving this entire Schiavo ordeal, and that's a big component of GWB and the rest of the rightwing *ssh*les who want to boss everybody else's life.
The connection between the Bush agenda and the corporate media-concocted Shiavo outrage is crystal clear to me.

The US House and the US Senate just voted on a bill to temporarily save Terri, and the President just signed it.  Now it doesn't put the feeding tube back in, but it does move the case to federal court, and they'll put it back in until they rule and Terri's family runs out of appeals.  Look for her tube to be put back in tomorrow.

Speaking as a very conservative republican, I am embarassed by the behaviour of Republican figures in this affair.

A feeding tube is artificial resucitation and we must go by the woman's husband as to what her wishes were, since she did not have a living will.  He says that she did not want her life to be continued by artificial means if she were in this sort of situation.  As her husband he is her legal guardian and there is no couret in the land who will judge him to be mentally incompetent.  So this decision is HIS in his position as her husband and guardian.  That's the precedent of CENTURIES of common law.

The medical treatment of Terry Schiavo is not the business of any of the governmental bodies that you named.  I don't need the Florida State Senate to tell me how to get my hemmorhoids treated, or to interfere with family decisions. 

What's next? Forcing senile elderly heart patients to get heart-bypass surgery?  After all, it is a life-saving treatment.  We need to have the government decide for these old people too.

And if anybody thinks that somehow Mr. Schiavo is going to get a financial windfall from all of this then they have absolutely no idea as to the cost of health care.  Ms. Schiavo has been through a traumatic medical event and under constant care for 14 years.  That lawsuit money is long gone.




I never thought that I would ever be saying this, but I do agree with you.  ;)  The government has abolutely no right to interfer in this matter. It is up to the "next of kin" which is her husband. I do understand how the family feels-wanting to keep hope up but they must realize that after 14 years, there is no hope.

As Carlos has mentioned, we talked about "what if it were to happen to us?". If either one of us became comatose, we both would want a chance. But, after a while, if the condition did not improve, then it was time to let go. 14 years is a long time to be hold on-too long. I think it is time that she is put to rest and her husband and family members can move on. It really isn't healthy for any of them to be in this state of limbo for so long. And it really bothers me that the government is trying to get involved in this matter. It is none of their business.




Cat

I never thought that I would ever be saying this, but I do agree with you.  ;)  The government has abolutely no right to interfer in this matter. It is up to the "next of kin" which is her husband. I do understand how the family feels-wanting to keep hope up but they must realize that after 14 years, there is no hope.

As Carlos has mentioned, we talked about "what if it were to happen to us?". If either one of us became comatose, we both would want a chance. But, after a while, if the condition did not improve, then it was time to let go. 14 years is a long time to be hold on-too long. I think it is time that she is put to rest and her husband and family members can move on. It really isn't healthy for any of them to be in this state of limbo for so long. And it really bothers me that the government is trying to get involved in this matter. It is none of their business.


I think what LB is discovering is that the Republican party is not based on Conservative principles but perpetual politicking.  They will use anything, I mean anything to whip their God squad base into a self-righteous frenzy and, as Rachel Maddow put it this morning, "tear off a few swing-voters along the way."
Clearly, anybody who believes government ought to stay out of people's personal business would be appalled by this, ahem, legislative activism!
A true Libertarian is pro-choice, however, a lot of these clowns are Libertarian when it comes to their money, but theocratic when it comes to your choices, your family, your life, your body.
::)
A sensible person on either side of the issue should be able to recognize there are far too many issues vital to all the people to hold emergency votes on the weekend over a woman who will never get well.

http://voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2005-02-24-voa51.cfm


Good things CAN happen :)

It bothers me immensely that the decision in this case pertains to Terry Schiavo alone and not to anyone
else in the same situation. In other words anyone in the same situation will not be able to use the decisions made in this case to argue their own.  That is what makes it so blatantly political. 

It bothers me immensely that the decision in this case pertains to Terry Schiavo alone and not to anyone
else in the same situation. In other words anyone in the same situation will not be able to use the decisions made in this case to argue their own. That is what makes it so blatantly political.


Of course all this fuss is "blatantly political", and therein lies the real travesty. 


http://voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2005-02-24-voa51.cfm


Good things CAN happen :)


After 14 years as a carrot?  Get real.  Would you have wanted your son kept in a vegetative state for 14 years, 14 YEARS, on a chance that a good thibg might happen?  Evan if all the doctors you consulted said there was no hope?  Why?  Don't you think closure is better?  It certainly was for me when my mom passed.  As I mentioned above, I called her every week that she was "alive" and she was much more alive than this woman.  And every week I mourned for my mother.  Her death was a release for both her and the rest of us.  And in my daughter's dream, mom was in her prime, once again the beuatiful, vibrant woman I knew as my mother.

Let this poor creature go.  Give her peace.  It has been much too long already.

Of course all this fuss is "blatantly political", and therein lies the real travesty.
After 14 years as a carrot?  Get real.  Would you have wanted your son kept in a vegetative state for 14 years, 14 YEARS, on a chance that a good thibg might happen?  Evan if all the doctors you consulted said there was no hope?  Why?  Don't you think closure is better?  It certainly was for me when my mom passed.  As I mentioned above, I called her every week that she was "alive" and she was much more alive than this woman.  And every week I mourned for my mother.  Her death was a release for both her and the rest of us.  And in my daughter's dream, mom was in her prime, once again the beuatiful, vibrant woman I knew as my mother.

Let this poor creature go.  Give her peace.  It has been much too long already.
The decision should be allowed to be made by her parents. It should be completely thier decision and thiers only.

The decision should be allowed to be made by her parents. It should be completely thier decision and thiers only.


Why them?  Her husband is her legal guardian.  She doesn't "belong" to her panants.  Nor does any adult child. 

My question is, why is this particular case getting so much attention?  Aren't there hundreds of other similare cases around the country?  I'm sure there are.  This is being blown out of all proportion by the sensationalist media and the neocons for political gain.  Do you really think that either Bill Frist of Lill' Georgie give a rats @33 about this woman?  They want to make political hay, and the media is playing right into their hands.

Why them?  Her husband is her legal guardian.  She doesn't "belong" to her panants.  Nor does any adult child. 

My question is, why is this particular case getting so much attention?  Aren't there hundreds of other similare cases around the country?  I'm sure there are.  This is being blown out of all proportion by the sensationalist media and the neocons for political gain.  Do you really think that either Bill Frist of Lill' Georgie give a rats @33 about this woman?  They want to make political hay, and the media is playing right into their hands.
I have a problem with him "All of a sudden" remembering her wishes...AFTER he got the money. I'm not for it being political at all...the less the government involved in many things, the better...be it Clinton, Bush..any of them. If my son Blaine had been married and was in this situation...and his wife was like this guy is, I'd want to have the right to decide what my sons fate would be. My problem is with the husband...I agree with you about all the media, government garbage though. It's just a huge mess and I really have nothing more to say on the matter except that I don't think the husband is the person some think he is.

I have a hard time calling anyone who spent fourteen years married to a comatose woman, especially if he was very young at the time, selfish. If he worked and sacrificed for fourteen years to support her, he deserves a government-funded early retirement. Of course a lot of people who deserve help from the government don't get it because it chooses to spend the funds to "help" Iraq instead.



He didn't work and support her for 14 years, the lawsuit money supported her. Also he didn't put his life aside for 14 years, he is living with another woman and has kids with her. doesn't seem the picture of a loving husband to me.

He didn't work and support her for 14 years, the lawsuit money supported her. Also he didn't put his life aside for 14 years, he is living with another woman and has kids with her. doesn't seem the picture of a loving husband to me.
BINGO! THAT is exactly what I'm talking about...and why I think the parents should be the ones to make the call :)

I don't think it should matter whether the guy's a prince of a loving devoted husband, or whether he's a rogueish, opportunistic, womanizing cad -- you can't apply different standards of law based on whether someone's likeable or not.  Her parents, though they may love her and want the best for her have no business making this call.  The woman was an adult.  She opted to get married, that means she legally entered an arrangement whereby the person SHE chose to marry has certain legal entitlements.  Marriage is a legal contract with certain legal rights and responsibilities, and so if her husband, cad or no, gets certain authority because he's her husband so be it.

http://voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2005-02-24-voa51.cfm


Good things CAN happen :)

Yes they can, but the miraculous recovery made by the person in this story is not possible for Mrs. Schiavo.  
Her cerebral cortex was destroyed and replaced by spinal fluid (making her a prime candidate for the RNC).  Unless Dr. Genius invents a prosthetic cerebral cortex, it's WYSIWYG evermore for poor Mrs. Schiavo.
:\'(
http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGBJ1RK6E6E.html

ONLY because I watched a story on her and it was said that she was showing small improvements...THAT is why I say she should be kept alive!


   Yeah, Mark...this is no d@mn good...

   She can do a helluva lot more than just breathe on her own. From watching family videos, it appears that she recognizes her family members, she smiles, she adores their company, and she is very much alive. I keep hearing the term “Persistent Vegetative State” when people reference the Terri Shiavo case. Why? She is anything but vegetative. Watch these videos if you want to see what Judge Greer and Michael Schiavo call a “persistent vegetative state”...I don't like this, at all...

   These videos are from http://www.terrisfight.net/...

   Terri & Her Mother
   Swab Test
   Terri Responding To Music
   Terri Tracking A Balloon
   How's Your Cold?

   Yeah, Mark...this is no d@mn good...

   She can do a helluva lot more than just breathe on her own. From watching family videos, it appears that she recognizes her family members, she smiles, she adores their company, and she is very much alive. I keep hearing the term “Persistent Vegetative State” when people reference the Terri Shiavo case. Why? She is anything but vegetative. Watch these videos if you want to see what Judge Greer and Michael Schiavo call a “persistent vegetative state”...I don't like this, at all...

   These videos are from http://www.terrisfight.net/...

   Terri & Her Mother
   Swab Test
   Terri Responding To Music
   Terri Tracking A Balloon
   How's Your Cold?


Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving.  These videos are "The Best of Terri Schiavo," to the media they release only the video portions that seem to show Schiavo in a responsive mode.
This is the kind of wishful thinking you see among parents of profoundly retarded children.  Apparent changes in eye movement and facial expression do not necessarily indicate independent cognitive activity.

Correct me if I am wrong, but to be in a complete Vegetative state would mean NO movement at all. After all your brain controls every part of your body, including breathing. She is not on any life support system at all, meaning that she is breathing on her own. If she is moving even a tiny bit, to me means that her brain is not totally dead.

For the ones that say her husbaqnd should have the last word, she was in the process of getting a divorce when she had her accident.

Everyone here should read this page, the quotes, and the links that come with it: http://www.bluestarbase.org/stanley031805.htm

Everyone here should read this page, the quotes, and the links that come with it: http://www.bluestarbase.org/stanley031805.htm


ooh yeah, first link on that page goes to Newsmax, this should be good and unbiased.

Strange how the Republicans are all for state rights, until the states decide to do something they don't like.  They're all for individual rights, until the individual decides against them.

George W. signed into law in Texas, a bill that allows hospitals, not the spouse or parents, to decide when to pull the plug, and it's already been used several times in the past year to remove people from life suppor against the wishes of the legal guardians.  I see no rush of support of GW for those people.  I guess since there are votes to be had, congress and the president had no problems coming to this woman's aid.

Living Wills people.  The most important piece of paper you can sign.  If two doctors say there's no way I'm coming back to something approaching the ability to think or talk, I want them to pull the plug as soon as they can.

Here is the REAL story.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20050322/cx_tt_uc/tt20050322

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20050322/cx_bs_uc/bs20050322





Cat

Yeah, man, BlueStar sounds exactly like.... you.

ooh yeah, first link on that page goes to Newsmax, this should be good and unbiased.

Strange how the Republicans are all for state rights, until the states decide to do something they don't like.  They're all for individual rights, until the individual decides against them.

George W. signed into law in Texas, a bill that allows hospitals, not the spouse or parents, to decide when to pull the plug, and it's already been used several times in the past year to remove people from life suppor against the wishes of the legal guardians.  I see no rush of support of GW for those people.  I guess since there are votes to be had, congress and the president had no problems coming to this woman's aid.

Living Wills people.  The most important piece of paper you can sign.  If two doctors say there's no way I'm coming back to something approaching the ability to think or talk, I want them to pull the plug as soon as they can.

Thanks for making the point about the bill Bush signed into law as governor of Texas, Chucky.

I have concluded the Schiavo hub-bub is the most obscene single case of political grandstanding I have ever seen in my life.

It's not that the Republicans in Congress and the Executive branch want to be ultimate dictators of the world, it's that they think they already are.  I have never seen such pushy, meddling, and arrogant behavior from the United States government.
Every day thousands of Americans die from treatable and preventable health problems.  A great percentage of the conditions from which Americans die deteriorated because the people could not afford proper health care.
The Republican party and their media goons care nothing for Mrs. Schiavo.  They are ONLY in it for political gain.  I don't know, maybe some of them are socially retarded enough to believe they really do care in spite of the fact that the rest of their priorities fly in the the face of the protection and sanctity of human life.
It was a case of emotional blackmail.  Those filthy rotten creeps in the majority party saw an opportunity to blacken the name of any member of Congress who voted against the measure.
As many people who see the Bush administration up close and personal have observed, there is no policy apparatus in this government.  It is ALL political.  These Republicans are NOT politicians working for the people.  They are businessmen tranferring the wealth of the people to private business and sociopaths stricken with theocratic mania.
Just like the partisan justices of the Supreme Court did with the 2000 election, the Republican-dominated Congress declared the legislative action taken on the Schiavo case is not a precedent.  They are all but admitting this was an ad hoc political maneuvre with no legal principles.

Is it time for revolution or what?
::)

I have a problem with him "All of a sudden" remembering her wishes...AFTER he got the money. I'm not for it being political at all...the less the government involved in many things, the better...be it Clinton, Bush..any of them. If my son Blaine had been married and was in this situation...and his wife was like this guy is, I'd want to have the right to decide what my sons fate would be. My problem is with the husband...I agree with you about all the media, government garbage though. It's just a huge mess and I really have nothing more to say on the matter except that I don't think the husband is the person some think he is.


I really don't think it matters who the husband is.  Good lord, should a healthy young man be expected to be celibate for 14 years?  I'm not that young, but don't ask me to do that.  Put yourself in this guy's place.  He has a wife who is virtually dead, but not quite.  He forms a relationship with another woman and has  kids wityh her, but can't marry her.  Those kids are defines as illigitimate, and people (including on this board) call her a "bimbo".  Maybe he loves this woman and the kids he has had with her.  That seems to be the case since they are still together.  Why should a carrot stand in the way of their legalizing their relationship?  Had Terry left a living will, as I have done, that defines death as brain death, she would have been declared dead years ago, and he would be free of her, evan if her parants wanted to continue to keep her in a vegetative state.I say again,

LET THE WOMAN GO IN PEACE

Thanks for making the point about the bill Bush signed into law as governor of Texas, Chucky.

I have concluded the Schiavo hub-bub is the most obscene single case of political grandstanding I have ever seen in my life.


Is it time for revolution or what?
::)


The political grandstanding is far more than obscene.

It is long past time for revolution.

The political grandstanding is far more than obscene.

It is long past time for revolution.

Well, that's the American tragedy.  There was a time when reform was possible.  However, when a government gets as degenerate and corrupt as the U.S. government today, reform is not possible.
As far as letting Schiavo go in "peace," these guys don't like peace.  They like fighting, and where danger is involved, fighting by proxy.

almost every doctor believes these twitches are involuntary. 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0503230250mar23,1,1265819.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

"You go in the room and say `Terri' and her eyes open," Cranford continued. "That's an arousal response. If you go in and say `President Bush,' the same thing would happen."

Cranford was one of three physicians who examined Schiavo and later testified at an extensive 2002 court hearing in Florida that she was in a persistent vegetative state. The goal was to clarify the woman's medical state and whether further treatment was warranted.

Two physicians who conducted their own exams said she had more consciousness than that diagnosis suggested.

After weighing the evidence, Florida Circuit Judge George Greer wrote of videos submitted as evidence: "At first blush, the video of Terri Schiavo appearing to smile and look lovingly at her mother seemed to represent cognition. This was also true for how she followed the Mickey Mouse balloon held by her father. The court has carefully viewed the videotapes ... and that these actions were neither consistent nor reproducible."




http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/politics/23repubs.html?ex=1269234000&en=b374f7629523357d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

"My party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights unless they don't like what states are doing," said Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, one of five House Republicans who voted against the bill. "This couldn't be a more classic case of a state responsibility."

"This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy," Mr. Shays said. "There are going to be repercussions from this vote. There are a number of people who feel that the government is getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares them."