Read this then let us know what YOU think about this type of situation. Bear in mind, (note the last paragraph), she has been in this situation for many years....
A federal appeals court early today agreed to consider a petition by Terri Schiavo's parents for a new hearing on whether to reconnect their severely brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled without comment as Schiavo entered her 13th day without nourishment. Last week, the same court twice ruled against Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who are trying to keep her alive.
Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed March 18 on a court order sought by her husband, who contends she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially.
Doctors have said Terri Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two of the tube being removed. She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance apparently brought on by an eating disorder.
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IF she wants to die I say she should have that right, however, from the little I,ve seen I,m not sure that,s what she wants.
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If there was a loving and compassionate God running things, Terry Schiavo would have passed on immediately after her heart attack. I think most of the current controversy is caused by her mother's unrealistic expectations about her "little girl". I think it amounts to criminal cruelty.
Technology can keep almost anyone alive who should have died. In the US, it's often a function of available funding that controls the level of care a patient gets. I can't imagine how the Schindlers have paid for Terry's care for 15 years. It would have bankrupted most people several times over.
Quite honestly, Brian, I don't think she has the mental capacity to make any decisions. The medical evidence shows that all the section of the brain that handles cognitive thought, rational decision making and action has been dead for many years. The videos they show on TV are nothing like the reality. She only blinks because her mom is spitting in her eyes, and most of the video is a couple of years old, if not more.
I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in her condition. I hope whenever I go it's with a no-question, big bang type of departure. A long drawn-out descent into dementia for several years is my worst nightmare. That's how my Dad went - about three years total.
Some years back, an acquaintance who was a glider pilot was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. He took the news very stoically and continued his flying. One gorgeous summer evening, he launched on a flight from our summer base in Eastern Washington and headed out towards the Cascade mountains. With tremendous wave lift, he climbed to about 35,000 feet. He then ceased to communicate with the glider operations center or the FAA.
The wreckage was found a couple of months later. As best anyone could tell, after a review of the on-board recording equipment, he'd headed into the sunset and taken his oxygen mask off, dying of anoxia. The uncontrolled glider had crashed sometime later. I always thought what a way to go - doing what you loved in the most spectacularly scenic area of the world.
Frank Damp
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
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I doubt very much the Terry Schiavo situation would happen in the UK. For a start the NHS wouldn't pay to keep someone on life support for 15 years if they were brain dead. Over here the only person who can consent to medical treatment for a person over the age of 16 is the person themselves. If that person is not able to give consent, then two doctors have to decide on the appropriate treatment plan. Fanily can express their views, but cannot insist on any particular course of action.
When my brother was proclaimed brain dead after being run over almost two years ago, there was no question of family giving any consent - we were *told* his life support would be turned off at 9am. But then neither was there any question of us wanting him to go on living when there was no hope of any cognitive function. His injuries were horrendous - it was kinder to let him die.
Sadly Terri Schiavo has just died,7:00AM PST
