You can't harp about individual freedom and government interference and then pull a bone headed stunt like they just did. Terri is married and the Husband has the final say, everybody else needs to mind their own damn business.
And while I feel bad for her parents because I believe they are acting blindly out of love for their daughter, they need to perhaps do some self-evaluation becuse I believe while not intented, their desires are self serving and do Terri no good.
I probably fit more into the socially liberal/economically conservative cohort, but I've been silent to the whole thing up 'til now so I'll weigh in here.
First, I think every person should have the right to choose not to be on life support. Its your body, do what you please, as long as it doesn't hurt me. If you fail to write a living will, then you have de facto left your fate to the system and the inevitable he said-she said nonsense.
When there are no written instructions, I really do think the family should decide. If its a medical question, let them base their decision on fact. If its an ethical decision, let them debate the merits.
IMHO, the only societal issue is cost. My more rational side also thinks that our governments (feds, states) shouldn't have to pay for 10 years of life support whether it be for ethical (family doesn't want to kill someone) or medical (docs think there's a one in a billion chance at recovery) reasons. Maybe if a family had economic consequences for keeping alive with no practical upside, they'd reconsider. I know that's a bit cold-hearted, but we as a nation far outspend others at this stage in life.
1) there is no proof he said that and 2) He has been offered over 7 figures to walk away and refused
Seems to me if he did not like her or was just in it for the money, he could have cashed in already. I hear a lot of people trying to slander the husband, but I have seen no REAL evidence and his refusal to take the big bucks kind of blows the money theory.
The GOP knows this plays well to their base. They pass a law throwing it to the COURTS on a voice vote in both houses (nobody gets recorded). They don't have the stones to say they want the woman to be kept alive because they know that the majority of americans don't agree. So they throw it to the courts (two levels) to see if they can find some fucking judge that will agree with them. This, even after it has been to the courts 'umpteen times.
Maybe they will get a judge with balls who will rule the following way: he/she will say "quit trying to get the courts to rule they way you want so you don't have to go on record. If you want to make a law about this poor woman, pass one and we will rule on that".
Assuming your link is to a credible site and accurately quotes a solid witness, you've pretty much cracked this caper wide open. No way around it: conspiracy to commit murder for financial gain. Nurse Carolyn Adams sounds good for a number of other murders as well. This is the first I've heard Terry's husband was injecting foreign substances into her system to hasten her death - they take that seriously down in Florida. Excluding our witness, the entire staff at the Convalescent Center is guilty of a cover-up.
I don't understand why the FBI and local law enforcement haven't burst through their doors and thrown them all in cells.
Have no idea about content of the source and quite franky didn't read it. It was the first of many hits google coughed where the husband was reportedly heard to say "When is that bitch gonna die?" and that is all I was making reference to.
On the one hand, I agree that one spouse should, as a general rule, make medical decisions for another spouse.
But Michael Schiavo is not, in any meaningful sense of the term, Terri's husband. He's been shacked up with another honey for years (though under the circumstances, I can't begrudge him that), with whom he has two children. Doesn't or shouldn't that circumstance call into question his motives in making a decision? Moreover, he is the sole person who states that Terri expressed the desire not to be kept alive this way. Convenient, isn't it? And then there's the $1.5 million medical settlement socked away for her care. She dies, and he gets it, I believe. Absent a living will, his desires are questionable.
At the same time, the parents' motives are just as questionable, if probably less base. We're not designed to outlive our children, and I dare say that the one sentiment about which I would get no dispute from those on this Board is that each of us would happily give our lives to save our own children's. Letting go, for them, cannot reasonably be expected.
But to a bottom line. Enough of the evidence causes me to believe that the notion that Terri is in a "persistent vegetative state" is a fraud, and that she is aware of her surroundings and communicative, albeit on a very diminished basis, and that she could improve with the therapy that's never been provided to her (at her "husband's" orders). Starvation/dehydration is a horrible way to die. And Michael Schiavo could walk away from this (a client of Gloria Allred's has offered him $1 million to do so) by getting an uncontested divorce, and agreeing to leave Terri's parents as her guardian. While he may genuinely believe that his end is Terri's desire, there is enough objective doubt that the court's should not allow him to kill her. And if he can walk away, but won't, one has to ask "Why not?" and "What is in it for him?"
One more bottom line --- I'm glad I don't have to make the decision.
I guess I fit into that category of self-described libertarians. I believe in the first and second ammendments equally. I am equally afraid of the anti-american elitist left, as I am of the jingoistic Christian right. I voted for Bush, but I have to admit that on certain issues I had to hold my nose and remind myself that it's the big issues that count. I don't regret voting for Bush, but I only agree with him about half the time
I think my position on Terry Schiavo has been pretty clear. Let that poor woman go, and let her family, both husband and parents, get on with their lives. 15 years of legal wrangling is more than enough. The federal government should have nothing to do with this and I believe Congress' involvement is not only a travesty, but unconstitutional as well. This woman is either already gone, which I fervently hope, or she's livng a nightmare trapped in her own body fully aware. In either case nothing is served by keeping her body alive, except to keep her parent's well intentioned, but deluded hopes alive that "God" is going to somehow bring her back to them.
Well, I am kinda dumbstruck on all the media attention this has gotten on what is essentially a glorified family dispute. I don't think it's any role of the courts, no way is it congress, it's not a religious matter (to me). I see is as a simple question of who's right is it, is it the parent's right to choose or is it the Husband's? As I understand marriage law - in the eyes of the law a married couple are viewed as one, thus the husband has more of a say in disposing of the body than do the parents who raised her.
It's not for us (or governmetn) to decide, utimatley it is up to her & if one hasn't expressed their opinion prior - then it falls to the spouse. Since it's in a legal battle, it should have been resolved via binding arbitration.
But you have to reflect on the fact that if Michael Schiavo's motives are actually his own gain, they can't be much worse than the jail house snitch, the type who has been the source of so many convictions in our justice system. Something is wrong when a law allows a living will, or a capital conviction, to turn on the heresay testimony of one witness, no matter what the motive.
I hate to say, she either has the living will or she doesn't. We don't let estates be passed on from an inferred "dead" will, do we? Perhaps we do, it's called probate, and the reputed long running cases there are legendary. Unfortunately, there is a time limit here.
There is no $1.5 million settlement for Michael Shiavo. The original malpractice award was $1 million: $700,000 allocated for medical care, which has been used, and $300,000 to the husband, most of whuch has been consumed with attorney's fees. He is not the only person who testified that Terri said she would not want to be kept alive in a situation like this. During the many court proceedings in this case two of her friends testified to the same thing.
Michael Schiavo is not the only one who testified about Terri's wishes, although people favoring the parents will claim he's the source. His brother and his brother's wife also testified about it. The malpractice suit resulted in two awards, one for a trust fund for Terri and one for Michael. About $750,000 went to the trust fund and $300,000 to Michael. Jay Wolfson, the Guardian Ad Litem appointed after the Florida legislature took action back in 2003, says in his report dated 12-1-03 that the trust fund has been exhausted. He also states that Michael "formally offered to divest himself entirely of his financial interest in the guardianship estate." And that happened back in 1998.
What evidence causes you to believe that the notion of Terri being in a persistent vegetative state is a fraud? Which therapies are you claiming her husband has not allowed?
From what I have gathered, the facts are in a state of FUBAR, particularly those regarding her expressed desire were this situation arise.
My first instinct is always to fall back to the indiviual's desire, seconadary would be a husband or wife. third in line are parents. It seems what is in dispute is whether or not the girls wishes are being accuartely expressed by the hubby, and that is being contested by the parents.
Nevertheless, there is some real "thru the looking glass" stuff going here though.
The key question, I think, is exactly what you have identified - whether or not Terri Schiavo's wishes are being accurately expressed by her husband. And the courts have taken a good, hard look at this question over and over, and have decided that yes, they are.
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