OK, I have to mention this.

[gridlore]

I've avoided ranting about the Schaivo situation in my journal. I'm sure most of you know, or can guess, my position.

But yesterday, several protestors were arrested for tresspassing at the hospice facility.. they were trying to bring Terri cups of water.

Which would have killed her. See, she hasn't had a swallowing reflex in a decade. Pour water down her throat, and it goes right into the lungs.

This shows the level of idiocy of the "save Terri" people. They don't care about the most basic facts of the case, prefer to believe in flights of fancy that this woman, lacking a cerebral cortex, will someday sit up and speak. It isn't going to happen.

Were I in charge at the hospice, I would have taken the trespassers into a conference room and told them in gloating terms how they almost committed murder, how they were idiots, and that they should all go finish grade school before making medical judgements.

Comments

[karjack.livejournal.com]

That is stupidity on a scale that simply stuns me. I used to work in health care and dealt with patients not unlike this one and... no. You just don't...

No.

Then again, this is proving that people in a persistent vegetative state are capable of at least holding protests and sneaking into hospices with cups of water.

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

I agree

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

oh btw...

There was a wonderful letter in yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times about the fact that the Republicans in Congress were so quick to intervene in the case of a brain-damaged woman as an act of self-preservation. ;-)

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

It would have been ironic if they'd succeeded in sneaking in and giving her the drink. The religious right would have had to support a charge of homicide, because they're the ones saying Schaivo is alive and can recover...

[thingunderthest.livejournal.com]

Of course they could always then either claim it was Gods will that she did not swallow, or that she was dispondent about all this, chose not to swallow and will now burn in hell as a suicide.

[cleverthylacine]

Okay, you do realise that five people != the entire side of the equation?

Or perhaps you're using the same sort of logic you used when you decided that I don't respect your marriage because I don't respect Michael Schiavo's?

Anyhow, I personally graduated from grade school some 28 years ago, have a master's degree, work in health care, and agree that that was a stupid thing to do, but...still don't agree with starving this woman to death.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Yet over twenty judges, in a dozen hearings, have found that Terri did in fact state here desires regarding life on tubes. Evidently, all these judges, who looked at all the evidence, found that these five people were credible and that the medical evidence was clear.

[cleverthylacine]

I'm not talking about judges vs. judges or doctors vs. doctors, Doug, I'm talking about your writing that the fact that five, or six, or ten people broke in with cups of water makes everyone who disagrees with you stupid.

Personally I think people should only be denied sustenance if there is an advance directive in place, because having been a 26 year old who thought I was immortal and made similar remarks in passing, and then having faced death up close and personal three years later and finding that I had no idea how I really felt about it in the situation, I really don't think anyone knows for sure how they're going to feel when it *actually happens*, but if they take the time to write it up and get it notarised, I can respect the effort and forethought that went into that. But that's my position and it's different from yours which I can respect.

The fact that we have a few whackos on our side should not be used to discredit us all. Because surely there are no whackos on your side? I think not. Every important issue there IS attracts lunatics.

[pompe.livejournal.com]

Can't those protesters be charged with something?

Being an idiot ("Gee, I didn't know she'd drown") can't be a valid defense especially if one claims to know the case, and I believe there is a reason these decisions are being made by family and medical professionals.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

The hospice is pressing tresspassing charges.

Ok, I gotta say

[bunnybutt.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who sees the irony in a discussion about whether to "starve to death" a woman who is in a PVS because she was starving herself to death?

Why are we having all this angst about whether to let her die or not rather than a public discussion of how our society's standards for women's appearance lead to eating disorders, and how eating disorders contributed to Terry's condition?

As for her parents... they provided the environment that fostered the eating disorder. The time for them to help her was 25 years ago.

Re: Ok, I gotta say

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Why are we having all this angst about whether to let her die or not rather than a public discussion of how our society's standards for women's appearance lead to eating disorders, and how eating disorders contributed to Terry's condition?

Because 1) the power of society's standards to cause anorexia is laughable in the face of the growing percentage of fat people and
2) there's no question of a person's expressed wishes on the matter when they are able to feed themselves.

Re: Ok, I gotta say

[bunnybutt.livejournal.com]

Wow.

1) spoken like someone who has never had a weight problem of any kind. Dieting causes weight gain. Yo yo dieting is how most people *get* fat. I'm not the only 250+lb former anorexic I know. Ironic, huh? Oh, and compulsive over-eating, anorexia's companion condition, is also an eating disorder.

(2) Also spoken like someone who has never had any experience with eating disorders, or any addiction issues, either.

Re: Ok, I gotta say

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Wow.
1) spoken like someone who has never had a weight problem of any kind

I'm 340 lbs, 5'10".

I'm not the only 250+lb former anorexic I know. Ironic, huh? Oh, and compulsive over-eating, anorexia's companion condition, is also an eating disorder

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter3/sec6.html#eating

"About 3 percent of young women have one of the three main eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge-eating disorder (Becker et al., 1999)."

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/defining.htm

"...an estimated 64 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese..."

If these are connected, it seems odd that 40 times as many people go straight to being fat as pass through anorexia, bulimia, and such on the way.

(2) Also spoken like someone who has never had any experience with eating disorders, or any addiction issues, either.

I recently "discovered" I was eating 2-3 times what I needed to, and was still hungry a lot. Now I've cut back, and feel I am making progress, but it's still damned hard to pass up double-cheeseburgers for a dollar at every McDonalds.