The Terri Shiavo case

[Guest sek69]

For those who haven't been following, Terri Shiavo is a woman in Florida who had a heart attack (I think thats what it was) in 1990 and has been in a coma/vegitative state since.

 

Her husband wants to take her off her feeding tube because he claims she stated to him previously that she wouldn't want to live like that. Unfortunately, she never made a will so there's no written record so there's no proof one way or another in writing confirming her wishes.

 

Her case is becoming a huge issue because her parents are insisting she's still communicating with them despite doctors saying she's basically brain dead and the movements they see are the result of deep brain reflexes.

 

Personally, I don't know why anyone would want a loved one to continue in the state she's in. Even if she miraculously wakes up, she's going to be profoundly brain damaged and in need of round the clock care. Some people are taking the positon that anyone who thinks like that hate the disabled or some other horseshit, but as someone who's been in the position of having a loved one in a positon where pulling the plug is pretty much the only option, keeping them alive is selfish. It's not right to make someone linger in a state like that just because you're not ready to let them go yet.

 

I can understand the view of someone who thinks its wrong, but I'd wager most of them have never had to make the call.

[2GOLD 0]

My parents and my gf have been giving written orders that say if I'm in a coma with no brain function or they are informed when I wake up that walking won't be an option for me anymore, that the plug is to be pulled.

 

Sorry, some people may be strong enough to live that way. Not me. I'm a puss when it comes to the thought of not being able to walk ever again.

[Guest sek69]

If anything, this case illustrates how important it is for you to have your wishes written out.

 

I just hate how people are acting like this poor woman has a chance of recovering when most of the functioning part of her brain is literally gone, replaced with spinal fluid. Her brain would have to magically reform in her head for her to have a chance to come out of the state she's in.

[2GOLD 0]

Yeah, missing an entire part of your brain is slightly different than just brain dead. If she was brain dead, I could see holding onto some hope. With pieces of brain gone, they are literally keeping a corpse going.

[Highland 0]

Her ex-husband isn't doing this to be merciful to her, he wants her out of the way to get her inheritance. I don't blame her family for not wanting her taken off life support especially if it means this prick benefits from her death.

[Guest sek69]

Her ex-husband isn't doing this to be merciful to her, he wants her out of the way to get her inheritance. I don't blame her family for not wanting her taken off life support especially if it means this prick benefits from her death.

The whole "he's doing it for money" thing is BS, first off there wasn't much of a settlement since Terri was a bullemic and the heart attack she suffered was due to a lack of potassium from her eating habits.

 

Also, her parents offered to let her husband keep the money just so they could keep her feeding tube in place and he refused.

 

Her husband may be a bastard, but for her parensts to go around painting her husband as a money grubbing bastard just so you can keep your brain dead child alive doesn't put her parents too much higher.

 

I think her parents just don't want to let go. My cousin's husband is brain-dead in a coma right now, and has been on life support since Valentine's Day because my cousin doesn't want to admit her husband is for all intents and purposes dead.

[NoCalMike 0]

I'd stop the feeding tube.

[SuperJerk 0]

I've been watching wrestling too long. When I first read saw this thread I thought it was about the former announcer of Monday Nitro.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I've been watching wrestling too long. When I first read saw this thread I thought it was about the former announcer of Monday Nitro.

That would be the greatest story in the history of this board!

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I've been watching wrestling too long.  When I first read saw this thread I thought it was about the former announcer of Monday Nitro.

That would be the greatest story in the history of this board!

That would be the worst joke in the history of this board!

[Vyce 0]

I'd stop the feeding tube.

Might as well just put a gun up to her head and pull the trigger, because that's a less painful death than starvation.

[DerangedHermit 0]

I've been watching wrestling too long.  When I first read saw this thread I thought it was about the former announcer of Monday Nitro.

That would be the greatest story in the history of this board!

That would be the worst joke in the history of this board!

That would be the worst comeback in the history of this board

 

...oh shi

[EricMM 0]

She's gone, Vyce, whats the issue.

 

She will never do anything, ever again. She won't ever think another thought, feel another sensation, experiance another experiance. Life isn't biological function, life is LIVING. She's not living. She's dead, as far as I'm concerned. This is just a bunch of hardwired functions repeating endlessly. It's a PARADY of life at best, and her parents are just ... I dunno what.

 

The fact that she probably DID tell her husband she didn't want to live like this makes this whole thing sadder.

[NoCalMike 0]

I'd stop the feeding tube.

Might as well just put a gun up to her head and pull the trigger, because that's a less painful death than starvation.

Ok, overdose on Morphine. No pain at all.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I think it's time for her to move on, but for the amount of attention this whole thing got you think someone would have raised enough money to make a better assisted suicide than pulling the tube.

 

I mean, cmon, even death row guys who get the lethal injection are getting a more elegant way to go.

[Vern Gagne 0]

her parents are just ... I dunno what.

 

Love their daughter, and don't think her dirtbag husband as their daughter's best interesst at heart.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

The whole "he's doing it for money" thing is BS, first off there wasn't much of a settlement since Terri was a bullemic and the heart attack she suffered was due to a lack of potassium from her eating habits.

 

I had heard he got a nice chunk of change that was meant to go to Terri's medical care and then he said she would have wanted to have plug pulled if she ever was in such a veggie state.

 

We talked about this before, and you and Marney (back then) said this is a prime example of why everyone should have a living will done. I agree. However, since nothing was put into writing, I say let the parents keep her. I don't blame the guy for wanting to start his life over with another women and several kids, but just give Terri away to her parents so they can care for her...

[Crimson Platypus 0]

A few months ago my sister-in-law's mother had a heart attack, and during the heart attack she suffered a stroke, and from the combination of the two also suffered massive brain damage and ended up in a coma. Basically they (the three sisters) were told that their mother had a less than 1% chance of ever coming out of the coma, and even then that she would be a vegatable. They ended up deciding to terminate life support for their mother (father is not in the picture). Oh and she was 53 when this happened...

 

I fully supported their decision, just as I support the husband in this situation.

[Special K 0]

As an aside, being in a coma (not being braindead) COULD conceivably be awesome.

[Vern Gagne 0]

The opinions have broken down pretty much, what I'd expected them to do.

[NoCalMike 0]

her parents are just ... I dunno what.

 

Love their daughter, and don't think her dirtbag husband as their daughter's best interesst at heart.

So, having her lying in bed for another 40 years as a vegetable is in her best interests? If I understand correctly, she has missing pieces of brain, so she ain't coming back....the parents should let her go.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Not if they don't want too, they shouldn't.

[NoCalMike 0]

Not if they don't want too, they shouldn't.

Well I guess not if that is what the law says so....but if the judges determine it is the husband's decision, then they should make other arrangements.

[Guest cosbywasmurdered]

I'd stop the feeding tube.

Might as well just put a gun up to her head and pull the trigger, because that's a less painful death than starvation.

Starvation isn't a painful death supposedly. Endorphines are realised as the body eats it's self.

 

I'm probably putting it wrong, but it was on some Science show.

[Guest Regina Phelange]

As a nurse I am unfortunately exposed to cases like this, however, in Canada the case may be different as we tend not to take each other to court over everything all the time. Being "locked in" is one thing, when you're aware mentally but have few physical capabilities....but this is a sticky story...ADVANCE DIRECTIVES, people. Put stuff in writing.

On a sicker note, there was a case of a husband who mistreated his wife (she had MS I think)...he was allowed to give consent for a feeding tube, which allowed him to sexually abuse his wife for another year or two. Sick.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

As an aside, being in a coma (not being braindead) COULD conceivably be awesome.

I had an Ecology teacher who was in a coma but still concious for several days.

 

She described it as the most frightening thing in her life. Something about how you want to scream at people to not come to the conclusion that you're "gone" but no matter how hard you try you can't do anything.

 

On the other hand, this woman's degenerative state is so bad that I think keeping her around is only prolonging the pain. Fuck Jeb Bush for trying to write laws to keep her around.

 

Find a humane way to put her down and move on.

[NoCalMike 0]

Didn't someone say that pieces of the woman's brain is actually missing, and there is just spinal fluid in there? I mean, brain does not just grow back after some hibernation period. If pieces of brain are gone, then I am sorry, but she ain't coming back.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'm looking for unbiased stories. There really isn't one. One side says she can communicate, and can recover with better rehabilation. The other side, say Schiavo's has good has dead.

[NoCalMike 0]

I'm looking for unbiased stories. There really isn't one. One side says she can communicate, and can recover with better rehabilation. The other side, say Schiavo's has good has dead.

Are both sides backed by doctor's? I mean what officially is her condition diagnosed as?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Normally, I wouldn't complain about such a post, but I've learned from Verne's previous posts that he's pretty conservative.

 

The "if the parents don't want to, they shouldn't have to" attitude from the farthest right side of the arena always makes me laugh with it's irony. It's the parents' choice to say whether or not the plug is pulled and doctors and other people shouldn't have any say otherwise.

 

Of course, if the subject some parents choose to pull the plug on is a fetus, then things turn 100% and the parents have no right to make this decision and someone else must speak up on behalf of those who can't speak for themselves.