# Let the poor woman die already! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029 "2005-03-17T19:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 49
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/961 "2005-03-28T13:53:50Z")
I was thinking it sounds a little like the adults always did in the Charlie Brown TV specials. ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/962 "2005-03-28T14:00:48Z")
It keeps making me think of Lassie. “What’s that Terri, you want to live? And a boy’s fallen down the old well?” ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/963 "2005-03-28T15:46:26Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I was discussing this case with my mother, who’s a nurse. I told her in no uncertain terms that I wouldn’t want to live in a PVS. > > Her response? “I had no intention of letting you.” > > :eek: > > Great…now part of me can’t help but think that my mother’s actively plotting to kill me. :rolleyes: We had a very lively Easter-Dinner conversation at my mother’s house yesterday (my siblings, our spouses, and assorted grandchildren) about this very subject. It ended with a rousing game of, “Who’s Going to Pull Whose Plug?” Sick, maybe, but at least we all know that NONE of us want to be in Terri Schiavo’s condition. Then my husband and I came home, and his father and sister came over with Easter treats for our kids. My FIL (uneducated, and willfully ignorant) was appalled that they’re letting that poor woman just “starve to death” when she’s clearly been saying all along that she wants to live. Of course it’s the fault of her “cheating husband,” who “beat her into the coma in the first place,” and stands to inherit “millions and millions” when she dies. :rolleyes: God save me from the morons. It wasn’t even worth arguing about. ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/964 "2005-03-28T15:57:32Z")
Did everyone catch Terry’s brother trying to calm the crowd down, asking them not to get themselves arrested, and the protesters started arguing with him? He seemed genuinely confused that they did not just accept what he was asking of them. Duh! These are people who feel they should get involved in Terry’s personal request to die, why would they honor your request to shut up? Looks like the nuts have been replaced by the super-nuts on the picket lines ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/965 "2005-03-28T16:00:54Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > My FIL (uneducated, and willfully ignorant) was appalled that they’re letting that poor woman just “starve to death” when she’s clearly been saying all along that she wants to live. Of course it’s the fault of her “cheating husband,” who “beat her into the coma in the first place,” and stands to inherit “millions and millions” when she dies. :rolleyes: > God save me from the morons. It wasn’t even worth arguing about. My god, this is almost the same conversation I had in my class on Saturday. This is supposed to be a class full of grad students, but the ingnorance was astounding! One tearful, middle-aged woman said “Oh they’re killing her! It’s like an execution! When they took the tube out, she screamed, cried, and begged them not to kill her, but they did it anyway.” Christ on melba toast. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/966 "2005-03-28T16:13:21Z")
Yeah, because the courts have decided it’s okay to off people who have speech impediments… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/967 "2005-03-28T16:15:44Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Yeah, because the courts have decided it’s okay to off people who have speech impediments… It’th dethpicable. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/968 "2005-03-28T16:21:03Z")
These are the same kind of people who lap up glurge like it’s sweet cream. This whole Schiavo thing has been a near-orgasmic experience for them…glurge in real life!! “She screamed and cried and told them she wanted to live!” Because there were so many camcorders in the room when they did it and they saw documentation of this, right? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/969 "2005-03-28T16:22:14Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It’th dethpicable. Vegetable season! Coma season! Vegetable season! Coma season! Coma season! Vegetable season! _pause_ _yoink_ _die_ ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/970 "2005-03-28T16:23:32Z")
> [@archmichael](#): > > Did everyone catch Terry’s brother trying to calm the crowd down, asking them not to get themselves arrested, and the protesters started arguing with him? > > He seemed genuinely confused that they did not just accept what he was asking of them. Duh! These are people who feel they should get involved in Terry’s personal request to die, why would they honor your request to shut up? > > Looks like the nuts have been replaced by the super-nuts on the picket lines The trickiest part of the Sorceror’s Apprentice spell is always getting them to stop. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/971 "2005-03-28T16:25:06Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > The trickiest part of the Sorceror’s Apprentice spell is always getting them to stop. Exactly. As they say in umpty-billion medieval grimoires, “Do not summon what you cannot put down”. Or, as they say in one of the umpty-billion Garfield collections, “Never eat anything bigger than your head”. Either one, really… ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/972 "2005-03-28T16:27:21Z")
This is the best argument so far - the fact that Terri isn’t dead yet proves that she wants to be kept alive! > [@](#): > > As of today – Easter Sunday – Terri Schiavo is STILL fighting for her life – which itself is proof that it is NOT her wish to die, as her estranged “husband” keeps claiming. [Link](http://www.rightmarch.com/call.htm) Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/973 "2005-03-28T16:32:29Z")
> [@Avenger](#): > > This is the best argument so far - the fact that Terri isn’t dead yet proves that she wants to be kept alive! Heck, that’s nothing. Mahoney says it’s proof she wants to testify to congress. I myself think she’s holding out to see if Anthony Fedorov becomes her next American Idol. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/974 "2005-03-28T16:33:14Z")
> [@](#): > > as her estranged “husband” Ooh…dubiquotes! Funny how these are the same people who cheerfully use that construction to refer to gay men married to their partners in Massachusetts. Good defense of marriage there, guys! And can someone explain to me how a husband whose wife has been unresponsive and basically brain-dead for 15 years can NOT be “estranged”? They throw it in their just to delegitimize his interest in her wishes. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/975 "2005-03-28T16:44:37Z")
> [@Avenger](#): > > This is the best argument so far - the fact that Terri isn’t dead yet proves that she wants to be kept alive! > > [Link](http://www.rightmarch.com/call.htm) > > Enjoy! I see the Religious Right has all the nutjobs mobilized now, including AMBASSADOR Alan Keyes. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/976 "2005-03-28T16:51:02Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > And can someone explain to me how a husband whose wife has been unresponsive and basically brain-dead for 15 years can NOT be “estranged”? They throw it in their just to delegitimize his interest in her wishes. He’s not estranged at all; he’s not indifferent to her. They are using the word completely incorrectly. Big surprise there. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/977 "2005-03-28T17:09:57Z")
Hey, we’ve finally learned what will get CNN off Schiavo. A massive earthquake. Guess the whole last week was just a slow news week because enough people weren’t dying. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/978 "2005-03-28T17:37:36Z")
> [@Avenger](#): > > Do Catholics have a ‘right’ to be buried? I mean, I went to a Catholic school and don’t remember that coming up. I believe that there was a time where cremation was considered wrong, but not anymore surely? There’s nothing that says Catholics cannot be cremated. It doesn’t preclude her from having a Catholic funeral-or even a Catholic burial, for that matter. BTW, anyone else thinks that Terri’s brother looks like Jerry Seinfeld? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/979 "2005-03-28T17:54:15Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Or, as they say in one of the umpty-billion Garfield collections, “Never eat anything bigger than your head”. [B. Kliban](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0911104674/102-9991179-2502546?v=glance) said it, actually, though the artist is also well known for [cat cartoons.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563052849/ref=pd_sim_b_4/102-9991179-2502546?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029/980 "2005-03-28T19:06:45Z")
Matt Conigliaro, a Florida attorney, has an excellent blog named [abstract appeal](http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/infopage.html). He has been following this case for several years and contained in his blog is perhaps the most complete and unbiased accounting of the whole Terri Schiavo ordeal. I worked as a Hospice nurse for over 10 years and can tell you that withwolding food and water is common practice and considered a comfort measure. I am appalled by the actions of the Schindler’s and sincerely think thing they need substantial psychiatric help. I don’t think I have ever seen a more deep seated case of denial. I agree completely with Michael Schiavo’s actions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029.md?page=48) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-the-poor-woman-die-already/295029.md?page=50)