Duffer, Abbie Carmichael, if, God forbid, I should ever wind up in a PVS, stay the hell out of my state until I’m gone!. Fellow Dopers, I ask your help with this. You see, while I don’t have a living will, I have something possibly more effective from what I’ve read: friends and family who agree with me that we don’t want anyone taking extraordinary measures. Unfortunately, even that may be enough if doctors are determined to override the wishes of family and friends.
I’ll say it here and now for all the teeming millions to read: If I ever wind up in a PVS, my swallowing and breathing reflexes shot, I will come back and haunt anyone who tries does to me what Terry Schiavo’s parents have done to her! I mean it. I realize that technically Christians aren’t supposed to be able to haunt people, but I’ll try to talk God into making an exception.
You know, I really do think her parents mean well and it is sad. Still, 15 years is a long time to be in denial. I don’t presume to know when the soul enters the body or when it leaves it. I don’t know if Terry Schiavo’s soul is still tied to her body, although, if it is, I could think of few worse nightmares. Folks, I’ve had a good run of things. If I get knocked into a coma tonight on my way home, there isn’t much I’ll regret, although there are some of you I would like to meet. Still, when my time is up, it’s up and I can’t see the sense in keeping my body alive if my mind is gone. Salvage what you can from the organs, although my eyes do require bifocals and the others also have some miles on them, and let the rest go. The past 15 years must have been a nightmare of pain, grief, and anger for the parents, but merely keeping a tube shoved down their daughter’s throat won’t end it. Let her go. Please.
Oh, by the way, it’s my understanding that Michael Schiavo didn’t take up with the new woman until some years after this happened. If I were Terry, I’d be glad to see him happy.
This is truly a tragic situation. The only one I have complete empathy with is the poor woman. The parents seem to in denial, the medical evidence seems overwhelming that there is no hope for any recovery whatsoever. After 15 years, it seems only logical to accept that she’s gone. Legally, it should be the husband’s call as next of kin. I’m a wee bit bothered that he’s found a new love, but if the legal system hadn’t stepped in he would have been a widower long ago. Until one walks in his shoes, you can’t judge him. The legal system has done her a great disservice by keeping this going for so long. It should have been decided, one way or another, long ago.
The only sure thing I see in the whole situation is that we should all have living wills. It’s a lot to ask of a young person to contemplate this scenario, but if this was truly her wish it would have been a lot easier on all around if it was in writing.
That’s an incredibly disturbing image, but I wouldn’t put it past them. It would probably have a drasically different impact than they’re hoping for though.
Course, he must’ve just done this over a weekend to make it look good before he went back to smacking her brainless body around. :rolleyes: It’s not even comprehendable that he may have wanted to make sure that there was no chance of her recovering before he filled her wishes. Good golly no :rolleyes: This must’ve been his dastardly plan all along.
What’s really funny is how many people are bashing Michael Schiavo and completely ignoring all of the testimony of the doctors done in all of the court proceedings that have examined Terry and have stated under oath that Terry ain’t Terry no more. Meanwhile the parents can only bring the testimony of doctors who have only seen an edited video tape and haven’t examined her in person. Must’ve paid the court appointed doctors to get the results he wanted. What a mastermind he is. :rolleyes:
And now the fucking parents are thrilled to death to parade their daughter in front of fucking congress. What the hell is that going to do? It’s fucking sick! What the fuck business does congress have pulling this shit? Are they going to run her through the same battery of tests that they ran Strom Thurmand through every day? Gonna take her for a spin through the congressional CAT scan?
Lastly duffer, is it possible that he’s remained married to Terry in order to carry her wishes out? I honestly can’t think of a reason why he would stay in the fight this long otherwise.
They’re going to roll this poor woman into a Congressional hearing room, strapped to a chair, and its going to reflect more poorly on Congress than anything else could. Any shred of dignity she may have had left is no gone.
If I were Michael Schiavo I’d prepare a one sentice opening statement:
“You asked her here - go ahead ask her all the questions you want.”
All the morons who are saying that the husband is just in it for the money, are you finally willing, after being shown mountains of evidence, to take your feet out of your mouths and acknowledge that there has been no financial windfall for the guy out of all this?
And to the people who are constantly implying—or saying outright—that his current partner is just some casual fuck that he jumped on as soon as his wife was in the hospital, you are complete idiots. As other have pointed out, he didn’t take up with this woman until fully five years after his wife’s condition began, and he has two kids with this woman.
But even if we accept every idiotic claim being made about the husband, the fact is that he is right. Even if he is right for all the wrong reasons, he is still right—this poor woman should not be kept alive any longer just to keep her fucking freakshow of a family happy.
I cannot believe the lack of dignity and caring. She has become a pawn for the right-to-lifers, who care not a jot or a tittle about quality of life. It’s the ulitmate invasion of the gov’t into a woman’s right to choose…in this case, her right not to have to “live” this way.
It’s been delayed so a judge can sort all this mess out. I think if the Congressmen are that interested, they can haul their asses down to Florida and visit her themselves, instead of demanding that she appear before them in a hearing. I mean, for crying out loud! Have we lost all sense of reason here?
Seeing the news articles today has convinced me to go get a living will made. It was something my husband’s lady relative had urged me to do as well before she died. The latest developments, combined with the news that I might have fibroids on my ovaries, (which will likely mean surgery to remove them) has brought this about. The chances that I could get hit by one of this town’s wreckless drivers are enough, that I don’t want to risk it. I don’t think my parents would do as Terri’s parents are, but I sure as hell don’t want the government telling my husband that he has to keep me alive, after I’ve been determined to be brain dead. I want him to be able to let me go in peace, with dignity and privacy.
I still won’t believe it until she’s legally pronounced dead. They’ll either find a delay, or they’ll manage to have it reinserted within the next few days.
I hope when Terri does eventually die, her spirit comes back and kicks the asses of everyone who used her like this. It’s disgusting.
