Fla. Doctors Remove Woman's Feeding Tube

[MoonAndSun]

<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=10&u=/ap/20031015/ap_on_re_us/comatose_woman>



snip>PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Doctors removed the feeding tube Wednesday that has been keeping alive a severely brain-damaged woman at the center of an epic, six-year legal battle between her husband and parents.


Terri Schiavo, 39, underwent the procedure at the Tampa Bay area hospice where she has been living for several years, said her father, Bob Schindler. Attorneys representing her husband, Michael Schiavo, said it will take between a week and 10 days for her to die.


The tube removal came just hours after Gov. Jeb Bush told Bob Schindler and his wife, Mary, that he was instructing his legal staff to find some means to block the court order allowing Michael Schiavo to end his wife's life.





I feel bad for all the family members involved in this. I truly cannot say how I would feel if this was a member of my family.






Mods, if this is a dupe please delete.

[demnan]

1. One thing we all should do

is make our preferences known to those who love us (or we think might love us) before we die. Put it in writing. That way there's nothing for the relatives to fight over if you become a mental "vegetable".

[enkidu2]

2. there are

no absolute answers to this but from my point of view as a doctor, too often i see family members demanding painful and aggressive "life sustaining" treatment for unresponsive dying relatives, i for my part am anxiously waiting to inform my children of my wishes in no uncertain terms, unfortunately the oldest one is not yet two and i just dont think she gets it

[Bridget Burke]

4. This woman wasn't dying....

And not totally unresponsive. There's some controversy in this decision.

And informing your children is not the way to go. I hesitate to recommend the obvious to an MD, but you need to complete your Advanced Directives (Living Will & Power of Attorney). You may think you're too young, but the woman who is dying, now, was 25 when she had the heart attack.

[noonwitch]

5. This case really bothers me

If they were removing a respirator, that's one thing. Starving her to death is so wrong. She responds to stimuli, can feel pain and may even improve if hubby allowed the money to actually be used for therapy. He just wants the money so he and his new woman can go shopping. If some miracle doesn't occur and she dies in the next week or so, I hope she haunts his ass until his death.

I just had an argument with a coworker, who said that she couldn't believe I was against this because I'm "pro-abortion". It's so hard to explain that pro choice is not pro abortion, it is a belief that the rights of a fetus should never supercede those of the woman carrying it. I told her, a fetus is not a living human being, Terri Schiavo is.

[theivoryqueen]

24. I agree

This story also distubs me - for the very same reasons. It will take this person weeks to starve to death. This is awful. I cannot understand how this ruling was arrived at.

[Guaranteed]

19. Right, and it's involuntary. n/t

[liberalnurse]

3. An Advanced Directive or

Living Will is essential for all of us! It really can be viewed as a cost saving as well as a moral/ethical guideline.

[bearfan454]

22. You are sooooo right liberalnurse.

My parents both have one. They want the plug pulled immediately upon brain death.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. "It will take between a week and 10 days for her to die"

If I was there, I swear, I'd inject some quick poison to cut her suffering (which exists, she's not in vegetable state).

Who'd convict me?

[shrike]

21. There was a similar case years ago in Rhode Island

The patient's entire family was in agreement; however, the skilled nursing facility that housed her refused to remove the feeding tube or to discharge her so that she could be taken elsewhere. The local Catholic diocese and a prominent rabbi spoke out on behalf of the family, as did a few nurses. One of the nurses said, "If you think an I.V. is food and water, let me take you to lunch." Finally, the governor intervened and asked the skilled care facility to discharge the woman. The feeding tube was removed at a local hospital and she died swiftly and peacefully, her family at her side.

[Kool Kitty]

7. I have to admit, when I first heard of this,

my knee-jerk reaction was that it was no one's business but her husband and family. I have seen tapes of her and read all the links that eveyone had provided. I have to admit that this doesn't feel right. Why was she not given the therapy that could have helped her before this? Why did it get to this point?
Having said that, I am a firm believer in the assisted suicide or right-to-die or whatever it is called. I think if you decide to end your life (due to agony or something uncurable), then that is certainly your own business. But something about this doesn't add up.

[LizW]

8. I agree, Kool Kitty

I had not seen her until tonight on ABC News. She is not vegetative, at least in the way I understand that word. She blinks and looks at people. Her eyes follow objects. She's obviously breathing fine on her own, and her organ system is functioning. I realize the doctors disagree, but it certainly appears that she smiles when her mother talks to her. Removing a feeding tube is essentially saying she's already dead. But she certainly doesn't look dead to me.

[Suspicious]

9. For the first - and likely the last - time,

I agree with Jeb on this one.

Aside from the fact that there is much debate on whether she is responsive (my personal, non-medical-educated opinion: just the few clips I've seen on CNN demonstrate what I view as a certain level of responsiveness) and could be rehabilitated, allowing a person to starve to death is absolutely inhumane. In fact, I find it deplorable that this is even legal.

Without knowing full facts, I would think the parents of this woman have a definite point in their contention that the husband has a conflict of interest, here. I would be very curious to find out whether he will see some sort of monetary gain as a result of her death, considering the fact that he has refused to divorce her, although he has clearly moved on with his life with a girlfriend and a child (and the reason he gives - "fears her parents would ignore her desire to die if they became her guardians" - is less than convincing), and why any judge would allow this conflict to continue.

[Unforgiven]

12. Agree with Jeb?

This is less government? As the "pubs" so eloquently quote? Interfering in someones personal decision to end the life of a loved one? May none of you ever have to be put in the miserable position of having to pull someone you love or are close to off of life support.And if per chance you should, hopefully there won't be a hypocrictal politician overturning that decision for you!

[Suspicious]

13. In this case,

there is no life support to pull. She breathes on her own and sustains her own life. They have removed a feeding tube, which is nowhere near the same thing as pulling life support. She will slowly starve to death.

I don't know that I believe her husband qualifies as a "loved one", in this instance, either. Her parents want her to live, and I think their feelings should hold a lot more weight than a husband who has a girlfriend, child and whole separate life outside his wife (if her heart stopped when she was 25 or 26, how long could they have been married, anyway?).

This situation is very different than removing a breathing tube from someone who could never sustain life without it.

[lostnfound]

16. That is a very good point. and a question:

A question: If a person has 2 parents but no spouse, and the parents disagree in this type of case, how would the case be decided?

As a mother, I feel very sorry for his mother who raised her and has had to suffer like this when her daughter had a heart attack at 25 and then to watch her starve to death. It is inhuman. If she had left a living will, it would be totally different.

A just system looks at all the facts and recognizes just what you said -- that her parents are as much her loved ones as her husband -- and their opinion should carry weight too.

[Guaranteed]

20. Her parents want to keep her on the feeding tube. n/t

[deek]

10. Bush Barbarianism

spreads.

I've just come off the discussion board at Yahoo news. I'm losing faith in my fellow "human" beings.

[demdave]

11. If you aren't going to read the article, at least read the post....

The tube removal came just hours after Gov. Jeb Bush told Bob Schindler and his wife, Mary, that he was instructing his legal staff to find some means to block the court order allowing Michael Schiavo to end his wife's life.

Not all evil can be placed at the feet of the BFEE. Take off the blinders and check out reality.

[Ganja Ninja]

14. This is a tough call.

Think about it. This woman was 25 when she had the heart attack. Her marriage to her husband could not have been more than five years when the attack happened. I’m not sure removing the feeding tube is the right way to go. I can understand the husbands desire to move on with his life. Had the attack not happened and given the divorce rate in this country it’s likely the two would not even be married today.

On the other hand I see the parents who did not like their son in-law to begin with and are fighting to keep their daughter alive and I wonder if their spite for him is clouding their judgment.

Were I in his position at this point I would Divorce her and let her parents assume guardianship. I wouldn’t feel right pulling the plug and collecting insurance money.

[bleedingheart]

18. someone here mentioned that there is money at stake...

her husband could have divorced her at any time... there is nothing holding him back.

[davhill]

15. If she were a dog or a cat

Everyone would be revolted by the idea of deliberately starving her to death. Because she is merely a human being, we have been desensitived to the cruelty.

[bleedingheart]

17. I have already made this decision for myself legally so no one

in my family will have to worry about making the decision.

[bmbmd]

23. Having seen her on television

I don't think that my hospital's ethics committee would have approved of pulling her tube. Why not just stop feeding terminal or braid-damaged patients altogether?

[EX-CONservative]

25. If I were in Terri's position...

I'd want to die. Making her live is cruelty.

If I were terminally ill or paralyzed, I would BEG to die. Sometimes, in really bad circumstances, it is better to die than live a painful and joyless existance.

Terri should be given a painless death by lethal injection. It is more humane. I wonder if some people, like Jeb, want to see her continue to exist in agony for his personal glee.

Jebbie reminds me of a jock bully who likes to beat up 10-year-olds.