Fla. Democrats block GOP bill

Senate defeated a different measure 21-16, and one of the nine Republicans voting against indicated that any further votes would be futile.
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This is going to be a long day tomorrow for this case....


RUgreek

Quote from above article: The Republican-controlled Senate health committee early Friday requested that Terri Schiavo and her husband, Michael, appear at a hearing March 28 on health care for "non-ambulatory persons." The move to include Terri Schiavo, who is in a vegetative state, was meant to block the removal of her tube, at least until the hearing is held.

In a press release, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, himself a doctor, noted that federal law "protects witnesses called before official Congressional committee proceedings from anyone who may obstruct or impede a witness' attendance or testimony."


My, they certainly are pulling out all the stops, aren't they?

Flordia judged issued a block on removing the tube, figures they couldn't butt out still...:rolleyes:

Okay, I already have a living will, and my husband knows my wishes, but should something happen, I'm going on the record, right here, on the internet, for everyone to see. Just so there's no confusion. :)

If I should ever physically be in a state of existence similar to what Terri Schiavo is in now, turn off the machine and let nature take its course.

Thank you. That is all.

Case judge Greer reinstates order to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.


Round and round we go....

Ditto. And bury me with my badge, please. It would kill me to see it on Ebay.

Can I ask a question of one of you who has been following this story?

If Terry Schiavo has been in this state for at least 10 years, why is her family only now saying they want to try to treat the condition?

They're not -- the fight b/w her parents and her husband has been going on for the past seven years. (So, roughly half of the time she's been in the persisitent vegetative state. Remember, it's been 15 years now).

ETA: Sorry, I need to correct myself. Her parents first tried to have him removed as her guardian in 1993.

The real question of interest is if and when Terri dies, will the politicians give a rats ass about this issue? From my demeanor, I'm sure everyone agrees that this is just another game to make headlines. I feel bad the family has to be the center of it all.

Okay, sorry to be a post-whore, but here's a related article, and the part I've bolded really creeped me out:

Terry "Chuck" Hagel, Hudson
Died March 3 at age 49

Personal history: Carpet cleaner and longtime resident of Hudson. Survived by his parents, Mary and Norman Hagel, two sisters, a brother and a nephew.

Medical problems: Undiagnosed hepatitis-C liver damage, probably stemming from a tattoo, complicated by surgery from leg fracture that became infected. Was in hospital for weight loss, nausea and swollen stomach when liver capacity plummeted. He could not swallow and was moved to hospice.

End-of-life wishes: Did not have a living will. Occasionally showed signs in hospice that he understood what people were saying, but could not communicate verbally with family.

Family decisions: Based on doctor advice that nothing could be done, agreed to hospice care and no feeding tube. He died after eight days. "We didn't want another Terri Schiavo case, keeping someone alive who is not supposed to be." Later, family members had second thoughts.

Source of information: Sister Kathleen Svehla, who now wonders if the family should have inserted the feeding tube to see if her brother might improve. He sucked on the sponge when nurses swabbed his lips and his stomach growled. "I felt like, maybe, he was saying, "Help me. I want out. I'm so thirsty. I'm so hungry.' Watching him there for eight days was heartbreaking." Svehla and other family members are now thinking about changing their living wills so feeding tubes will be maintained.

That stuff is heartbreaking and sad... but truthfully... what way of dying isn't? I mean, if they had given that guy the feeding tube, he probably would have died from a respiratory infection and he would have literally drowned in his own mucus. I'm sure that's not too pleasant. People die every day in hospitals in horrible painful ways. Postponing the inevitable doesn't really solve the problem.

I wonder if I can write up a living will to have me flowing to Oregon to be put down in a humane manner instead of starved to death.

Senate is looking to pass legislation tomorrow afternoon and president bush will most likely sign the bill. It's amazing how after all that's already been done, they still don't get it.

Tom Delay is the biggest hippocrit of all
 

You know seeing Tom Delay (R-TEXAS) getting involved in this makes me want to throw up!

Texas law allows hospitals to disconnect individuals from life support means AGAINST the wishes of the family, if the drs believe such is futile.

Case in point

Baby on Life Support

WHY wasn't he there supporting the "parent" in keeping this baby alive?

What about this case?

Wife wants husband saved

She just wants time to MOVE him to a place so the hospital won't cut off his life support and they won't let her!

WHERE is congress to meddle with these families' wishes? Why aren't they there jumping in the fray? It is DeLay's state for pity sake!!!!!

And what about the "sanctity" of marriage....? "One man, one woman" is the ideal marriage for conservatives....not "one man, one woman AND her parents"

This case just amazes me to the amount of spinning that is going on. Micheal Schiavo obviously is doing his best to keep his promise to a woman HE LOVES. A promise made between two people.

I hope the country learns a lesson...LIVING WILLS, put it in writing...shout your desires on the roof top so everyone knows.

If I were Tom DeLay, with those campaign financing allegations against me, I'd be focusing on keeping a low profile.

Republicans like him are making me seriously consider changing my registration to "Libertarian". Unfortunately, this is a closed primary state, so I couldn't vote in either Primary.

Euthanasia is a painless way to end life-why must someone starve to death? That is CRUEL. For God's sake people give her an injection of KCl or Napentobarbital. I don't understand why people are so hell bent on quantity of life vs quality. Why are people so against active euthanasia?

Yet another about face.

Another description of being starved to death


AXiD670, after watching my father die, most of my family came to the same decision as yours - and in my case, it is in writing!

I think it's ridiculous that our Senate and House are coming together for special meetings to pass a law forcing the feeding tube to be reinserted. Doesn't our government have more pressing issues than this poor woman?

And I agree, euthenasia would be the best option here. I agree that she should be off the machines if that was her wishes because she's obviously not coming back. But letting her starve is pretty awful. I wish they'd give her an injection or something. I'm glad my parents have living wills so I don't have to get caught up in making decisions like this. I feel so badly for her husband.

this is so sad. i wish that this woman's parents would just let her go. several years ago, a family friend's 5 yro son was diagnosed with cancer. as he neared the end, a priest told his parents to be sure to tell him that it is ok to leave. he said that for many patients, they stay alive longer than they want to because they see how much their family wants them to stay.


now, on another note, a friend's older brother was in a serious motorcycle accident. he had a portion of his brain removed and many numerous surgeries. after a few weeks on life support, it was determined that he was brain dead and that there was no chance for life without artifical means. his family decided to remove his life support. eight days later, he woke up and said he was hungry. it has been a very very long road for him, but he can now walk and talk. he can return to a normal life, but different from what he was used to. his wife divorced him. he sees his daughters regularly, but can't take them overnight because he has such short term memory loss that he is afraid he might forget to turn off the stove or something. his doctors honestly were in disbelief when he woke up. based on his test results, there was no brain activity whatsoever. no one is sure why he woke up, but he did. the main difference between the case of my friend's brother....and terri shivo is that he had only been on life support a few weeks. she has had 15 years to make gains and has shown no progress.

Latest news on the legislation b.s., the senate pre-approved a bill that hasn't been voted on or debated in the house. This is so ass backwards I don't even know if it's worth talking about anymore:rolleyes:

Apparently the house is going to convene after midnight to pass it back to bush to sign asap. I hope that florida defies this, but that would be too funny....

that would be funny...or if the fed judge sides with Florida anyway

This gave me new perspective. I seldom (if ever) agree with this columnist, but he mentions depositions etc that I had no idea had been taken:

"On Friday, a Senate committee, trying to forestall the withdrawal of feeding, subpoenaed her, though unsuccessfully. The action is not as silly as it sounds. At one point, after she presumably became vegetative, Terri Schiavo was taken to a shopping mall."

"...The facts are these: Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990. She has been in hospitals and nursing homes since then. Videotapes depict a young woman who seems to respond to some voice stimuli, but does not communicate. At least three affidavits are on file from former nursing home attendants who insist Terri showed some hope of making progress, but that her husband insisted she be given no rehabilitation."

"...One nurse, Carla Sauer Iyer, said Terri 'spoke on a regular basis, saying such things as 'Mommy' and 'help me.' " Iyer said that when she put a washcloth in Terri's hands to keep her fingers from curling together, 'Michael saw it and made me take it out, saying that was therapy.'"

Read the article - it's an eye opener.

I am absolutely livid about President Bush signing this bill. This is the first time since I've started to vote that I'm not feeling so great about the Republican party :(

At least Michael Schiavo can rest knowing he did everything he possibly could to honor his wife's wishes. Who would ever thought something so personal could have become such a public spectacle?

This smells like a purely political move. They don't give an iota about the Schiavo. It's all about clamoring to the religious right.

Hopefully someone can explain this to me, but why are Congress and the government getting involved in this? Shouldn't this be something that stayed in Florida and when the Court said to remove the tube, it should be removed? Aren't there better things to be worrying about than this?

I'm also confused about another thing. The bill that was passed, was it agains euthanasia in general or was it specificaly for this case?

My mother is a nurse and when she was in nursing school she worked at Neurological Institute at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital with comatose patients and people in cronic vegetative states. I was talking to her about the case and she told me some pretty interesting stuff. She says that many facial movements and other stuff are reflexive movements which come from the brain stem (the part which directs the most innate movements - like breathing). People in CVS can smile, yawn, and make noise. They can make small movements with their hands and arms. I was particularly surprised by the yawn thing which I thought was pretty advanced but is apparently something that we're innately trained to do. She says that family members would come and they would be like "look she smiled!! She recognized me!!" But what they didn't realize is that the person smiles reflexively whenever, whether there's someone in the room or not. It's not evidence that the person can hear you or anything.
Since this woman is breathing, there's no reason you can't wheel or to a mall, or anywhere else for that matter. As long as they give her good nursing care, they can take her wherever. But it doesn't mean that she knows where she is or that she's enjoying her day out. There are sophisticated tests which they do to see if people are having advanced brain activity and it's my understanding she isn't. If she hasn't had brain activity of the thinking kind for fifteen years, no amount of therapy is going to change that. All that therapy can do is keep her physical body healthy, by preventing atrophy of the muscles, infection of the lungs, bedsores, sepsis, etc. In that respect, her health could "improve" but it isn't going to change her CVS.

And even more livid about Congress sticking its colective nose in a place it doesn't belong -- in a local matter.

Does this mean that our friends in Washington are going to consider every case in which a family is in disagreement over taking someone off life support?

Sorry, but that's not what I pay them for.

It was specific to the Schiavo case. It allows her family to be able to take this matter to FEDERAL court. All it does it prolong the fight. I would expect the law be to be declared unconstitutional very quickly!.

God I really hope the federal judge finds it unconstitutional. Her parents need to let her go in peace & stop prolonging the agony. I know no parent wants to watch their child die before them but is this really the quality of life she would want and/or deserve?

Kinda makes that "Government staying out of civilian lives" thing look like bs huh?

most mammals and some reptiles yawn-it is a basic act.

Wow, that is a very dangerous precedent. I also expect the law to be declared unconstitutiona.

also posting this in the final-arrangements thread in Chit Chat:

The Five Wishes: Living Will by Aging With Dignity.

http://www.agingwithdignity.org/5wishes.pdf

My oldest sister (the 'old maid' sister) and I are filling these out.

How can anyone say it's a religious thing???

I don't get it.

I can strap some electrical wires to a dead man's body and make it move.

We can put anyone on a ventilator, machines, etc. and have them "live".

This is not living.

This is not nature.

This is defying any sense of what G-d is and the finite nature of our lives.

-Rudey

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/PollV...=599622&page=1

ABC pole shows that the majority of Americans do not want the Government to step in and think the feeding tube should be removed (even the Evangelists and the Conservative Republicans!). The article about the results is pretty interesting.

Pretty much everyone I've talked to agrees that she should be allowed to die, so I'm not surprised by those results. I think it's sick because this really has become a political game... I doubt that most of those politicians care about Terri.

eh, I've never been one to take polls as any indication of this country's political opinion. Still, it's at the very least good for showing that people are aware of the case even though they may not have all the facts.

That bill that was signed by Bush is very strange from what I've heard. The federal court doesn't get to review any evidence or proof used in the state court proceedings and is basically doing a fresh look at the case. Kind of makes the idea of judicial review an oxymoron.

I'm no expert on this case, nor will I care once it's over. But I do think damage has been done to our system of government.