Schiavo Case

[Natasha]

How do you all feel about the government inteferring in the Terry Schiavo case? Having been in the life support situation, this is bringing out strong feelings in me. I am attaching the letter I sent to my representatives in Washington. This is not at all political for me. This is highly personal.

[Natasha]

Open letter to the Congress of the United States of America:

After the intervention that was made by congress in the Terry Schiavo case, I need to share my own story of cardiac arrest, brain damage, life support and recovery and why I think you are wrong in supporting the intervention of the federal government in this case.

On Jan. 24, 2002, at age 33, I was at work eating lunch with two co-workers when I collapsed suddenly. While one colleague rushed to call 911, the other ran up three floors to collect my emergency phone numbers. She returned with a man who knew CPR who helped keep me alive until the emergency unit arrived. I had suffered sudden cardiac death. Only an hour earlier, as a healthy, fit mother of two young boys, I had passed my husband Bob on the front sidewalk outside our home as he was going in the door.

At the hospital, the doctors performed countless procedures and tests. *One
doctor told Bob that I probably would not survive and that he should prepare
himself for the worst. My mom stayed up all night holding the oxygen to my
nose, hoping I had avoided brain damage. When I came to from my coma, I did not recognize many of my visitors, including my own children. At this point, it was clear that I would survive. But doctors told Bob it was likely I would never be the same. Seven days later, I remember the surgeon who implanted the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in my chest. It was my first memory.

My recovery was miraculous and took place within a week. *No one thought that I would regain full mental capacity, but I have. *I am active in my community and still on faculty at Hamline University. *I am now a national spokesperson for WomenHeart. I am living a full life and for that I am thankful to Regions Hospital and my family for making the decisions that kept me alive.

However, during my recovery, when I wasn't sure that my mental capacity would be as strong, when I wasn't allowed to drive or do things without assistance, I was devastated. *Had I been kept alive for 15 YEARS in a vegetative state with no hope for recovery, it would have been shameful. *Being kept alive through the use of medical technology is an amazing blessing when it allows a person to recover to the point of being able to LIVE. *To keep a woman alive in a hospital room for 15 years with no ability to interact is torturous.

If I ever end up in a situation like this again, allow my husband to make the
decisions as to how I will live my life. *He knows what is best for our family
and whether I would want to persist in a vegetative state with no hope for
recovery for 15 YEARS. *In this decision, the federal government has
overstepped the limits of its authority. *Let the woman die in peace if that is
the decision that her husband has made.

[mikeyandBellesmommy]

Sorry I don't agree, If she was on breathing assistance I would think differently. I think starving a person to death is wrong. I would rather my husband just come in overnight and shoot me in the head or overdose me on morphine if it came to that. I do not agree with starving a person the point where it will take her two weeks to die.

If it where my daughter and her husband had a whole new family I would ask the question is he really still her husband at all and is he really using proper judgement to make his decision.

As a mother I totally agree with what she is doing and I would use WHATEVER Means possible to keep my baby alive including the governement if need be. She can survive breathing on her own, she will be starved to death and suffer for two weeks.. I can't agree with that.

this is just my opinion of course and I am sure there are tons of different ones out there..

Cari

[mom2gageandkeely]

This may be to political for this board for the past reasons. I respoect your opinion, however I do not agree with the method of removing a feeding tube to let one suffer while dying. Had she been non able to smile and intereact and breathe on her own maybe I would disagree. I do not think her husband has her best intrest in mind because he is through with her now that she is not the same so why should he make these decisions? There was just a womne who had been on support for 10-15 years and she is talking now. Having PPCM I believe that miracles DO happen. Like I said it's all very political and personal and we can all disagree and get along too right?

[mikeyandBellesmommy]

I think we are all big girls and can have a political discussion maturely LOL.. We all love eachother, and we all can agree to disagree for those that do disagree.

This is a highly highly opinionated topic, but I do not think it should be removed unless people personally attack one another, which I am sure won't happen..

Natasha I don't agree with you, but I still Love ya, LOl!

[SerenaWelsh]

I posted it in a different forum, but let me do it again here -
REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT TERRI SCHIAVO, GO GET A LIVING WILL!
Ok, I'm off my soap box.

But, let me just say that I find it truly disturbing that none of the decision making figures in this case, from the state judges, to the house and senate, to the US president, have made an effort to visit Terri Schiavo for themselves.
They take someone else's word, whether it's that of her parents, her husband, or the multitude of doctors that don't agree. They consider their laws, the ramifications, the ripple effects of changing old laws and passing new ones; but not one of them has decided to go see for themselves on what level Terri Schiavo is functioning.

And having said that, I also have to say it's absurd that they would chose to euthanize her by removing her feeding tube.
We spend millions of dollars in this country trying to save those in 3rd world nations from starving to death. Why? Because it's the humane thing to do. Starvation is a horrible fate.

I happen to believe that life, all life, is sacred. It's a gift, even if I'm not yet sure from who. Death is natural and inevitable, and can also sometimes be a gift - but I don't t hink it's ours to give.

[Karen T]

The more and more I hear about this, the more frustrated I get. Yes, we all SHOULD have living wills, but most of us do not (including me). Her husband can recall his wife saying she would not want to live in a vegative state. He is only carrying out her wishes. From what I've heard, she had an eating disorder that caused an electrolyte imbalance that caused cardiac arrest. Before I decide if she were "starving to death" I would want to know more about the status of her organs. Are her kidneys working, her liver, if so at what capacity? Are there other underlying medical conditions? My experience is that removing artificial nutrition and hydration can make a person more comfortable, especially if their organs are not working. If they are not working, dumping extra food/fluid on a body can cause more discomfort. Regardless of the circumstances, this is no place for our legal system to be involved. What happens if she dies during this period of "limbo" and years later the courts rule in the parents favor. Are they going to go back to the husband and try him for murder? Where do premature babies, born at 24 weeks fit into this picture. Because of medical advances these children can be "saved" but at what expense, emotionally, developmentally, and financially (financially being a very insignificant consideration, but still a consideration). Who is playing God when they decide to try and save them?

[SerenaWelsh]

Having just recently spent 9 weeks in the NICU at my 28 week gestation daughters side, I have say I've seen alot. There were babies who were so premature they had to be kept in plastic bubbles because their skin had no integrity and could break open with a gentle touch, or allow infection to pass right through.
NICUs, in my opinion are gestation houses. They keep the growing going when the mother couldnt. I call my daughter's NICU nurses her "other mothers."
I believe that if a life can be saved, we've gotta try. That doesn't always mean you're going to be successful. And we can't assume that because people don't come out unscathed, their lives are meaningless. Yes, a person may be developmentally delayed or stunted. Yes, they may be disfigured, but they're alive. We have lots of testiments all around us to the importance of life, even if it's not in the form of a walking, talking human being.

And you make a very good point, Karen. We don't know just how bad off Terri Schiavo is. The situation isn't about her anymore, and that's the real crime.

[mom2gageandkeely]

i can't even reply to this because I've erased my message so many times.

[amyls]

you know what the crime is??? That people get arrested for starving their pets, but we can do it too people and not blink an eye.

I do not think the Terri's husband has her best interest in mind either. Her parents had agreed to take her home and care for her there. He has a new life and family, and has for years.

I do not think it's right to Terri, and the whole starving method is just wrong.
I hope this does encourage people to get a living will. Talking is not enough.

amy

[carrob]

To me....this is really a tough call because she has her eyes open and "appears" to be responsive when others are talking to her. Do ANY of us, including the Government, really know what...if anything....she's seeing. I guess I just always pictured someone who was really bad off with their eyes closed, totally lifeless. A good example was in 1988 when my Grandfather was attacked and robbed and later died at the age of 77. All of his brothers and sisters lived to be well into their 90's. But, after 22 days of no breathing assistance, he passed away on his own. But, there were NO SIGNS of life ! However, we could still have him with us.....just lying there!!!!! Tough call..... :(

[Laurie]

This makes me sad. I feel for her parents. When I was sick, my mother and father were besides themselves. My parents couldn't even think about my babies. All their thoughts were about their baby...me.

She didn't have written instructions. That should change and fortunately she is the living and breathing movement behind that. Notice I said breathing....she isn't on a respirator. We all should thank Terri for her courage. Her story will change our laws and the way people think about end-of-life issues.

As for the outcome....Her husband has major conflict of interest, her parents have ask him to divorce her, some of his motivations are $$. So sad....She can breath on her own, she wad denied therapy and had very little therapy. I did physical and occupational therapy for 2 years following my illness. It works. I couldn't walk and had no use of my left hand. I'm much better these days...not perfect but life isn't perfect. We all know that!!! I saw brain injury victims while at therapy, mostly the same people for 2+ years, they all made amazing progress. It was inspirational!!

Laurie
PPCM 2000
Mom of twins

[Lisa V]

This is a very touchy subjevt and we are all going to have different views. I for one agree that she should be kept off of life spuuort and let her die in peace. She has a eating disorder that put her into cardiac arrest to begin with. I feel that her parents were not able to help her when she was alive and now they feel this is their only chance to help. It is over and she is already gone. Her brain is dead, she will never recover....................I think it is cruel to her, her husband and to her family. WHat kind of life is she living? NONE abosultely NONE........................................Let her go and be with all the angels up in heaven.......................

[Caramommy]

This is a miserable situation.

I do not believe that she is in a vegetative state. She is not unresponsive, for more video evidence to this effect than you will EVER see on regular TV, you can see this site...while I will be the first to say she is operating on a very primitive level, she is not unresponsive and does appear to respond on some level to music and people in her room. Who knows what could have been possible in the past 15 year if her husband had not insisted there be no therapy, but instead used most of her insurance money that was for her medical bills to pay for an attorney to try to end her life.

http://www.sacramentolifechain.org/schiavo.html

I doubt her husband's motives, and it doesn't seem to be about money since people have offered him MILLIONS to just walk away and let her family take care of her. There is something else here that he wants covered up, that's just my gut feeling, and I won't go into what I think because I don't want to cause a big THING on this board. There are just too many hard emotions going on with this situation and I don't want to start anything that would hurt feelings. I care about you all too much.

Suffice it to say I believe that she was never given a chance since therapy was vehemently denied, that the press has hyped up the "vegetative" business and she is not in as bad a shape as people might have you believe (bad enough, but not "brain-dead", certainly), that her husband has ulterior motives and carrying out her wishes have nothing to do with it, and that a woman is being starved to death in Florida when a loving family was willing to care for her and help her rehabilitate. No one can say what she knows and doesn't know, but if she were laying there and not responsive to anything I would call that "vegetative", and it would be a mercy to let her go...a person looking directly at the people talking to her, making communication noises in response, tracking items held in front of her, etc....that's not my idea of vegetative.

If my husband were in that shape, I would have done EVERYTHING I could do to help him get better. Any kind of work or therapy or whatever I could do to help him. If that had all been done and he was still laying there, totally unresponsive, then it would be a mercy to let him go. But there is something that smacks really wrong in the way Terri's husband has behaved since right at the beginning of this misery.

Okay, I'm done and off my soapbox. God bless all of them, and I pray that mercy comes soon. I love you all, and am not arguing with any of you about any of it. Everyone has a right to their feelings on this.


Cara

[Lauren]

Omg, after seeing those clips, I totally agree w Cara. You can't just kill someone. She is clearly responding to things. What the hell are these people thinking. If her parents are willing to take her home and care for her then why not. I feel awful for her mom and dad. If that were my daughter, I would lose my mind. Why doesn't her husband just mind his own business, he has clearly moved on w his life?

[Natasha]

Thank you all for your responses. I find the range of opinions very interesting. I just keep thinking about what happened to me and the thoughts of what I would want. Actually, that is exactly the reason I have NOT written a living will. Trying to specify the circumstances under which you would want to be kept alive and those you wouldn't are hard not fully understanding the complete range of possibilities. My husband and I know we should write them. We just haven't figured out how to express those desires.

I agree that starvation is a horrible fate. I don't know enough about the circumstances 15 years ago to comment on what should have been done then.

It is truly a horrible situation for all involved. Hearing the reports just makes me more thankful that I made a complete recovery and that I am arguing now with my boys to stop fighting rather than have my parents and my husband involved in such a horrible court battle.

Happy Easter to you all!

[Becca]

15 years is a long damn time. Not to be rude or mean, but can you imagine living for 15 years without being able to communicate your feelings, use your body, or fend for yourself in any way? To me she is trapped in a shell of a body and it is time to let her soul go and be with her Lord. From a religious perspective, our lives are lived so that we can go on and be in a better place. "Do not fear death, for I am with you." Keeping her trapped on earth is selfish. It is time for God to wrap her in His arms and let her be the Angel that her family needs.

This hasn't been a few months that Teri's husband has been fighting. This is 15 years that he has not given up his belief that Teri would want to die. He could divorce her and leave it alone. He has spent thousands and thousands of dollars on his lawyers to fight for her right to die. So it isn't the money. He hasn't drug this through every media outlet every night. Her parents have. They have taken away her right to privacy. She has no idea that every TV show, every radio talk show, every newspaper is focused on her right now.

I too, like all of us, have had to deal with my own mortality. But I know that when I leave this earth my soul will join those who have gone before me in heaven. I pray that no one will ever keep me here just to have me "alive".

This has really hit me, especially nearing Easter. I'm sorry if this was too strong. But I also lost a dear friend this week to a brain aneurism. She too could have been kept "alive" on machines but she was brain dead. And now I have an Angel to watch over me and she is at peace.

[marissar]

I have a friend whi had a baby that had to be put on a feeding tube. They wanted to let him go but it was ILLEGAL to starve him to death. However they could surrender him to the state. What's the difference in a child and a grown woman? Just to add the have now told me that my babys' brain is so bad that she should not have been born. You have all seen pics of her could imagine just not having her after all I went through.

The main thing that worries me about this case is the fact that he wants to marry this woman he is living with and as long as she is alive he can't marry. Florida law will not give him a divorce as long as she is alive, even though she can't sign a divorce decree.


If she is allowed to die from starvation are they later going to be able to deny feeding tubes to premie babies? There are so many babies that make it just fine after a little help.


And as far as the money issue, our government spends millions keeping inmates alive on death row for years knowing that 15 years later they are going to be executed! :eek: I can think of better ways to spend millions.


When I first saw this case I thought she was on life support and didn't know all of the story. I thought take her off of LS. But after the rest of the story I say her parents should have the call simply because of her hubbys' new woman(and kids).

[Becca]

He can divorce her, but he refuses. He could turn over authority to her parents and he won't.

[catintx]

Your living will can just be a piece of paper for now. Write something! I made a living will years ago and I honestly have NO IDEA what it says. NONE! I know my mom is a big science buff (PhD and all) and I'm sure it says pull the plug... any plug! So, as I sit here on a spring break vacation glued to the darn tv, I write my new version and tell my husband. He signed it as a witness. I will formally do something with it when I do other things (like change my name on all my documents... been married almost 2 years LOL).

This being said, I remember lying in ICU 11 years ago with the doctors talking to my (ex) husband about transplants and wills. They talked infront of me like I couldn't hear... maybe couldn't respond, but I could hear. I have 4 children... 2 of which are on the Autism Spectrum. Should we just starve them cuz their quality of life is not up to everyone else's standards? What about Alzhiemers (spelling?)? They live not knowing who they are, wonder the streets. They suffer. I would understand if Terri wrote such wishes, but this man didn't immediately tell anyone that these were her wishes and waited EIGHT YEARS to announce them! And Michael didn't make his own living will until 7-8 years ago. Um, if my spouse had wanted some wishes carried out and were in this state, I would make sure to immediately make MY wishes known to prevent this from happening again.

What saddens me about this case is they are basing all appeals and hearings on evidence from 15 years ago. Technology has changed and they haven't ran any current tests. The first attorneys for the parents were not that experienced. There is so much they cannot bring up now because it was not properly introduced previously.

To me, if I'm breathing on my own... that is all the quality of life I ever need. If I were Terri, I would be saddened that my husband is not taking my parents wishes into consideration and actually permit only who he wants to visit me. I would not want that.

[marissar]

Becca I'm sorry my spelling was off and I got an extra word in there. :o Florida law WILL give him a divorce but he won't take it. I have to wonder if it has to do with the fact of him losing some insurance money on her? Sorry I didn't make myself clear.

[Becca]

He has already spent over $500,000 fighting for her right to die. The money is gone. There isn't any money to fight for. He won't get a divorce, because he believes so strongly that Teri would want to die...and he knows that he is the only person who will fight for it. He could divorce her and move on, but after 15 years he hasn't.

[tbarton]

>>He could divorce her and move on, but after 15 years he hasn't.

I dunno. I consider hooking up with another woman and having children as moving on. ;-) I also have to wonder how much money has actually gone into the case and how much of it might have been pro bono on such an important and high profile case. <shrug> If she were on life support then I'd be all for pulling the plug (theoretically, at least) but somehow starving her to death seems wrong to me. Especially when there are people who love and want to care for her. I know before I got sick I'd said over and over that I didn't ever want to be on a vent *no matter what*. Easy to say when you're healthy. ;-) When they were talking about putting me on a vent when I couldn't breathe in the ER I was like Bring it on! :-)

It's a sad situation. :-(

Teresa
PPCM survivor since July 2002