Text 10517, 100 rader
Skriven 2005-03-29 00:23:57 av Ed Hulett (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 10350 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: Bo Gritz
================
John Hull -> Ed Hulett wrote:
 JH> 27 Mar 05 04:43, Ed Hulett wrote to John Hull:

 JH>  John Hull ->> Ed Hulett wrote:
 JH>>> 24 Mar 05 21:55, Ed Hulett wrote to John Hull:

 JH>>>  John Hull ->> Ed Hulett wrote:

 JB>>>>>>> 5.  The Florida judge ordered the tube be removed until she is
 JB>>>>>>> dead, thus issuing a death warrant.  The limits of his powers
 JB>>>>>>> should be to state that the husband's wishes be observed, not
 JB>>>>>>> issuing a state order that she be executed.

 EH>>>>>> That judge had no business ordering her execution.

 EH>>>>>> The left are quick to say that the government has no place
 EH>>>>>> trying to force her feeding tube be reinserted, but they ignore
 EH>>>>>> the fact that government (the judge) already put itself in the
 EH>>>>>> middle of this.

 JH>>>>> Need I remind you that even if that federal judge had NOT gotten
 JH>>>>> involved, Michael already had legal standing to order the tube
 JH>>>>> removed under Florida law.  It was removed according to the
 JH>>>>> timetable set up by the state, not the federal govt.

 EH>>>> Is that right? Imagine a husband having the right to order his
 EH>>>> wife's murder. Is Terri nothing more than a posession? Does she
 EH>>>> have less rights than an animal? Less than a tree?

 EH>>>> What Florida law, exactly, gives Michael Shiavo the right to
 EH>>>> order his wife's death?

 JH>>> I'm only going by what has been reported on the news.  As her
 JH>>> legal guardian, like it or not, he makes the decisions regarding
 JH>>> how she is taken care of.  All the emotional toing and froing on
 JH>>> both sides isn't going to change that.  One report said Gov. Bush
 JH>>> should just order her taken into state custody (just like Janet
 JH>>> Reno did with the Cuban kid), but that would create a legal and
 JH>>> political firestorm I wouldn't want to be anywhere near, so I don't
 JH>>> see that happening either.

 EH>> Oh, so a legal guardian can decide whether their charge can be
 EH>> starved to death? Wow, and people get jail time for starving their
 EH>> animals. Imagine that.

 EH>> Yeah, you're right, kill her rather than have a legal or political
 EH>> firestorm. Wow! #2

 JH> The big problem here is that you can't trust what the media is telling
 JH> us, on either side of it.  I can only go by the decisions that have been
 JH> made in my family regarding these issues, and I don't presume to declare
 JH> that they are the only way it can be done.  My parents and my brother
 JH> and I have had a number of discussions on this over the years, usually
 JH> prompted when some cousin or other relative ends up in similar straits.
 JH> This recently happened when my mother's cousin's husband went into a
 JH> coma.  Bob had been in failing health for years - bad liver, lousy
 JH> circulation, diabetes, had both feet amputated because of gangrene due
 JH> to circ problems, etc.  Most of the time, he didn't know who anybody
 JH> was, although he was coherent to the extent of knowing his own name, and
 JH> was able to talk (his short term memory was gone, but he remembered his
 JH> youth in detail).  Several times he went into comas and would have died
 JH> without serious intervention.  His wife and their daughters just
 JH> couldn't let him go, and prolonged things for almost ten years before
 JH> his kidneys finally gave out and they couldn't keep him going.  As a
 JH> result of all the medical bills, etc., his wife is nearly destitute, had
 JH> to sell the family house, etc.  His girls are fortunate that they are
 JH> married and have husbands who can take care of them.

 JH> Now, my mother - just yesterday - told me in no uncertain terms that she
 JH> didn't want to end life stuck in a non-responsive body like Terri
 JH> Schiavo.  My dad feels the same way, and so does my brother.  If my
 JH> mother was in that situation now, I would not hesitate to accede to her
 JH> wishes, no matter how much it might hurt me to do so.  I owe her that
 JH> much to allow her to die with some dignity.

 JH> As I said, my situation is not the same as anybody else's, and I don't
 JH> presume to dictate what should or should not be done for them.  But,
 JH> whatever decision I make is between me and my parents and brother, and
 JH> the doctors.  I would resent the hell out of some judge, at any level,
 JH> sticking his damn nose into the situation, and that also goes for any
 JH> family members who are not immediate family.  What I fear coming out of
 JH> all this Schiavo business is that all the do-gooder types trying to keep
 JH> her alive will cause such a legal morasse that it will hinder ME or my
 JH> family from complying with the wishes of any of us in a similar situation.

The "do-gooder types?" Good grief.

All anyone wants is for her to have the same right to life as anyone else. If
she had left a living will with her wishes to be allowed to die it still
wouldn't have covered being starved to death. The pain and indignity she is
being put through is inhumane. If she was an animal and Michael Shiavo did this
to her, he'd be looking at jail time.

Ed


Ed

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