Terri Schiavo (Page 3)

Chistopher Reeves couldn't feed himself. Neither can some extremely intelligent people with CP or quadrapalegia. Motor skills are irrelevant to this discussion.  

I spent a number of years doing direct care in the same profession and find the comparison a real stretch. Some of the people I worked with were extremely disabled, both cognitively and physically. I've also known someone who languished for a time in a vegetative state.

What makes this woman, and the guy I knew, different from those people I worked with is an awareness of themselves and the world around them or lack of same. For the most afflicted in the latter group that level of awareness isn't much, but it's there. They eat, drink, make sounds, follow the movement of people in the room with their eyes, salivate at the mention or sight of favorite foods and in some very subtle ways react to and interact with the world about them. A brain dead person does none of these.

As Virgina Wolf said of Oakland: "There's no there there"

I also know some families that would be quite hurt at the comparison of their loved one to a person in a vegetative state, regardless of ones opinion in this matter.

And who will you believe that there is no hope for your recovery?  When will you "give up."  After 1 doctor says so, after 5, after 10?

In my mind, I don't care if I'm a vegatable.  My will to live will not go away.  I will never give up any "hope for recovery" no matter what anyone says...ESPECIALLY doctors.

I'm not saying that Terri should have this same drive to live but doctors can be wrong...and believe me THEY ARE wrong quite often because they're just human like you and me.

What about the girl (I can't remeber her name) who was in a coma for over 7 years.  Should we have pulled the plug on here since ALL the doctors said there was "no hope for recovery"?

Good thing they didn't pull the plug, because she awoke and now enjoys a full recovery!

I realize this example is not the same (sry about that).

My point is, if a doctor tells me that I have no hope for recovery, I'm going to tell him something I can't type here.

Ultimately my feelings in this case are colored by the fact that the "Schiavo Family
Representative" for the last 2 years and the driving force behind a good portion of the Schiavo family hope and litigation is the same pro life wack-job that was arrested for sending Bill Clinton a dead fetus. He is so pious that he would throw fetal tissue at women in front of Planned Parenthood. He has been accused of several bombings and may be responsible for the deaths of several people. He also espouses the evil of contraceptives, homosexuality and sex outside of marriage (despite the fact that his marriage was later destroyed by his affair with his secretary and two gay children that he threw out in the street).

The Schiavo's are a tool of a truly evil, delusional and ignorant forces in this world who are so full of their self worth and godly sanction, people who's devine concept is so tenuous and fragile, they can brook no differing opinion,outcome or belief other than their religious justifications. They will lie, cheat, maim and kill rather than allow for the possibility that they are wrong.

I do not know enough about this case. I doubt that even if I were speaking to both groups that I ever could.  What I do know is that I am damn fed up with religious fanatics insisting at every turn how I should live my life. Speak for saving Terri or be silent? Do you realize how simple you sound? Do you realize how contrary your ideology is to liberty, freedom and to the ideals that, at one time, made this country a shining beacon to all the world? The truly bizarre thing is, those with that type of mentality would be shunned by the savior with whom you justify all your hateful and bigoted actions with. The teachings of Jesus Christ, fictional or not, are diametrically opposed to your logic, emotions and most particularly you superior dogma.

I don't know what should happen with Terri (though I lean towards her husbands point of view just based on my own preferences in this matter), but I do know is telling me to shut up will guarantee me in you face. The bottom line is this case was picked up because it serves the fundamentalist pro-life agenda. The hypocrisy and shallow, lowest common denominator preaching is beginning to piss me off.  These fanatics have done Terri the ultimate disservice: they have stolen her humanity, her dignity and her memory, without a stray thought for the woman who should have met her own maker long ago. She is not being protected, she is being used. Terribly.

I am not sure what is worse, the way she is being used, or the blind manner by which the religious right think and parrot what they are told by anyone who says they are acting in the name of god.

...and if you don't agree with me... you should.

They probably refused to allow her communion because they want her to burn in hell. ...well, that or they probably don't want any of your ilk within 10 feelt of her - oh, and the fact that she cannot swallow might pose some difficulties as well. Choking on the body of christ would not be good for any concerned, don't you think?

Just another diversion by the fanatical right.

Whew, this thread has become hostile.  Just FYI, if you go back and read my post, I did not personally attack anyone on this board...all I did was state an opinion about Michael Schiavo's conduct.  In turn, I am being attacked.  That, my friends, is pathetic.

For what it is worth, I do not think Terri should be kept alive in this condition, or used as a pawn for someone's activism.  If it was her wish not to be kept alive in this state, then her wish should be respected.  That doesn't excuse the way Schiavo has handled all this. 

Also, on the communion issue, she would not have choked on it.  They wanted to put one tiny crumb and one drop of wine on her tongue....if Schiavo had an ounce of dignity or class, he would at least allow her parents to share communion with her on Easter before her death. 

This former Catholic will try to explain; maybe practicing RC's can do a better job if I misinterpret the rite.

Holy Communion is not a passive act; it is an active affirmation of the faith. Only Mr. Schiavo knows why he disallowed it, but a logical guess would be that if you aren't "there" (vegetative, unconcious, brain dead, in a coma), then you can't receive the eucharist simply because there must be a desire to receive it. Michael Schiavo believes Terri has no desire for anything because he believes she is long gone. One doesn't take communion to make our parents or the living feel better. One takes communion as a symbol of one's acceptance of JC as one's savior.

If you believe Terri is brain dead, going through the rites of communion would be like asking Terri to play scrabble. Kind of cruel even if their intentions were good.

If you believe she is not vegetative, as her parents believe, then you could probably convince yourself that Terri is actually participating in the rite.

I just read that Terri Schiavo received communion, a drop of wine on her tongue.

So much disinformation roiling around this topic.