Refuting the claims about Schiavo.

March 26, 2005 10:33 PM

Refuting the claims of those who want Schiavo's feeding tube back. Would you choose to leave your loved one on life support? Tom DeLay, who has s gone through extraordinary lengths in congress to try and keep her alive didn't when he had the choice. And neither did those nice friars.
posted by Brockstar (9 comments total)

poop stain [!]
posted by puke & cry at 10:44 PM on March 26, 2005

I'm pretty sick of this topic, but I happen to agree with Tom DeLay that this case is a quite a bit different than his father's (and the friars' brother's). Starving to death is infinitely worse than having your lungs or kidneys fail. Just IMHO of course. My grandmother died of kidney failure, and it was a quick process - starving someone until they die is something completely different.
posted by shoppingforsanity at 10:52 PM on March 26, 2005

MeTa: pull the feeding tube on this topic.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 10:56 PM on March 26, 2005

There's a story that the Miami Herald ran that I'm not sure was posted to MeFi. Was considering posting it myself, but I figured that the last thing we needed was another Schiavo post. Since someone has one up now, here's the link:

Police 'Showdown' Averted [bugmenot may be needed]

Has everyone already seen this? The major media doesn't seem to be running it.
posted by Ryvar at 10:58 PM on March 26, 2005

shoppingforsanity:
Perhaps someone more schooled it medicine can address this, but the first link says:
We wrongly infer from our own intense suffering when we are hungry that Terri must feel this hunger. Most doctors will tell you there's little pain involved and many cognizant patients prefer it. Keep in mind we're also not brain-dead. Because Terri has no active brain tissue left, her body is incapable of 'feeling' pain beyond autonomic responses in the brain stem to stimuli.

I also recall reading this somewhere else. Basically it's just a matter of the body shutting down and her going to sleep and not wak
ing up. Any MDs in the house wanna comment?
posted by papakwanz at 11:01 PM on March 26, 2005

Ryvar: Yeah, I heard about this very briefly on Thursaday. The sence I got from the report at the time was DCF was not posed to act as fast as it needed in order to carry out the removal.
Wish the whole thing would end and everyone could get on with the next stage of grief. Ugly situation for all involved.
posted by edgeways at 11:08 PM on March 26, 2005

papakwanz: I've heard that from a number of sources and a quick glance though the other threads will point out many comments on this. There is not much to add here that has not been covered the the other attempts at discussion in the blue.
posted by edgeways at 11:12 PM on March 26, 2005

papakwanz: If her situation is anything close to what I've seen in hospices, she will have been given regular doses of morphine and possibly anti-anxiety medication. If she was running a fever, they have meds for that, too. Even if she had higher brain functions, she would not be aware of what was going on.
posted by Sangre Azul at 11:19 PM on March 26, 2005

The Friars story is crazy. I think anyone who's even paid attention to a few insanely nasty family inheritance disputes from the sidelines has a fair idea as to what's involved here - and their intuition is probably dead on.
posted by raysmj at 11:26 PM on March 26, 2005