Schiavo battel

[Lee]

i live just a couple counties over from where this is all taking place, so, i've been exposed to it for years. it popped up in the news from time to time when there was a new developement, but nothing like what has been going on in recent weeks where it went national.

as a nurse, i've seen many people in as bad a state or worse than she was (from what i couild glean from the papers and tv), and i think the best thing was what was done. to let her die as peacefully as possible. imho, there was nothing left of the lady other than a body whose functions were being controlled reflexivly.

get your living wills together people. or that could be you.

further, i think the way this was sensationalized by the media, protestors, and yes, the schindler family, served no one.
it outrages me that a whole school of children had to be moved for the sake of a few dozen protestors and that neighboring nursing homes and the other residents and family of the hospice where this occured had thier lives disrupted for the sake of ratings and to sastuify a few misguided individuals who came from states away to serve whatever purpose they felt needed serving. this includes a man who brought his 10 year old son from out of state and allowed him to get arrested for trying to symbolically give water to "terri". what kind of parent allows that?

govener jeb bush should be impeached for the unconstitutional "terris law" he pushed through, which is what put this in the national light in the first place. if not for that, america would be saying "terri who?"
jeb is a joke. florida has gone downhill since he took office. education is a sham, kids are taught to pass tests that show how well the state is doing instead of sctually learning something and the whole state will eventually be one mass of urban sprawl.

the governement especially at the highest levels, has no place in personal affairs or as stated in an earlier post, the sanctity of marriage which they have been supposedly trying to preserve.

if the "protesters" really want to make a difference, they should go to nursing school, if they're capable of functuioning that highly. there is a severe shortage after all and i could use some help at work. my feet are killing me.

please rest in peace mrs. schiavo. you've earned it.

[MarkM]

Im counting the mins before one of the religious right mods close it

As long as this politically motivated thread stays civil there is no need to close it.
I will qualify why I say politically motivated...I read some of the links and whilst I wasn't aware of this until it hit our news...both sides were angling for political gain. I am neither for or against what was decided or the outcome, but it shouldn't have taken as long to reach what has happened regardless of your beliefs...yes or no should have been decided years before. Nothing will change because of this if anything it will make things harder for similar case's of which I am sure there are many around the world. Holland being the only country (I am aware of) where this wouldn't have ran for as long.

[Trina]

He used that settlement to pay for his nursing school and her medical bills. He could have abandoned her, but did not. I do not see anything wrong with him, and sympathize. He's being demonized unfairly.

Her body is alive, but she is not living. I think letting her die is the decent thing to do. I would expect the same if I were in that situation, and would be pissed (if I weren't in a vegetative state) if the government interfered.

There's a difference between executing someone, and letting someone go.

Now that she has passed away...in watching the news, several thoughts ran through my head. I cannot believe how the media portrays her husband as a "killer". I can totally agree with Miscue here in saying that she would NOT have wanted to live that way and her husband just wanted to carry out her will. It has nothing to do with his current situation...to him, she was dead 15 years ago.

First of all, the girl had an eating disorder which means she had a problem with self image. She was a beautiful girl...and I believe it would have killed her to know that she was kept alive in humiliation and put on national television...maybe this was a punishment for her not appreciating herself....I dunno. I'm also imagining how horrible it would be to live like she has for the past 15 years. I have a sense of relief for her today that she has finally been allowed to leave...

[Glickman]

First of all, the girl had an eating disorder which means she had a problem with self image. She was a beautiful girl...and I believe it would have killed her to know that she was kept alive in humiliation and put on national television...maybe this was a punishment for her not appreciating herself. I'm also imagining how horrible it would be to live like she has for the past 15 years. I have a sense of relief for her today that she has finally been allowed to leave...

i believe you would be hard pressed to find someone as dedicated as her husband.

when he sued the doctors, he recieved $300,000 she recieved $700,000

there is less then $50,000 left in that from medical treatments other then the ones covered by the state. some people here have said that hes only doing this to get insurance money. what insurance money? he sacraficed nearly a million dollars that couldve been his. yea. im really sure hes only interested in money. he really stayed with her for 15 years for that.


im very skeptical to religion, can even say im partially atheist. but i agree, i believe shes in a better place.

the only comfort i see is that she didnt have to experiance the last 15 years.

as for the protesters...

Armenia
Cambodia
Sudan
Ethiopia

random 3rd world countries? no. genocide is happening in these countries.

but no, lets go put the husband through more anguish. that will fix everything.

[Lohman446]

govener jeb bush should be impeached for the unconstitutional "terris law" he pushed through, which is what put this in the national light in the first place. if not for that, america would be saying "terri who?"
jeb is a joke. florida has gone downhill since he took office. education is a sham, kids are taught to pass tests that show how well the state is doing instead of sctually learning something and the whole state will eventually be one mass of urban sprawl..

My personal views on politicians in particular aside this whole thing highlighted hordes of problems in all our branches of government.

Judges seemed ready to strike down any law that they did not agree with, or that interferred with there rulings. I have seen what looks to me to be more and more "making policy from the bench" in the past few years. This is a dangerous trend - the only jobs of judges are to apply laws written by the legislative branch and to determine the constitutionality of them. Now, since I beleive in a strict interpertation of the constitution my view is off from mainstream, but I think most people should be concerned about the power judges are taking.

It is not the legislative branches job to step in and try to make laws centered around a single person, especially after judges have ruled. I know this happens where individuals are the catalyst to a law but this was not the case. The legislative branch was trying to write a law fit one particular case, and to change judges rulings on an issue that was already legally resolved. If they were truly interested in the ideas they championed then we would see a strong movement to strengthen laws around "right to death" subjects even after this incident. Then this may have meant something useful, sadly I doubt we will.

The executive branches use of the state agencies to attempt a change of custody was sickening and to me obvious abuse of power.

The politicians seizing on this tragedy (for everyone involved) and trying to use it for political gain on every level was sickening, as was the medias sensationalism of the entire situation.

Those are my opinions, if they are too political for the boards I understand the need to censor them. Please note that I am not saying any side was right or wrong, just that there handling of the situation, regardless of there goals, was not what the founding fathers had in mind.

[Glickman]

want to know what terri looked like for 15 years?

go watch something on encephalitis.

[kosmo]

Anyone else catch the statements made by G Dub? Something along the lines of hoping that all those who honor Shiavo will work towards a society focused on life for those at our mercy. WTF???? THIS IS COMING FROM THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF TEXAS. How many freakin people did he have executed when he was governor? What a gol derned hypocritical son of a gun, to put it mildly.

[Lohman446]

Anyone else catch the statements made by G Dub? Something along the lines of hoping that all those who honor Shiavo will work towards a society focused on life for those at our mercy. WTF???? THIS IS COMING FROM THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF TEXAS. How many freakin people did he have executed when he was governor? What a gol derned hypocritical son of a gun, to put it mildly.

I honestly do not see how people think that stances on right to death, abortion, and even capital punishment have to be related. Aside from the base human life argument they diverge very quickly.

For instance - I beleive abortion is wrong, I beleive in capital punishment but do not beleive in its use because of the expense involved, I beleive in a persons right to die, or in assisted suicide if they choose. All these things can reconcile themselves, and do, though to keep this from becoming a political argument I am not really going to get into it.

Those who want to see this as a sickening political move can - simply because of that. I am sickened by our politicians desire to make this into a political statement. But I don't need to go into how there views are unreconciable - it would be an argument that I did not truly beleive in anyways.

[TheDuelist]

The woman is dead let her lie in peace. Personally i am tired of the media constantly blasting us with the same video cuts of her showing how "responsive" she was. I am glad she can rest now and her family can move on. Michael Schaivo did what his wife wanted and several years of legal battles determined that before this went national. I live in Tampa and have watched this go on from the beginning. It has turned into a circus. Lets all learn from it. If you want to "live" like she did then go on living the way you do. If you don't than keep a living will so your family will know how you want it to end in case you can't tell them.

The moral of this story- Love your children, love your family. Hug them every day and tell them what they mean to you. You never know when your time has come.

[drg]

The case has come to a proper conclusion. There was almost no medical or legal backing for the position of the Schindlers and the radical right-wing groups/politicians. Not that I think they should have a say anyway. "Activist judges"? "Out-of-control judiciary"? That's utter crap. Our system of checks and balances worked PERFECTLY in this case. It's the legislative and executive branches that are out of control, pushing their agendas so blatantly. The judiciary is 100% right to be reigning them in, even in the few instances they are afforded the opportunity. This case was adjudicated by representatives of the whole ideological spectrum and they have spoken with one voice. That should say something about the merits of the case.

NO activist Congress, NO activist President and NO activist governor.

[danheneise]

FRONT PAGE ON www.msn.com "SCHIAVO DIES AFTER PARENTS LOSE LEGAL FIGHT"

ok, now personally i am very split on this issue, even though it is mostly over now. On one hand i feel that personaly I would not want to live like that, but also would not want to die from starvation. On the second hand i feel that it shouldn't be the Fed.s case to solve. Personally I believe that when you get married, your spouse has the right to choose for you should you not be able to make desisions for yourself, and i just thought, isn't there something like that that you write for your drivers license or something? I know that i've put down that my parents would make a decision. My guess is that we haven't seen the last of this case though, as the parent will probably want some sort of payback vs. the Govn't.

[Echo419]

Extremely bad taste.
Take 3 days to think about NOT doing that again. This thread has been kept going by sensible debate not childishness. AO Moderation Team

[Miscue]

Now that she has passed away...in watching the news, several thoughts ran through my head. I cannot believe how the media portrays her husband as a "killer". I can totally agree with Miscue here in saying that she would NOT have wanted to live that way and her husband just wanted to carry out her will. It has nothing to do with his current situation...to him, she was dead 15 years ago.

What's horrible is people are trying to say that he caused the condition in the first place. "Scott Peterson" comes up, and that's just wrong.

He's seeking an autopsy for medical proof that this is not the case, and to further verify her hopeless condition so that the world knows. That's a smart thing to do, but it's terrible that he has to defend himself in this way. They are victimizing and demonizing this man with their vain idea of "moral righteousness." They can't burn him at the stake, or put him on the rack like the good old days - but these immoral people do what they can.

Yellow journalism, sensationalism - they are alive and well. Hoorah for the news.

[Miscue]

The woman is dead let her lie in peace. Personally i am tired of the media constantly blasting us with the same video cuts of her showing how "responsive" she was. I am glad she can rest now and her family can move on. Michael Schaivo did what his wife wanted and several years of legal battles determined that before this went national. I live in Tampa and have watched this go on from the beginning. It has turned into a circus. Lets all learn from it. If you want to "live" like she did then go on living the way you do. If you don't than keep a living will so your family will know how you want it to end in case you can't tell them.

The moral of this story- Love your children, love your family. Hug them every day and tell them what they mean to you. You never know when your time has come.

I have not seen the media show sad vids in all of their undignified glory, of when she appears to be a vegetable - they used clips that make you think that she's not doing so bad. These arsefaces...

[Miscue]

The executive branches use of the state agencies to attempt a change of custody was sickening and to me obvious abuse of power.

The politicians seizing on this tragedy (for everyone involved) and trying to use it for political gain on every level was sickening, as was the medias sensationalism of the entire situation.

Those are my opinions, if they are too political for the boards I understand the need to censor them. Please note that I am not saying any side was right or wrong, just that there handling of the situation, regardless of there goals, was not what the founding fathers had in mind.

I was disgusted by it as well - I can't believe what they attempted to do... no kidding it was struck down! The judges did good - checks & balances worked as they should.