Amy Welborn quotes a newspaper columnist:
I’ve seen this going around lately: the right-wing is glooming onto the arguments of disabled rights activists in order to argue that Terri Schiavo’s body must be kept alive at any cost. Allowing Terri Schiavo to die, we are told, is the equivalent of murdering Stephen Hawking, or that newspaper columnist’s little sister.
As it happens, the disabled activists have a good point, especially when it comes to media coverage of the case. It’s degrading when reporters bring up Terri Schiavo’s inability to talk, or to feed and care for herself, as if these things determined the worth or lack of worth of a human life. That’s ridiculous: there is infinitely more to existence than the ability to wipe one’s own rear end.
However, as applied to Terri Schiavo, the argument is nonsense.
Look, I’m convinced that people can have meaningful, great lives without talking, walking, eating unassisted or controlling one’s bowels. What I’m not convinced of is that Terri Schiavo can have a meaningful existence if she can’t think. Here’s how Florida’s 2nd court of appeals described Terri’s medical condition:
Without a cerebral cortex, Terri Schiavo cannot think. She cannot feel. She cannot experience.
There’s a huge gulf between being disabled and being unable to think, feel, or experience. It’s the gulf between being alive and being dead. Terri Schiavo is dead, and has been dead for years; to compare her condition to folks who are alive and disabled is, it seems to be, an insult to disabled people everywhere. (Obviously, many disabled activists disagree with me).
How can anyone say that Terri Schiavo can still lead a fulfilling life, when “fulfillment” itself can’t be experienced without a cerebral cortex?.
According to medical experts that her parents have consulted, there is the possibility of recovering some cortical function from the small amount of living tissue they’ve seen in her cerebral cortex. But I think the disagreement goes deeper than that, because apparently, some doctors and medical professionals believe that she has purposeful movements and responds to human contact and that it’s only a decade of little or no rehabilitation that has left her seeming as though she is not thinking at all.
I don’t know whether those doctors are credible or whether they’re quacks. But the fact is, there is disagreement on her medical condition. So while I agree with you that there’s no reason not to pull the plug on a vegetable, Terri Schiavo may not be a vegetable quite yet. I’m not a doctor, and none of us here have examined her, so I’m not willing to write off the possibility that she could recover.
That said, the actions of the Florida government in this case are ridiculous. They’re not trying to help save a person, they’re grandstanding and trying to take away from the legitimate right of people to decide to end their own lives. If Governor Bush really wanted to be compassionate, he’d change the law so that people in Terri’s (purported) condition can die with dignity, instead of enduring the pain and indignity of starving to death as their loved ones look on.
Total agreement, Amp, on every point.
Of course, even this leaves aside what I feel is a larger and more complex (and more personal, to me)question. . .what to do when someone is disabled in such a way that they’ve got no ability to life a fulfilling life (constant pain, constant humiliation) and actively wants to die (requesting death, even), but does not have the physical ability to commit suicide.
My grandmother has been in this state for roughly two years now, and the fact that it’s against the law for one of us to fulfill her request is beyond horrible.
—JRC
Amy:
For what it’s worth, the court didn’t find either of the doctors who testified that Terri could recover credible; neither of them was able to demonstrate any scientific support for their treatments, or any examples of patients with conditions similar to Terri’s who have shown any improvement under the suggested treatments.
I think the court was right to find them not credible. One of them is the sort of doctor who claims to have been nominated for a nobel prize in medicide (in fact, those nominations are kept secret for 50 years, even from the nominees) and only accepts payments in cash. Not exactly the cream of his profession.
Basically, the disagreement over if Terri can recover is like the disagreement over if evolution exists. Sure, there are “experts” who will claim that evolution doesn’t exist, but that’s not enough to mean that a legitimate controversy exists.
* * *
As for the rest, I agree with both of you. :-)
I still feel like there is a big difference between alive and dead, whether a vegetable or not, and there does not seem to be a compelling reason to ‘pull the plug’ as long as her family wants her to stay alive. I don’t see why this man should automatically have more power over this than her parents.
I don’t see why her parents should automatically have more power over her than this man she chose to spend her life with.
Great title. I write as someone whose father spent two months in a coma about four years ago, woke up, and now identifies by name relatives who call him on the phone. We’re wrestling with the DNR ethical questions as I write this.
Terri Schiavo is dead. Her husband knows this, her father is delusional and way over the line.
Thanks, John.
Tara, what Darcy said. Terri chose Michael to be the one who makes medical decisions when she’s unable to decide. It’s the only decision related to this that we know for certain Terri made; and it seems best, lacking other evidence, to respect Terri’s decision.
I feel sad for everyone directly involved in Terri’s situation– parents, husband, caretakers, doctors and all. I can empathize with all of their positions, since in my opinion, the issue of level of consciousness in a person like Terri is complicated and not well understood.
From the evidence available it seems pretty clear that she is neither completely responsive nor completely unresponsive. In medicine we use a 3-15 numerical score to determine level of consciousness, and it seems like Terri falls somewhere between 8 and 11. She opens her eyes spontaneously (5 points), has no vocal response (1 point), and either withdaws from pain or has abnormal reflexive movements (2-4 points). She is both far from brain dead, and far from normal consciousness.
In this grey area, I think it is impossible to determine the subjective quality of a person’s existence. All we generally know about what goes on inside a person’s head is what they communicate to us (specialized research MRIs are the exception). When they cannot communicate we cannot say for sure what is happening in there. It seems very likely that Terri has severely limited cognitive function. But beyond that there may still be quality of life. Does Terri feel emotion, physical sensation, does she dream, is she in a calm, drifting alpha-type state? Unless she appears to be in pain, we cannot say her existance is not subjectively pleasant. On the other hand, we also cannot know that she is not miserable.
The terms “persistant vegatative state” and “vegetable” to refer to people like Terri offend me. Terri is clearly not a head of lettuce, nor, to the best of our knowledge does she have the mental function of a vegetable (i.e. none).
On the other hand, despite my sympathy for Terri’s parents, the ethical decision in this case seems clear. Terri made her husband her decision-maker. He has made a decision for her. Honoring her personhood means honoring the decisions she made while she could do so, including the decision to put her life in her husband’s hands.
Actually, according to the links above, the husband did not make the decision, the court did after hearing testimony from both sides, including testimony from the husband and others that strongly indicated Terri did not want to exist in such a condition (I hesitate to call it living). A point I wanted to make as well is that, after looking at some of the pictures and descriptions of the parents and others trying to see whether or not she responded to stimuli in a way that indictaed that she wasn’t in a vegatative state, is that the parents’ witnesses only seemed to observe the parents trying to provide the stimulation. This leads to a situation not unlike “facilitated communication”. In “facilitated communication”, the person “helping” the person write or point ends up doing the actual writing or pointing, in most cases not realising they’re doing it — they fool themselves and others into thinking the (usually) child is doing it. In this case the person holding the source of stimulus (ie. the balloon or the swab) is very likely to be (again, probably unconsciously) moving the object in response to the involuntary movements of the patient. A good doctor would be aware of this problem and would allow for it when making their diagnosis; I find it interesting that the doctors for the parent’s side apparently didn’t do so, unless I missed something.
This leads to a tragic case where the parents fool themselves into thinking their daughter is not in the state she’s in, and so fighting for her in the goodhearted but entirely mistaken belief that there is some chance for her to coem back from that state. The tragedy has been compounded by the mean-spirited hijacking of this case for political gain.
My understanding of the case is that Terri’s husband did initially make the decision to end feedings for Terri, but this decision was challenged in court, hence the court ultimately made the decision itself. Whether their reasoning was that that is what the evidence pointed to as Terri’s wishes or whether they reasoned that Terri’s husband was the legitimate decision-maker for Terri, or both, I don’t know. In any event, I certainly think that they decided rightly, and that using the case as a political card is unspeakably disgusting.
My point about Terri’s state of consciousness however is that both sides seem (from the information available in the links) to have over-simplified how responsive she is or is not. One side says everything is a reflex and the other says everything is a purposeful response to her environment. Both these claims, in my opinion are unlikely to be true.
I am a nurse and have worked extensively with people in many stages of consciousness, including several similar to the way Terri is described. I do believe Terri is in what is known as a persistant vegatative state (I don’t like the term, but I know what it describes, and she seems to fit into the category squarely). But that does not neccessarily mean she has only reflex responses left.
I don’t believe there is credible scientific evidence to suggest that smiling and crying (which Terri supposedly does, and which I’ve seen in lightly comotose patients) are reflexive responses as opposed to either a response to internal emotional stimulus or random firing of neurons (as in a dream). Also, lightly comotose people do often have brief periods where they very convincingly seem to be responding to the environment. They follow you with their eyes, grasp your hands, or react negatively to external stimulus. Occassionally they even speak a word or two. It is often impossible for a trained, experienced professional to tell whether these responses are purposeful or not, and it is relatively common for different professionals on cases like Terri’s to have different beliefs as to whether or not the patient has been responding to the enviroment.
In my opinion, there is probably no one side that is obviously right and one side obviously wrong as regards Terri’s level of awareness. The picture in cases like hers is murkier than people like to admit. What matters is what Terri and her decision-maker wanted/want. And that is clear.
The whole case is being argued through the prism of medical ethics, life support and the like. But there is an elephant next to the sickbed, and nobody is talking about it. It appears that over the years Schiavo has spent in an (apparently) vegetative state she received as good as no rehabilitation or treatment. Reason? Why are her family tearing each other apart over what’s left of a million dollars after all these years of costs and inflation? They can’t pay. Class is the issue here.
http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com
I have neither the knowledge or wisdom to add anything here, so I’m gonna comment on this instead:
>the right-wing is glooming onto the arguments of disabled rights activists . . .
glooming onto the arguments . . . just a typo (at least, I think it should be “gloming”?) but what an image! I can just see this slouched-over permanent-cloud kinda guy shuffling over to grasp leechlike other folks’ thoughts and words. . .
I would hope that people are curious enough to find the facts that the mainstream is not covering and would support Terri in regards to
her life and rehabilitation. To this end I have started the Terri Life Ribbon Campaign:
Key: ,. = etc.
The Terri Schindler Life Ribbon Campaign acts as a beacon pointing to Terri’s plight. It also acts as lighthouse and gateway to others who already Realize and stand as Witness to Terri’s inherent right to life and rehabilitation,. It is apparent that Michael Schiavo, George Felos, Deborah Bushnell and Co. must be bound by laws in order to be forced out of Terri’s life. Let us continue to spread the word and take actions,. for Terri.
Juan Schoch
e-mail: pc93@bellsouth.net
Help Us Protect And Ensure Life
And Liberty For Terri Schindler!
Become a Life Ribbon Site
You are encouraged to place a Life Ribbon Campaign banner on your servers and web pages to support/participate in the campaign described on this page at
http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/c/pc93/terri_schindler_life_ribbon_campaign.htm
Questions to: pc93@bellsouth.net
Also looking for co-ordinators for Terri Life Ribbon Meet-ups in their particular states.
“The Terri Schindler Life Ribbon Campaign…”
Actually, her name is Terri Schiavo – that’s the name she *chose* to take when she married Michael Schiavo. Why are you taking that choice away from her? Isn’t it enough that you and your ilk are keeping her alive against her expressed wishes?
“…Terri’s plight…”
Are you a friend of hers? Did you know her before the accident? I’m not sure how you are on a first name basis with her. It sickens me to watch politicians, in Schiavo’s case and in other cases, pretend to be on a first name basis with someone who they have never met. If you really had respect for the person, instead of just wanting to use them to further your own aims, you would address them with respect. Mrs. Schiavo, Terri Schiavo, Ms. Schiavo (since you don’t think much of her choice to marry) or even just Schiavo are all ok. Call her Terri when you have been invited to, by her.
“…stand as Witness to Terri’s inherent right to life and rehabilitation…”
The only unbiased people to really examine this issue have held that she is not alive, as we define it, and she has no hope of rehabilitation. The right we have to life is only the right not to have that life taken by the state without due process. We have no other right to life. We have no right to rehabilitation. I think that when you are talking about ‘rights’ you are talking about some sort of fuzzy religious rights – eminating from God. If so, I don’t think a web banner is really going to help.
The right that I am concerned about is my right to not be kept alive in some sort of twilight existance without speech or voluntary movement. Even if you could rehabilitate me so that I could swallow food all by myself, BFD. It is clear to me that even though Schiavo wanted to be kept alive at age (16? it is on her parents website – maybe 14?) she grew up, matured and changed her mind. At age 16, I never wanted children – even at age 22. Now, only 8 short years later, my wife and I planned and had a beautiful baby boy who is the center of my world. I grew up and changed my mind. It happens. Get her die in peace and return to her heavenly reward.
A week or 2 ago we saw in California where a child was pronounced dead by ER docs after working 45 mins to get her breathing again after drowning in the family pool. Elapsed time up to one hour without oxygen.
There’s a cop in California who while relieved he happened to notice first a finger twitching then an audible sigh discovered this child who was getting ready to be bagged and sent to the morgue[he was just finishing up the police report]and discovered the child was ALIVE, is now horrified and alarmed at the thought of how many LIVING folks have been zipped into body bags to die while in a cold drawer in the morgue or at the funeral home…so Rod Serling but a dramatic show of how MD’s can be wrong.
Medicine is not perfect…the BRAIN is not understood…oh we try…we really do but the TRUTH is there is very little research done on the BRAIN for people like TERRI SCHINDLER SCHIAVO. The catchall [I say catchall because when someone is no longer “in coma” but they can’t figure out just what’s going on MD’s stamp this horrid family anguishing moniker on the patient!] term “persistant vegetative state” is totally inaccurate for Terri she is BRAIN DAMAGED or as we said in college, cause back then we thought it was joke, DWAIN BAMAGED!
While the videos are long and tiring we are judging her with our eyes and brains which are functioning at maximum focus and the paralysis caused by the brain injury requires her to focus and respond at the pace her body will allow if at all. I’ve lived this..I know exactly what her family has gone through so I don’t have to imagine anything….Terri is in there….she may not be the “old” Terri but she’s someone worth loving and caring for because frankly that’s what sets us apart from the animal world…we don’t kill our own when they are no longer usefull to the pack.
As to what Terri said at any time in her “pre injury” life yay or nay to being kept alive is irrelevent we all say things we don’t mean or were just for emotional emphasis so to err on the side of life is always the BEST way to go.
So go write your “advance directives” and “living wills”…make multiple copies…have them notorized and give them to all your friends for Hannukah,Christmas and Kwanza. Cause if ya don’t your just a bunch of jabbering hypocrites!
Just to repeat what you said – I think it sums up your argument perfectly,
As to what Terri said at any time in her “pre injury” life yay or nay to being kept alive is irrelevent we all say things we don’t mean
I don’t see why her parents should automatically have more power over her than this man she chose to spend her life with.
ToileGirl, there is a very big difference between someone seen at a poolside by ER technicians, and someone who has had multiple brainscans done of her under the most ideal conditions by actual doctors. There’s also a big difference between someone who’s been out for an hour, and someone who’s been in a persistant vegitative state for a decade.
So even if your anecdote were true (and I’d be more likely to buy it if you provided a link to credible documentation), it doesn’t apply at all to Terri’s case.
I can only imagine what Ms.Terri’s family is going through. As a certified nurse assistant and a college student, I have much to say on this matter. I do believe it woould be hard for any of us to make such a decision. But if we look at the overall picture, Ms. Terri has no life and no dignity. Sure she has reflexes, but she can’t tell you when or if she is hurting, neither can she walk or do anything for herself. I do not trust her husbands motives and I think the parents need to do the right thing. They are concerned with her life and have forgotten the quality of her life.
Stephanie, if you participate in an online debate, please do us the favor of debating. All you give is qualitative arguments about how we have to protect Terri Schiavo, since killing her would be so bad. But I can’t imagine a worse fate than to be in a constant, indeterminate brain-dead vegetative state. If that were me, I sure as hell hope those around me are smart enough to take the feeding tube out of my goddamn mouth and let my body die with the rest of me.
The whole slippery slope form of debate makes me want to bang my head against the wall. No. It makes me want to bang the head of the person using it against the wall.
Because the courts have decided Ms. Schiavo’s husband can have her feeding tube removed, we are going to start euthanizing handicapped people. That’s a logical step, right? (please note — heavy sarcasm inserted here) No, it means in this one case, this one woman has no quality of life and should be allowed to die.
I also am amazed at how people can watch a few minutes of video over the internet and diagnose her — especially when the majority of doctors who have examined her say her body is still there, but she is gone.
Right now in the US we have decided that it’s life that’s important, rather than quality of life. In my own family we had a case where a life was extended by medical intervention, against the wishes of the family. Yeah, he lived for another six months, but it was basically six more months of torment for all involved. Keeping someone alive because we CAN is vastly different from keeping someone alive because we SHOULD. And that’s why we have legal recourse in cases like this — to make sure the right decision is being made.
But, damn it, it’s my freaking decision. If I don’t want my husband or children or parents hooked up to keep them alive for another 10 minutes or 10 days or 10 years, then I should be allowed to petition the courts for the right to disconnect the machines keeping them alive without having to worry that the government will step in and change the law to stop me because that’s what the majority of voters, who are wholly unconnected to me, think they should do. Or because their religious beliefs tell them it’s the right thing to do. Keep your religious beliefs, your morals, your internal compass of right and wrong, out of my life. And I will do the same for you.
I agree with Julie’s comment, the ability to sustain life does not give us the right to do so. The problem with the US in general is that we are so quick to jump on what is a personal, family issue and blow it out of proportion. When it is an actual world topic we minimize it. Mrs. Schiavo is not a breaking story with film at 11, she is a person who may or may not be in a lot of pain. The fact that her request to die was denied, is what is newsworthy.
My mother has told my brother and I on several occasions before this case, that if she were ever in a similar situation that under no circumstance was she to be kept alive, if I can’t honor my mother’s wishes what child would I be?
A tragic situation for any family to go through. But ultimately the question is whether people are going to have control over their own lives and bodies — and that includes making decisions about what you want to happen to you if you are in a position where you can’t make those decisions. Is that a personal moral decision, or is that something government (i.e. your neighbors) should decide for you? I think the answer to that is clear.
Adam Studnicki
Birth Injury Lawyer
Studnicki, Jaffe & Woods, PLLC
http://www.sjwlawyers.com
The only unbiased people to really examine this issue have held that she is not alive, as we define it, and she has no hope of rehabilitation. The right we have to life is only the right not to have that life taken by the state without due process. We have no other right to life. We have no right to rehabilitation. I think that when you are talking about ‘rights’ you are talking about some sort of fuzzy religious rights – eminating from God. If so, I don’t think a web banner is really going to help.
The right that I am concerned about is my right to not be kept alive in some sort of twilight existance without speech or voluntary movement. Even if you could rehabilitate me so that I could swallow food all by myself, BFD. It is clear to me that even though Schiavo wanted to be kept alive at age (16? it is on her parents website – maybe 14?) she grew up, matured and changed her mind. At age 16, I never wanted children – even at age 22. Now, only 8 short years later, my wife and I planned and had a beautiful baby boy who is the center of my world. I grew up and changed my mind. It happens. Get her die in peace and return to her heavenly reward.
I had a son born at 5 months and 3 weeks. He weighted 1 lb. 9 oz. The doctors told us that he would never be anything but a vegetable. He is now 17 years old and an honor student in high school. He is pursuing a degree in veterinary medicine. If my husband and I had listened to the doctors, we would have left him in the metal washtub in the operating room and buried him a few days later, or even better, had his tiny body dumped in a dumpster. We do not have the right to decide when someone dies.
We do not have the right to decide when someone dies.
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. Only the person him/herself or his/her close family has the right to choose the time, place, and condition of their death. Terri Schiavo already chose.
When your son was a newborn, he was unable to make that decision, so it fell to you. Terri Schiavo is unable to make that decision, so it falls to her husband. For the state to overrule her husband’s decision and FORCE her to stay alive is no less odious than it would be for them to have overruled your decision and FORCED your son to die.
I don’t believe I have the right to choose when anyone dies. What the hell makes you think you have the right to decide when someone lives?
—JRC
Terri Schiavo has been criminally denied any kind of treatment or therapy since the time she was awarded over a million dollars for just such. She is not even close to terminally ill and is housed in a hospice. The first court appointed guardian in 1998 advised against death by starvation and was dismissed. The access she has consistently been denied as a severely disabled individual to even the most basic treatment/therapy or kindness or parents wish to bestow is criminal.
Terri Schiavo has been criminally denied any kind of treatment or therapy since the time she was awarded over a million dollars for just such. She is not even close to terminally ill and is housed in a hospice. The first court appointed guardian in 1998 advised against death by starvation and was dismissed. The access she has consistently been denied as a severely disabled individual to even the most basic treatment/therapy or kindness or parents wish to bestow is criminal.
Some other people have been described as “PVS,” but could hear what was going on around them and feel pain as they were operated on without enough pain killing anesthesia. This scares me becasue if they could do that to Theresa Schiavo, a woman who is clearly moving around and looking (whether she can think, we don’t know?), then what happens if you or I get knocked out cold unconsious? LOGIC PROBLEM: If “Theresa Schiavo” = “OK to Starve,” then “Knocked Out Cold patient (you or me)” = “Dead Meat” ~~ How long she has been “PVS” (if she is?), is of no consequence: She is more “alive” than you or I would be if we were to, for example, slip and fall, and bust our…
Those Laws you need:
Michael, in going well beyond court orders and the law, also committed a second degree felony this past October:
825.102 Abuse, aggravated abuse, and neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult; penalties.–
http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0825/SEC102.HTM&Title=->
Florida Abuse Laws 825.102 make it a second degree felony to…
(3)(a) “Neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult” means:
1. A caregiver’s failure or omission to provide an elderly person or disabled adult with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the elderly person’s or disabled adult’s physical and mental health, including, but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential for the well-being of the elderly person or disabled adult…
(Theresa Schiavo was denied Antibiotics, and, more recently, food. No, friend, I’m not talking about the feeding tube, but FOOD and WATER, essential to her well-being, and the LAW makes NO exception for “if she can’t eat” or “PVS”…)
(b) A person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects an elderly person or disabled adult and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the elderly person or disabled adult commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
hmm… I wonder…Do the laws really count for anything anymore…
My press release regarding my lawsuits as featured in these five (5) sites as headline news:
1. http://terrisfight.org/pressrelease.html (01-21-04 – Untested Legal Approaches. Private citizen files suit on behalf of Terri Schindler-Schiavo…me)
2. http://news.google.com/newsq=terri+schiavo&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&sa=G&edition=us&scoring=d
(My release was # 5 at last check: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: -Untested Legal Approaches seek relief for …)
3. http://hometown.aol.com/ht.sspquery=terri+schiavo&cid=-1&f=sr
Indicates the “The Register, reports on Terri Sciavo and other…” is ranked #1 in the World in AOL’s lookup for “Terri Schiavo”, and here are it 2 links:
4. http://HomeTown.AOL.com/gww1210 and
5. http://www.GeoCities.com/Gordon_Watts32313 (my 2 mirrors)
See also:
EMEDIA(.php page)
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/1/emw100180.php
EMEDIA (.htm page)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/1/prweb100180.htm
(PR Web .htm page)
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/1/emw100180.htm
(PR Web .php page)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/1/prwebxml100180.php
Thank you.
gordon watts
Does this thing do HTML? Let’s find out:
http://terrisfight.org/pressrelease.html
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/1/prweb100180.htm and
http://HomeTown.AOL.com/gww1210
and
http://GeoCities.com/Gordon_Watts32313
gordon wayne watts
I lost my father to a massive heart attack when I was only 8 and the doctor’s told us that had he lived he would have been a total vegetable. Had he lived it would have been worse on myself, my brother and mother.
However, we were not given that choice as to whether he died or lived as a vegetable and I am glad we weren’t. Looking back now 14 years later it’s still hard for me to imagine my life with him and decide which I’d prefer. With time to think and contemplate the two decisions my conclusion is still the same, I’m glad I didn’t have to make that choice.
Regional Center for Independent Living
1641 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14610
http://www.rcil.org/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2004
For more information, contact C. Jean Penner, Communications and
Outreach Coordinator, at 585-442-6470 v/tty, or 585-797-7260
Green Ribbon Ceremony at RCIL Will Celebrate the Life — and Right to
Live — of Terri Schindler-Schiavo
The Regional Center for Independent Living (RCIL) will host an outdoor
green ribbon ceremony on Friday, June 4, 2004, in honor of the
controversial struggle to preserve Terri Schindler-Schiavo’s right to
live. The cermony will be held at RCIL, 1641 East Avenue in Rochester,
at 12 noon, to commemorate Terri’s half-birthday. It will be free and
open to the public.
Those who attend will receive green tartan ribbons; part of a national
campaign to raise awareness of this issue. The color green symbolizes
life, while the tartan pattern symbolizes the diversity in human life,
which includes — and embraces — disability. Additional ribbons will
be available at RCIL for members of the community, free of charge;
donations will be accepted by RCIL for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo
Foundation.
This national observance — the Life Ribbon Campaign — encourages
community supporters to wear the ribbons until Terri comes home to her
family.
In 1990, Terri Schindler-Schiavo collapsed in the home she shared with
her husband, Michael Schiavo. The cause of her collapse is unknown to
this day. Terri receives food and water by way of a gastric feeding
tube; and a battle rages currently in Florida courts, in which her
husband is demanding the removal of the feeding tube, while her parents
are fighting for her right to live, and challenging his right to act as
her guardian.
Terri originally fell into a coma but awakened from her comatose state
weeks later. She was left in what medical professionals call a “locked
in state” with limited abilities to communicate or move.
To this day, Terri remains disabled. Though she is responsive to
stimuli, interacts with her environment and her loved ones and is
capable of communicating in limited ways, she is a disabled and
vulnerable adult — requiring protection, therapy and the route to
recovery. RCIL’s ceremony to honor her life will acknowledge the
reality in our society that disability is too frequently equated with a
“better off dead” presumption; and that this has sobering implications
for all Americans with disabilities.
“Despite any particular physical or mental impairments, life is our
most precious gift,” states Todd Eggert, Executive Director of RCIL,
“and with this effort, RCIL is choosing to positively support Terri’s
right to life. Given that she is showing responsiveness and
recognition of loved ones, how can anyone question that right?”
During the first months that followed Terri’s mysterious collapse, she
made progress. Medical practitioners noted her efforts to speak and her
responsiveness. Terri, however, has not received meaningful therapy
since 1991 on the orders of her husband. In 1998, Terri’s husband made
his initial petition to the circuit courts of Pinellas County, Florida
to end her life by removing her feeding tube. If he had been
successful, Terri would have died of dehydration and starvation over
the course of 10 to 14 days. Terri’s parents are fighting her husband,
saying that her wish — if she were able to speak — would be for
therapy and rehabilitation, rather than death from dehydration and
starvation.
In the most recent developments, over the objections of Florida
Governor Jeb Bush, a Florida state appeals court has sent this case to
the state’s highest court. The Florida Supreme Court will hear the case
filed by Terri Schiavo’s estranged husband seeking to overturn a law
Bush signed — Terri’s Law — that saved her life.
The Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal approved a motion put forward
by George Felos, the euthanasia advocate who is Michael Schiavo’s
lawyer, asking the appeals court to let the Florida Supreme Court
decide the case. But attorneys for the governor say they want the case
halted while the issue of whether Michael should have the authority to
speak for Terri is resolved.
Governor Bush also said that Michael’s interests may conflict with
Terri’s, implying it may be appropriate to appoint a new guardian on
her behalf. But, Felos said the matter is so important that the
state’s high court should decide the case.
The appeals court agreed and, in granting Felos’ request, denied the
Bush team an opportunity to gather further information showing that
Terri would not want to be killed.
The Florida Supreme Court can either take the case or tell the appeals
court to hear it and issue a ruling before deciding to hear the
lawsuit.
Last August, the Florida Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal filed
by Terri’s family of a local judge’s order allowing Michael to remove
Terri’s feeding tube.
For more information and actions to take please refer to the following
links:
http://www.terrisfight.org
http://www.cogforlife.org/schiavo.htm
http://heavenlyhands.net/terrislinks.html
http://www.prayforterri.net
###
C. Jean Penner
Communications and Outreach Coordinator
Regional Center for Independent Living
1641 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14610
585-442-6470 v/tty
http://www.rcil.org
___
pc93: ref -> Google -> Life Ribbon
http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/c/pc93/terri_schindler_life_ribbon_campaign.htm
“There’s a huge gulf between being disabled and being unable to think, feel, or experience. It’s the gulf between being alive and being dead.”
Actually, the difference between being alive and being dead is … being alive or being dead.
The point is that only her body is alive. Her brain died long ago. What remains alive is only a shell. That is why keeping her body alive in violation of her wishes is such a grotesque travesty of justice and humanity.
This is good for a limited number of downloads. I will be sending out new links on a regular basis. People can upload (once downloaded) via yousendit.com. You can then post a fresh link for others to download. You can say you did something to make a difference to stop an attempted murder.
“Terri Schiavo proof of coverup.zip” (195064 KB) waiting for download.
Please click on the following link to retrieve your file. The link will expire in 7 days and will be available for a limited number of downloads.
Regular link (for all web browsers):
http://s2.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=904B6F9DDA8F25DC7E343FEB71D2BFF4
Timeline and full videos upon request.
I’m sorry but everytime this thread floats to the top I get “Ramses the Second is Dead” by the Fugs running through my head w/ the words “Ramses the Second” replaced by “Terry Schiavo.”
and that it’s only a decade of little or no rehabilitation
Which is the real elephant in the living room here. What’s icking people is not her recent condition. It’s the idea that her vegetative state was a result of the lack of therapy–which should have been paid for, but wasn’t, by a husband who chose not to divorce her (might have lost some of that money, y’know) while fathering and raising a child with another woman.
If Terri Schiavo had gotten hit by a car and pronounced vegetative a week later, I doubt there would have been a thousandth of the public interest there was. It’s the idea that her husband wanted her dead so he and his girlfriend could spend her personal-injury money that gets people.