Terri Schiavo died

[ManicQueen]

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I'm glad she isn't suffering any more though.

I've dealt with people that are in her condition all the time at work and it makes me sick that family lets them barely cling to life. I wouldn't want that for myself or any of my family members.

B~

[LadyWindstone]

I can understand if someone was on life support and it would be easier on all concerned that you pull the plug. But what Shiavo did was basically starve to death. That's wrong. She was still there just couldn't voice her opinion. She may have been brain damaged but she was still there. Yeah its hard to deal with having to take care of that person until nature takes its course. If my mother was in that situation I would definitely take care of her until she passed on. I wouldn't help her in any way unless she had a living will that stated her wishes. A living will would have cleared up the whole mess. Otherwise, I don't think starving someone to death is a good thing.

[Brenda Starrr]

I don't think that Terri could have imagined ever needing a living will. I'm glad that she's no longer suffering, and I think that there had to have been a better way to go about this whole thing. I just don't know what that better way could have been.....

Now, she can rest in peace.

[LuluVox]

until nature takes its course.

Nature was trying to take its course throughout the whole ordeal.

[Nerdcore]

Im glad she has passed on. She is not in pain anymore and not suffering. Though for me 14 days is a long time to be with out food/water.. I dont think also she wanted a living will. I thhink she only wanted to be alive for a year or 2. Not 15 yrs..

[TomCat]

R.I.P... Somebody take the gun I keep under my pillow and off my sorry ass if i ever end up like that. Quality of life, not quantity is what matters people.

[paradox]

probably should have let her go 15 years ago. i honestly havent met a single person who would want to live like that. if im a vegtable, get it over with. was she still 'in there'? who REALLY knows? i hope not. can you imagine? like metallicas song 'One'.

if she had been able to communicate, im pretty sure she (or anyone in that position) would have said 'kill me, please'.

[Daniel]

I can understand if someone was on life support and it would be easier on all concerned that you pull the plug. But what Shiavo did was basically starve to death. That's wrong. She was still there just couldn't voice her opinion. She may have been brain damaged but she was still there. Yeah its hard to deal with having to take care of that person until nature takes its course. If my mother was in that situation I would definitely take care of her until she passed on. I wouldn't help her in any way unless she had a living will that stated her wishes. A living will would have cleared up the whole mess. Otherwise, I don't think starving someone to death is a good thing.

Starving to death isn't that terrible, for a person with a normal brain. Read:

http://www.thoushalthonor.org/news/starve.html

For a person with no cerebral cortex, they feel nothing. It is about as peaceful of a death as anyone can hope for. Your brain perceived or feels nothing, and your functions slowly stop. It is perfectly natural.

And, no, she was not "still there". Check out her CT scans. Her cerebral cortex was gone. That means, all cognitive functions were gone. The court looked into the evidence here very completely, and consistently roundly ruled that she was in a vegetative state (i.e., brain dead). I recommend reading this site, to get an idea on her condition and why the decisions that were made were made:

http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/infopage.html

My only observation as of late is that I am astounded at the immense amount of misinformation floating around regarding this case. I'm thankful I have somewhat sane, rational parents/family who would be able to make fairly sound decisions on my behalf, should I ever be in that situation. Terri's parents were clearly only interested in their own agenda (and in fact, even stated that if they felt Terri wanted off of life support, they had no intentions of respecting that decision for religious reasons).

[Proscrire]

I'm just glad it will be off the front page now. Whether its right or not, is between the members of the family. The law was upheld and that's what's important.

But I am now going to plug how important in it is to make sure your family (spouse, parents, siblings, everyone important) knows your future wishes, NO MATTER WHAT YOUR AGE. In Michigan if enough people can provide evidence, the chances are excellent that your wishes will be carried out even without a living will. Sorry to be morbid but I think about this every time my husband steps onto the rugby field.

[The_Dark]

I agree with Daniel 100%. Terry died 15 years ago. The only part of her brain still funtional was the stem. The stem only controls involentary functions... breathing, diegesting and such. Nature has finally been allowed to run it's course that was derailed 15 years ago.

[Jarodaka]

A unique perspective.

[Fierce Critter]

What in hell was that?

[SomeDanGuy]

lol, <3 maddox

Yeah starving to death isn't so great, but she was as aware of the pain as you are when you're unconcious. The hypothalamus is still sensing "Whoa! need energy!" but with no cortex, there is really nothing to perceive that. Like I said, the same thing would happen if you were unconcious and hadn't eaten in a long time. Your body will still do it's hormonal response, but there is no awareness of it.