Previous post on the Schiavo autopsy here. Some of my commenters seem determined to keep repeating Straw Men #1 and #2. (As we all know, if you keep repeating something loudly enough and long enough, it becomes true.) So…

Previous post on the Schiavo autopsy here. Some of my commenters seem determined to keep repeating Straw Men #1 and #2. (As we all know, if you keep repeating something loudly enough and long enough, it becomes true.) So…

First off…  any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here,  and here.  Die spambots, die!  And now…  here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote. Council li…

this is actually a Jewish value, fully articulated in our scriptures (what you call the “Old Testament”). Christianity got it from us. We continued to refine and promote it. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t smear us by implying that it wasn’t there till you “improved” on our ethics. Thank you!

The truth is that he never really recovered from her death.

As you may imagine, I have intense convictions about the Schiavo tragedy and the political/media farce that it engendered. These convictions lead me to agree far more with John Cole than with Rick Moran.

That said, I found Rick’s piece to be thoughtful, measured and relatively evenhanded, though by no means objective. I found it almost convincing.

Then I read the update with the excerpt from Mona’s comment. I then came here and read her full comment.

It’s troubling that Rick chose to raise the gratuitous suggestion that Mona might, just possibly, believe in euthanizing the profoundly retarded. The suggestion seemingly inspired by by her work as a volunteer care giver for such folks. That and the fact that she is on the opposite side of the issue from Moran.

The revelation that her son is being cared for by the same facility where she volunteers seems to quash whatever curious chain of logic Rick was pursuing. That is,unless he cares to raise another gratuitous suggestion.

To reiterate: I found Rick’s tone almost convincing. Almost.

Or what if your son wanted no extraordinary measures taken to prolong his life, but eight years after he fell into a PVS the law was changed to reclassify an ordinary care measure he is receiving as an extraordinary measure?

As to the last, it would be irrelevant. I drafted my son’s Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and therein he specifies the removal of a feeding tube if he has been diagnosed as PVS for at least 18 mos. His DPA should control.(However, not necessarily, as you can read about at the Abstract Appeal blog I linked to above. In many jurisdictions written directives can be found to have been orally revoked, which retains potential for a can of worms like Schiavo no matter that wishes have been recited in a formal document. There is an ironclad rule that testamentary wills cannot be orally modified, and some think this should also be true of advance directives. But then again, what if a person who had a DPA like my son’s changed her mind after the Schiavo thing but did not get around to modifying it before she became PVS? Should her tube be pulled even if every member of her family testifies she had changed her mind?)

As to the first, same thing. His DPA should control. If he had none, there would be no conflict as in Schiavo, because both of his parents as well as his wife are fully aware that he does not wish his body to be kept alive if he is PVS. Terri’s body joined her mind on 3/31, and the following Sunday was Easter. At a family dinner held at my son’s attended by my ex, myself, and the rest of our clan who live in the area, we discussed the issues surrounding Terri’s tube removal. We were unanimous that that is what we all would want. I hope many families have had such discussions, and also that they have drafted DPAs and/or Living Wills.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, she couldn’t swallow (saliva yes, food & water no,) she would have aspirated food & water and died (a much worse sort of dead than dehydrating her, surely), blah blah blah.”

Culture of life, indeed. Or is this the authoritative onsite medical opinion that startlingly unveils the errors in the autopsy and years of diagnosis and treatment. Hey!!! Terry never needed the feeding tube!!!!

It wasn’t just the feeding tube, but all hydration and nutrition, oral included, that was removed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, she couldn’t swallow (saliva yes, food & water no,) she would have aspirated food & water and died (a much worse sort of dead than dehydrating her, surely), blah blah blah.