Neurologist Says Terri Schiavo is not PVS
A neurologist has testified that Terri Schiavo is not in a "persistent vegetative state." If Judge Greer will listen to reason and permit credible professional testimony, this document could yet save Terri's life. Please pray he reads this:
http://www.terrisfight.net/documents/032305cheshire.pdf
I sent the following e-mail to President Bush (president@whitehouse.gov) this morning, and a similar e-mail to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (jeb.bush@myflorida.com) this afternoon. These were mostly therapeutic for me. If either message makes it past the government spam filters, I'll be surprised.
Dear Mr. President:
For the sake of our country's soul, please intervene to save Terri Schiavo's life, in any way you can. Forced starvation is not compassion by any definition, it is murder and it is unthinkable in a civilized society.
Terri's civil rights have been cruelly denied, including her religious freedoms. What justifies prohibiting a pastor from bringing her Holy Communion? What justifies restraining orders against her loved ones in her last hours?
I appeal to you on the basis of the Geneva Convention. Terri is being starved to death, isolated in a darkened room with no visitors. These are conditions we don't allow for prisoners of war.
Please address Congress, the courts, and the nation and dispel the lies that Terri is brain dead or "vegetative." She is not. She feels, laughs, cries, and she responds to those who love her. She is not an unconscious, unresponsive patient usually associated with the term "vegetative." No one should support the treatment she is receiving. It is inexcusable in country that espouses a culture of life.
Regardless of any "right to die" debate, Terri's treatment is inhumane. Any "death with dignity" demands a peaceful and painless end, but Terri's end is anything but this. By permitting her slow tortured death, we permit the slow death of our conscience, not unlike the oppressive regimes we historically fight.
After the Dred Scott decision, President Lincoln boldy denounced the courts over their callous denial of foundational human rights, and he urged them to overrule their own decision. I urge you to do the same. The stakes here are similar: Are we to permit forced starvation of a human being for any reason?
Please speak out to the nation. Please do not let us become what this is making us.
Respectfully,
Greg Bittner
Coon Rapids, MN
http://www.terrisfight.net/documents/032305cheshire.pdf
E-mail to President Bush
I sent the following e-mail to President Bush (president@whitehouse.gov) this morning, and a similar e-mail to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (jeb.bush@myflorida.com) this afternoon. These were mostly therapeutic for me. If either message makes it past the government spam filters, I'll be surprised.
Dear Mr. President:
For the sake of our country's soul, please intervene to save Terri Schiavo's life, in any way you can. Forced starvation is not compassion by any definition, it is murder and it is unthinkable in a civilized society.
Terri's civil rights have been cruelly denied, including her religious freedoms. What justifies prohibiting a pastor from bringing her Holy Communion? What justifies restraining orders against her loved ones in her last hours?
I appeal to you on the basis of the Geneva Convention. Terri is being starved to death, isolated in a darkened room with no visitors. These are conditions we don't allow for prisoners of war.
Please address Congress, the courts, and the nation and dispel the lies that Terri is brain dead or "vegetative." She is not. She feels, laughs, cries, and she responds to those who love her. She is not an unconscious, unresponsive patient usually associated with the term "vegetative." No one should support the treatment she is receiving. It is inexcusable in country that espouses a culture of life.
Regardless of any "right to die" debate, Terri's treatment is inhumane. Any "death with dignity" demands a peaceful and painless end, but Terri's end is anything but this. By permitting her slow tortured death, we permit the slow death of our conscience, not unlike the oppressive regimes we historically fight.
After the Dred Scott decision, President Lincoln boldy denounced the courts over their callous denial of foundational human rights, and he urged them to overrule their own decision. I urge you to do the same. The stakes here are similar: Are we to permit forced starvation of a human being for any reason?
Please speak out to the nation. Please do not let us become what this is making us.
Respectfully,
Greg Bittner
Coon Rapids, MN
posted by StarBittrune | 1:59 PM
3 Comments:
My father who died of cancer years ago was placed in a similar situation as Terri Schiavo. He could only survive with the help of machines and my mother decided it was best to let him go. She loved him immensely, still cries when she thinks about him, and still carries many scars over him. But it was because she loved him that she had to let him go. It was his time to die.
To let someone die is not always the right answer. But I don't think we as a society should make that very personal decision for someone else. Whatever your personal beliefs, this is something that should be left to the surviving spouse or adult children (if any). It is not up to the president or Congress, or state legislatures, or parents when the person dying happens to be an adult.
Please let the poor woman die.
This isn't about leaving it up to the President or Congress or State legislators. What the aforementioned parties attempted to do was uphold Terri's Constitutional rights, specifically under the 14th amendment:
Amendment XIV
(1868)
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
When a President and member of Congress take their oaths of office, the swear to UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION!!!!
Yes, society is propelling everyone to clearly make these choices for themselves. In this case, it would certainly appear as though Michael Schaivo gave up his guardian role when he moved in with another woman and fathered two children with her. He is no longer qualified to make life and death decisions for this poor woman.
It is also apparent that any comment made in any casual conversation (i.e. I wouldn't want to to be kept alive if I was debilitated...) is NOT the same as signing your name to a document with full knowledge that you want someone to end your life under these circumstances.
There are so many things wrong with this case, but one glaring problem is that Terri could probably hydrate herself if she was given thick liquids by mouth. She hasn't had a swallow study in years and nurses have testified that she has eaten thin pudding and jello by mouth. Yet Judge Greer refuses to allow anything by mouth. That is purely withholding food and water and NOT by artificial means.
It is an awful situation for anyone to be in and I feel for you and your family. Everyone must arrive at their own decision. In this case, it seems apparent that a loving family has more at stake to lose than an estranged husband.
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