Supreme Court rejects Schiavo appeal

"The court rejected the appeal by Bob and Mary Schindler on Thursday, clearing the way for Schiavo's husband, Michael, to have the feeding tube removed Friday -- 15 years after she collapsed from heart failure that led to her brain damage."

...

"With time running out in the case, President Bush weighed in on the matter Thursday, saying society and the nation's courts "should have a presumption in favor of life" on such matters.

"Those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern. It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed and protected -- and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities," Bush said in a written statement."

I think that this case involves a tad more than just a simple disability.

Edit: I ALWAYS forget a link!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/17/schiavo.brain-damaged/index.html

like with iraqi citizens? like with health care?

so the culture of death is perfectly okay for Iraqis. </sarcasm>

Maybe if they "played possum" and pretended to be in a persistent vegetative state, we'd stop bombing 'em? Just a thought.

Iraq. Afghanistan. 9/11. The death penalty continues. Abortions are on the rise. Every day, more and more people are being pushed into the cycle of abject poverty thanks to a shitty economy.

I want to throw something every time I hear him say that goddamn phrase.

"that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities"

OK Mr.bush, we'll let you keep your feeding tube (phrased so as not to seem like I'm threatening Mr.bush which I would never ever ever do)

& The Supremes were right...to refuse to hear it, means it's not their business.

This is totally a right wing political ploy to keep their fundies stirred up.

have ruled against the Schiavos.

while not actually giving a shit about it.

It seems to me, the people who don't want the feeding tube removed are more comcerned with how her death might impact them. I don't think they're really thinking about her (I'm not criticizing her parents. This has got to be as tough on them, as it is on her husband. I am criticizing those shills on the right who are using this for their own purposes.) Somewhere the quality of life should be more important than the quantity.
If they're TRUE believers then removing the tube shouldn't matter. If she dies, then God is calling her home. If God doesn't want her, she'll live and maybe recover. (Simplistic example I know. But, consider who we're dealing with scrub, scrub II, etc)

edited because my spelling sux

until it's their own time to get the one-way ticket. In a way I have to admire some of those people who refuse medical treatment hoping for the imaginary daddy-in-the-sky to heal them but when they withhold it from their kids, I draw the line. Funny how 'faith' subsumes itself when death is on the line...:eyes:

"Somewhere the quality of life should be more important than the quantity.
If they're TRUE believers then removing the tube shouldn't matter. If she dies, then God is calling her home. If God doesn't want her, she'll live and maybe recover."

My family took both my father and his mother off of life support when it was clear that they were in a vegatative state. It was an awful, sad, heartbreaking decision but it was what they wanted. My father was a surgeon. He knew what it meant to be on life support. I miss him every day (since 1981.)
:cry:

"My family took both my father and his mother off of life support..."

Isn't Terri's family wanting to prolong the feeding, while only the husband is wanting ti remove it?

Here is a photo of Terri obviously responding positively to her mother. She doesn't look all that dead to me.



I'm just saying ... reminds me of the Monthy Python and the Holy Grail skit where the Black Knight tells King Arthur "I'm not dead yet".

Terri is not " obviously responding positively to her mother." Terri has NO cerebral cortex. It has been replaced by spinal fluid. She only has a brain stem. She cannot eat and drink by herself. You can tell nothing from a picture. They editied tens of hours of video to get a few inadvertant reaction shots.

My father expressed his wish not to be kept on life support. He had a massive stroke that destroyed his brain. Why would I want him to be kept on lif support for more than 20 years? He was not there anymore. His kidneys and corneas are providing life and sight to several people right now. That is how one can live on.

My grandmother had a broken neck (car accident). She could not breath without support. She could not eat and drink. She was paralyzed from the neck down. She had other massive injuries. She was an 85 years old.

My family is comprised of surgeons and nurses and physical therapists: in other words professionals who understand medicine and life and life support and quality of life. They also honor the wishes of ther family members not to be kept alive like a vegetable.

edit: Are you prepared to pay for everyone to be kept "alive' for many years? Keep in mind that * is cutting Medicare and Medicaid, insurance covers less than ever before and malpractice suit settlements have been severly limited.

"When a man leaves her husband, and a woman leaves her home" goes the sappy wedding song. What is this "only" her husband? The person she chose to join with, body, heart and soul, is struggling mightly to carry out the decisions that he is entrusted with by their vows and you want to minimize that sanctity with the word "only"? Who else has standing? Would my concurrance take away the word only? How about the doctors that Michael ignored for years as he went around the country looking for treatment for Terri? They think he waited too long. Does that still sound like "only". Here's the proper use of the word "only".

The ONLY person the courts have determined after years of consideration, that has any standing to determine for Terri what is right and best is Michael Schiavo.

This will blow a fundy's mind:

"Hey, you keep talking about this place called heaven, and how great it is. You have elevated this woman to angel status, so why not let her go there and do some good? She endured pain like Jesus, so she deserves a reward, right?"

You know whot? I bet you there are stories upon stories of fundies faced with aging parents, really sick relatives, etc. etc. who quietly wish God would relieve the suffering.

That's my God talking, so forgive me.

It isn't an easy thing to do but the sooner they can find the truth the better for their health both physically and mentally. The difficult part is that their child died before them.

They had more than enough time to prepare themselves for the event.

My sister died last year. I wasn't part of any definite discussion about her health problems but common sense suggested that she wouldn't live a long life. She had two kidney transplants. She had complications involved with dialysis and medication. It had to be a burden for her. As it was it was not the result of her kidney that she died.

As far as our family was concerned the most difficult part of her death was having to postpone her funeral service until my father was well enough after surgery. It was delayed for over 4 weeks.

Big difference in my book.

We all die. Not everyone after a long life.

To force the body to remain alive beyond its natural time is forcing that person to remain a consumer of goods/services. Who does that really benefit? Yep, fucking corporations yet again.

and concern, yet he wants to slash Medicaid. :eyes:

A-hole wingnut fundie/hypocrites like JEB and Shrub.

and interfering your family's decisions. nice.

hey everybody, do yourselves a favor. go into google and get yourselves a living will form and fill it out and sign it, giving copies to your partners, doctors, siblings, kids, everybody. that'll stop this nonsense from happening.

If you want an unbreakable Health Care Power of Attorney that I helped draft for the leading senior citizens' lobbying group a few years back, just email me, and I'll send you the document with instructions on exactly what you have to do to make sure your wishes are not interfered with by any individual or institution.

This is when it's really great to be a lawyer. To be able to give away stuff like this.

Just PM me, and give me your email address. I'll email it to you in the form of a Word document.

The pleasure is mine.

You have to respect the dignity of life to respect the sanctity of like. These degenerate freaks want to prolong the suffering of the clinically-dead and terminally-ill.

It is not the right wing fanatics place to make the decision.

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

edit spelling x(

that spouses give to each other when they marry under the eyes of the law.

There was discussion and a vote in the Senate today demanding new tests, an MRI etc before they pull the feeding tube. They took a voice vote, and it sure sounded like there were no objections, or a few very quiet ones! They announced that the bill was passed, and noone objected.

I don't know how this works. A bill in the Senate doesn't make a law without the Pres. signature, so are we going to have to hear Shrub braging tomorrow morning that he just signed this new law to save this "dear womans life"?

I still think this bill is unconstitutional, the same as the ruling on the one Jeb pushed through in Fl.

I have a living will...JUST BECAUSE OF THE FIASCO CREATED BY THIS CASE!

You should too!

the differences in the House & Senate versions are unlikely to be resolved prior to the 2 week break they are abt to go on. (The Senate bill was specific to Schiavo, while the House bill was broader.) If that's the case, there would be no law passed prior to the expiration of her body.

into what should have been a private family matter, and resolved years ago in the local Fl courts.

According to Drudge, yes I check his site once in a while to see what that slime ball is making up or gossiping about, some senator has call Terri to testify before his committee thereby giving her some kind of immunity from them letting this poor women out of her misery.

A bunch of lawyers, an exterminator, and one Doctor should be able to make an educated decision for sure after they talk to her...AND GET NO ANSWERS!

I can't wait to hear which Senator asked for her!

You know, every time I really think I've heard it all...one of these idiots comes up with a surprise...even to me!

Oh, that's rich. That's just beyond madness.

I really love that one.

You made my day.

This is what his report says Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) has requested Terri Schiavo to testify before his congressional committee, In so doing it triggers legal or statutory protections for the witness, among those protections is that nothing can be done to cause harm or death to this individual. I don't think any judge in his right mind would grant this request though!

and it won't stand a snowball's chance in the Sahara of making legal muster in a court. She'll have the tube pulled today.

their questions?

This could be good. Let them see first hand just what they are messing around with. I doubt that very many of these self important fools know what Her quality of life really is.

This way they can claim to have "tried" but not actually done anything.

In the Catholic Church, it also includes opposing the death penalty.

out there.

Is this code for torture?

May Bush’s next incarnation be as a carbuncle on the ass of a patient with Crohn’s disease.

"citizen's arrest"!

http://www.theamericanvoice.com/

Col. Gritz Will Arrive In Pinellas Park Later Today

Press Release
16 March 2005

TRUE GRIT(Z) RIDES AGAIN: FILES CITIZEN’S ARREST IN SHIAVO CASE

Former Green Beret Commander Bo Gritz is charging-in once again. The 66 year-old retired Army Lt. Colonel with his wife, Judy, drove straight through from their Southern Nevada home to Pinellas Park, Florida in their own effort to rescue Terri Schindler-Shiavo. In his typically unconventional fashion, Gritz is arresting Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer and Terri Schiavo’s estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, plus anyone else who would aid or abet in removing Terri’s feeding tube.

<snip>

The religiously insane are desperate to keep a corpse kicking.

It's not as though every son of a bitch and their grampa isn't weighing in on this issue. I'd say that what passes for "law" in FL does not need the contribution of this idiot to further muddy the churned-up waters!

the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his 'contribution'.

That asshole should be arrested himself.

Considering what happened in Atlanta, I don't think those responsible for courthouse security are going to allow this, and should Mr. Gritz get a little antsy, they might use those tasers on him and his wife, I'd pay a dollar to see that.

It's kind of ironic, a man who felt no compunction about killing little yellow skinned people, is now concerned about preserving the life of a woman who is for all intents and purposes dead. One would think that old Bo might be having some really bad nightmares about his adventures in the jungles of Vietnam.

Let her die with dignity?? What dignity? The USSC and US Congress have turned this woman into a ping-pong ball.