So Sorry...Question about the Schiavo case.

By removing the feeding tube does she feel any pain?

I have searched the other threads but i have not found info on wether or not she feels pain.
A lot of people in other boards are saying that removing the tube is like torturing her to death. Is this true or are they just making this up out of nowhere?

Any answer is appreciated.

I asked my doctor (strangely enough, a Republican in favor of removing the tube) last week and he has said she is in a vegetative state and would have no knowledge or feel any of the pain you or I would feel. It's just not there.

they say she doesn't feel the pain, if any. I think that actually, because she lacks a cerebral cortex, the pain, if any, doesn't register with her to the point it is painless.

If she were a criminal condemned to death her end would come with more compassion and speed than slowly starving to death. Even if she feels no pain, her husband and parents, her nurses and everyone else close to her, certainly do feel pain and loss and will agonize in their own measure as she slowly slips away. If the intent is to end her existence mercifully since she has no life to live, why not spare those around her the pain of watching her waste away?

The State of Florida will show more compassion to Jessica Lunsford's killer than it will the Schiavos and those close to them.

and, point my finger at the GOP, and specifically Tom Delay and Bill Frist for it having to be like this.

Dr. Kevorkian is looking more and more like the good guy these days.

Technically, her nerve endings would still register pain, BUT, seeing as she has no cerebral cortex and her brain has atrophied and most of her brain tissue has been replaced by spinal fluid, she would not know pain was occurring and would not really feel it.

Short, simple version? She would not feel a thing because she is incapable of knowing that she is feeling anything.

Thank You for your answers.

It happened to my mother. She was given ample morphine and wet swabs for her lips... Hospice is a wonderful organization. The provide dignigty in death and comfort.

The played my mom's yanni cds around the clock, massaged her to make her comfortable... etc.

--you could put her hand on a stove and she wouldn't feel it, is my understanding.

http://endoflifecare.tripod.com/Caregiving/id90.html



Will the withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration lead to a long and painful death?

No. For patients who are at the end of life, death normally occurs within 3 to 14 days after artificial nutrition an dehydration is stopped (the time varies depending on how debilitated the patient was when treatment was discontinued). Reports based on the observation of unconscious patients indicate that the process is quite peaceful, and no evidence exists that they are aware of the process. Conscious patients who are elderly or neurologically impaired usually will slip quickly into a coma (a sleep-like state that is inherently free of pain) and become similarly unaware.


And here is a study done based on hospice worker's experiences with it.

http://www.nhpco.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3840&openpage=3840

Nurses reported that these patients “chose to stop eating and drinking because they were ready to die, saw continued existence as pointless, and considered their quality of life poor.” Survey results indicate that 85 percent of these patients died within 15 days after stopping food and fluids. The quality of death among these patients, as rated by the responding nurses, was eight on a scale of zero (a very bad death) to nine (a very good death.)

...that if/when a feeding tube is removed, morphine is given to the patient.

feels pain. My sister was in a similar condition. We were told they do a test to see if they experience or react to pain. They put ice water into the ear canal and watch for signs of eye movement.

All I know is what I was told by my sister's doctors back in the early 90's. I'm curious to see if anyone else knows if they still use this method or if it's changed over the years.

Since no one has ever been known to come back from a state similar to Terri's sufficiently to relate what he or she was aware of or able to feel, we can't be sure. Speaking only for myself, it's a risk I would simply not be willing to take.

when we cut them open in the "cleaning" process? (as if they are somehow 'dirty')

The conventional wisdom is that they do not. I know not if this is true but if it is, given the fact that fish do have rudimentary but functioning brains, one would be hard pressed to claim that an organism with NO operational grey matter would have any more susceptibility to
pain. (When Jesus fed thousands with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, did he disembowel them first?_
:eyes:

Her upper brain...the part that controls all the functions that make a person a person...talking, hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling, thinking, reasoning...are surrounded by fluid...(check the CAT scans, there are several DU strings with Terri's for you to look at)...her upper brain is no more, it's fluid. All that is left is her lower brain...the cerebral cortex that controls the breathing, heartbeat and primordial functions.

If you were to attempt to feed her food orally right now, she couldn't chew or swallow and would suffocate. If you attempted to give her water orally, it would go directly to her lungs and she would drowned.

The torture is leaving this woman's pod going while the rest of her died years ago.

This is oversimplified and knee-jerk emotions based on the fundie right's belief that they ARE god and you aren't. They know better and you don't. They know black is white and lies are truth. Believe them and give up your own identity.