Do you feel sorry for Terri Schiavo's parents?

I kind of do. Terri is a veggie; however, the parents really need psychiatric treatment. I feel for them and can tell that they are devastated... It seems as though they never came to grips with reality. Sort of freaky--like hording a dead body in your home or something.

She doesn't strike me as the sharpest knife in the drawer and I do believe she is sincere in her concern for her daughter.

That said, I think the father is a son of a bitch and is doing this out of spite for not recieving cash after the settlement, which Michael used specifically for Terri's care and to educate himself in nursing so he coculd care for her.

Right before the tube was removed? I wonder if they are serious or just very delusional?

The father is a son of a bitch.

Losing a child is the most painful and tormenting thing in the world.

Their daughter is dying and they are distraught. The villains here are the Republican politicians who have made this into a three ring circus. The Shindlers are doing what they think is best for their daughter. They believe they are fighting for her life. They have every right to do so. The abuse of power here is on the part of the US Congress and Jeb Bush. One aspect of this tragedy is that in using this for their own political gain, the right has given the Shindlers false hope, thus delaying their ability to come to terms with the imminent death of their daughter.

plenty enough to go around.

Of course you feel sorry for any parent losing a child. But if my loved ones released videotapes of me in this state, I would be horrified.

I don't think Michael Schiavo is a very nice man.

It's about the money to them. The money that Michael spent on her care and did not split with them. They are using their daughter, she wouldn't want all this, she wouldn't want to be remembered for this or have her pictures all over tv.

and don't go off the deep end, getting lying, cheating politicians involved, give evangelicals the call to arms, and lie to the country and the courts repeatedly for whatever selfish reason. I feel sorry that they lost their daughter, just like I would anyone else in that situation, but that's where I draw the line. I feel worse for Michael Schiavo, frankly. He's going to have to watch his back for the rest of his life now, on top of his huge legal bills. Wouldn't surprise me if some fundie freak stormed his house and murdered him and his family because he "Killed Terri". :eyes:

... and who can blame them for that? Their emotions have been played upon by outsiders, who have fed them lies and built upon their natural feelings until theose feelings in no way resemble truth or reality. I cannot help but feel sorry for them, and pitiless rage at those who have used them - as they have used others - for political and ideological purposes.

I cannot image anything worse than losing a child. They lost their child 15 years ago and have never been able to face that. Everyone of us has lost a loved one, and would want to bring them back if we could. We can't and neither can they. Those so called pro-life people should have counseled them to let go and use their time an energy to help and protect the living. Those without homes, without health insurance, etc.

yesterday/today many good people died for george bush`s war and no one says nothing. their famlies right now are crying but no one cares but them.
this very minute somewhere in this country a husband,wife,or sons and daughters are wrestling with this very issue-should i let my/our loved one die but no one cares but them.

and have turned this whole situation into a farce.

The mother in my opinion, is not bright enough to grasp the realities of the situation her daughter is in and is incapable of forming the level of logical thinking required to understand the severity of the damage to Terri's brain. At least, that's how she strikes me.

The father impresses me as a vindictive selfish asshole.

still--Selfish.

Although my parents would probably do the same thing if I were in that situation. Probably not go to Congress or the courts but I feel my folks would do most anything to keep me alive.
I did tell them that if I ever end up like Terri, then just pull the plug.

The nutjob Republicans, their fascist interest groups, and their crazy media are the only people who should be targets of our disappointment or rage or whatever.

You need not take sides in the family battle. You don't need to know the history. You don't need to understand the medicine. You don't need to be a part of their tragedy. You have nothing to gain and nothing to lose.

This should have remained a private and personal issue. Situations like this play themselves out every day, all over the country. It's just so sad that this particular family has been victimized by so many blood-thirsty parasites.

They are narcissists. Pure and simple. It's all about them, not Terri, not her wishes. It's been 15 years...I don't know what their motives are underneath, but it surely isn't pure love.

...because I think the courts should have appointed a grief counselor to help them accept their daughter's condition....years ago! I think they're now being used by the media and some smarmy lawyers and doctors giving them false hope. I think they're being used by the Pro-Life org for the publicity.

even though they are crazy as loons trying to keep this body alive for their own selfish reasons, as a mother with daughters, i ache when i imagine what they must be feeling. who wants to lose a child? if my daughter was in this state, i would let her go, but it would NOT be easy! who wants to not ever touch their baby again? the right thing is to let terri go, but good god, how hard that must be! i can't imagine the frustration they feel losing these appeals one after another. it's a painful thing for all parties involved.

This family took a very private issue and made it a farcical soap opera. Why should I be forced to care about this family? All it does is offers a lesson: make your final wishes in writing. Period.

it will look good in the movie.

blockbuster!!!!!

without sounding harsh, but I feel sorry for them and their total stupidity for allowing themselves to be led around by their noses by the GodSquad.

...the Poodle Press. It's based on reading lots and lots of DU posts, which probably isn't giving me a very balanced picture, either. That "Jesus Christ on a Trailer Hitch" post made me want to go down to Florida and bitch-slap the lving crap out of someone...sigh.

I suppose I should feel sorry for Terri's parents, but on further review of my emotions in this matter, I think the problems I have with my own family are getting in the way. I know my mother would try to keep me alive at all costs and it just makes my blood boil. She is a super control freak and it's killing her that she isn't controlling me anymore. She tried to have me committed to a mental hospital in order to keep some semblance of control over me.

In fact, I think she would love for me to be a paraplegic or quadriplegic at her mercy, which could happen during my upcoming surgery. That would be a fate worse than death as far as I'm concerned: imprisoned 24 hours a day with Rush Limbaugh, Faux News, crazy fundies who think I'm demon-possessed...no way out, no way to shut my ears or eyes. :scared:

If Terri really wanted to die if she were in such a state, her parents should be ashamed of themselves. The only blessing in all this is that Terri isn't aware of what is happening to her. My opinion of Terri's parents has been colored by my experiences, but the truth of the matter is, Terri's wishes are more important than her parents' wishes and I feel they are being selfish by not letting her go.

I don't agree with their position on this matter, but it can't be fun for them to watch their child die.

and will have a difficult time coping--but I think they've made their ability to cope, grieve, get on with life, difficult for themselves. They've lived in denial. They've surrounded themselves with opportunistic people who feed them crap. They've demonized Michael Schiavo. This latest business about hearing her try to speak--if they believe this in their desperation, then that truly is a sad thing. But if it's just another way to manipulate their situation, that is really sick.

As much as it backfired, it's still disgusting that they were used as pawns.

What a sweet guy!

It seems to me they don't know how to let go, and they are still in a deep stage of denial, and that Terri will one day appear to be normal again, even through there have probably be many doctors that told them Terri is veggie and will remain that way.

Losing a child is the hardest thing in the world. I can understand that they are hanging on to hope, any hope. Even if that hope has no basis in reality.
I think that the most unconscionable piece of this whole situation is that they are being used by the religious right for political purposes that has nothing to do with Terri Schiavo. Terri Schiavo, herself as a person. The person they know as their daughter.
I lost a grandchild nine years ago. I would have done anything to save that child up to and including giving up my own life. Not only to save him, but to save my daughter from that pain.
Yes, they are probably in denial, but sometimes life throws such curve balls at you that denial is the only way to survive the pain.

Up until I heard they got themselves mixed up with the likes of Randall Terry.

Up until I heard they got themselves mixed up with the likes of Randall Terry.

Explain to me the humanity of the "husband" getting Terri cremated immediately after she dies, and then shipping her ashes to Pennsylvania to get them interred at a Schiavo plot.

This is the same "husband" that has his own version of Amber Frey on the side, and had two children by her.

BTW, the Catholic Church has clearly stated that the starvation and dehydration of Terri Schiavo is euthanasia!

I just think this whole thing should've remained within the family. By bringing Terry and these other far right people into it, they've turned their daughter into a political football. If the courts said reinsert the tube, then I say go ahead and reinsert it. As it stands now, I say let the woman die in peace, but leave the fundamentalists out of it.

This bullshit of giving the husband absolute rights over everyone's wishes when there are facts in dispute regarding the spouse's wishes about being kept alive has got to go!

Particularly bothersome is how this pro-death Judge Greer has ordered the immediate cremation of Terri after she dies. What's wrong about conducting an autopsy to resolve a couple of issues: was Terri really in a vegetative state, and is there any evidence that Terri was physically abused in the past?

I agree with you that it was shameful the way some politicians have tried to exploit this tragedy, but at the same time, there were politicians that have upheld the law even when they disagreed with the outcome of the litigation.

are willing to prostitute their religion as well as the sanctity of their child's death in order to gain publicity and to make a busk. They are sickening! And I don't believe they ARE catholics, in a true sense. They don't even understand the definition of "mortal sin" and are now trying to use "communion to subvert a court order'. If they were devout Catholics, they would be familiar with "spiritual communion" and not misrepresent their religion for self gain!

That's the official Vatican newspaper!

Vatican Issues Third Intervention Against Forced Euthanasia of Terri Schiavo

VATICAN — Following on the heels of two public statements by another highly placed Vatican official, Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has spoken out against a US judge’s decision to permit the starvation of cognitively disabled Florida woman Terri Shiavo.

<snip>

The bishop said, Mrs. Shiavo, “should be considered a living human, deprived of full conscience, whose juridical rights should be recognized, respected, and defended."

Sgreccia noted that, “the removal of the gastric probe from her, in these conditions, could be considered direct euthanasia, because it is an integral part of the way in which Mrs Terri Schiavo can be fed and hydrated.”

Bishop Sgreccia said: “As far as we can see, prohibiting someone access to food and water represents a ruthless way to kill that person. We feel it our duty to affirm that such a decision goes against the rights of Mrs. Terri Schiavo and therefore constitutes an abuse of the juridical authority.”

http://catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=108&art_id=27849

And there is a great article by a Dominican who argues the reverse. I was raised a Catholic and it is only recently that the Church is touting this and it is presumably because they throw their lot in with the fruit loops who are anti abortion!
And who the F are they to talk to us about our judicial system? Render to Cesar what is Cesar's. This is none of their business!

There are no doubt many Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist ministers who would say the same thing regarding the behavior of the fundamentalist protestants involved.

When the Catholic church starts making US law you may have an argument.

Michael Schiavo is not Scott Peterson.

He was not carrying out an illicit affair behind his pregnant wife's back, nor did he murder his wife, despite the hysterical hyperbole being thrown out there these days.

Tell you what. You get into the same situation Michael Schiavo is in, walk a few hundred miles in his shoes, and then you judge him.

that make me uncomfortable. I think the mother never could face the tragedy. The father comes across as an a-hole. I don't understand the brother and the sister. I think that due to their inability to accept this and let go, that the entire family became mentally ill. When you read the court documents from the court appointed guardian, you see how disturbed they are. They testified that if Terri became diabetic and developed gangrene, they would amputate all her limbs to keep her alive. I don't know, it all seems sick, like something out of a Hitchcock movie. They want to keep her alive for their own gratification, their own need to avoid grief.

I think that's exactly it. Their inability to let go isn't love, it isn't about Terri, it's about THEIR needs only.

I DO feel sorry for them, as I feel sorry for anyone suffering due to attachment and clinging to illusion.

sw

I understand their pain, but lying and defaming their son-in-law and bearing false witness to get their way is not a pity-able stance.

but after hearing some of the things they have said about Mr. Schiavo and most recently what they have said about the justice system I have no sympathy for them now. BTW, Mr. Schindler said that there is a tyranny in the judicial system and that all judges want Terri Schiavo dead.

They claim they have faith, but if they did, they would want Terri's soul to be with her maker! He's been telling them loud and clear IMO for 15 years he wants Terri by his side!

They seem to have accepted long ago that their daughter was in a persistent vegetative state and would never be coming back. They encouraged Michael Schiavo to move on with his life and welcomed the people he dated into their home. When they did not receive what they thought was their share of the money from the lawsuit thats when things went downhill.

It's hard for me to understand why they had accepted her condition and all that diagnosis brings with it back then but now claim, after significant further deterioration, that she can communicate, see and react to her surroundings.

I also read a letter on one of the many "save terri" sites that the father had written a few days ago. At the end of the letter (full of what I now know to be lies) he made the point that they were not wealthy people and had no organization giving them financial help with all the lawsuits and didn't know how much longer they could go on. A blatant lie and for what reason, donations?

After reading that any sympathy I had for them as grieving parents is gone. To use grief as a reason for this type of behavior, in my mind, does a disservice to people who are truly grieving a loved ones illness and passing. I can't imagine how the grieving relatives of the other people in the hospice, where their daughter, is feel about this display of grief and all it has brought to the end of their loved ones lives.

Yes, I feel sorry they are losing her.

I don't feel as sorry that they lost their fight if they had knowledge of and agreed to intervention that they knew was highly political after spending a good per cent of their life fighting their son-in-law.

They are either innocent in their passion or they made a decision to use and be used in nasty political machinations that contributed to the great divide in our country.

I'm sure I will know how to make the decision in the future when we know more, should we choose to follow it, which I predict we will, because of the extraordinary measures the Republicans went to to use this politically.

They have made this into a political thing. I think they like the publicity. I also think they plan to make a lot of money from a book and a movie. They are evil and vicious people - typical republicans.

Being a mother of 2-adult daughters and the youngest was an anorexic when she was 15-years old. He was 125-lbs and before we realized what she was doing, she was addicted to her anorexia and went down to 81lbs. We were told that the possibility of her dying was high. My entire family took on the battle to save her and she learned to overcome her anorexia but not without heartache and a whole lot of tears. I have deep sympathy for Terri's husband and admire his strenght to fight for Terri and her wishes.

These religious fanatics spout their bible verses yet they actually care little of Terri or Michael. The Schindlers are just a means to an end for them and the Schindlers and their Brother counselor appear to be more on an ego trip than any fight to save Terri.

Terri's brother claims that the family is not allowed to be at Terri's bedside, yet Michael Schiavo has said that Terri's family were welcome and requested to be at her side during this death watch. As a mother I do not understand why Terri's mother is not beside her, instead of racing from one mike to another and from one court house to another.....the rest of the family seem very capable in handling the lawyers and the courthouses. If she in fact does think that Terri does actually feel and senses her presence, why would she not want to be at her daughter's side to comfort her?

Why does anyone care if Michael has Terri cremated? It sounds like those that disagree with cremation will also use this against Michael Schiavo. What do the Brother and Terry Randall want to do, parade Terri Schiavo's body around the country and testify to one and all.