Terri Schiavo Remembered

That she was not given the same rights as a criminal is horrifying. Is this another case of judges making the laws instead of interpreting the laws.

This is not a case about the right to live. God willed that Terri die. Man stepped in the way and KEPT her alive by artificial means. She told her husband before her death that she would NEVER want to be kept alive like that. Her parents didn't want to believe science and wanted to keep her alive artificially via feeding tube--that's where this battle began.
A spouse has the right to make medical decisions, that's one of the benefits of marriage. Also, as a registered nurse w/ a significant work past in neuro and neurosurgery, Terri had NO chance of a normal life or achieving ANY cognitive skills. As a nurse, it makes me very sad to see people, for their own selfish reasons, stepping in the way of God's plan to keep loved ones alive when NOBODY would want to live in that state. Plus the autopsy confirmed she was BRAIN DEAD--and even the senators that fought to keep her alive then regretted their efforts.
It is God that keeps us alive or dead. Man can help save lives... but when one must live artificially w/o any comprehension or thought or feelings... that's NOT the life God intended. We should focus more on treatment for traumatic brain injury and making health care affordable and realistic for people with neurological (and other) disorders. We shouldn't be focusing on some poor woman that suffered a stroke secondary to an eating disorder, had NO chance of survival, and was finally allowed to die naturally as God intended her to do.

"Plus the autopsy confirmed she was BRAIN DEAD--and even the senators that fought to keep her alive then regretted their efforts."

I dont know if the clinical term brain dead applies, but the autopsy only confirmed what the CAT and EEG had already shown - that her brain was swiss-cheesed. Half the weight it should have been, severe damage both in structure and in cellular functioning. That brain was a write-off.

I think that once it got political, few really cared about Schiavo herself. She was just a card to play in the endless battles.

RE: Not a case of Right to Live? Die naturally as God intended? Search "Jill Stanek, BAIPA and Obama" and you find more of this attitude letting life die as the "Culture of Deaths G-d" intended it.
Yet, I'm so glad to know that we have a current era Prophet of G-d in our midst. Thank you John for letting us know that G-d wanted Terri dead. I'm guessing your prophetic abilities also tell you that anyone that has ever been saved by a medical procedure and/or equipment; G-d also wanted those DEAD. Silly I admit. Sorry for the sarcasm. ie... So Granny couldn't feed herself anymore? You think G-d wants her dead? WOW! The One True Creator of life gave us amazing abilities to save life, yet your position seems to say all of those are, us acting to usurp His will. I disagree. Like so many, you put a pass/fail line on life regulated by your perception of its "quality". I witness Terri's ability to enjoy balloons and follow them with eye and head movement. That's NOT Vegetative! So her connection to the outside world was not good enough for you or her hubby. That don't mean she should die; certainly not a horribly extended suffering death like dehydration.
With your experience, I see you have little faith of future developments in medical technology, capability and "majic". Majic/witchcraft is what much of todays procedures would have been considered years ago. Developments in the last hundred are fascinating; guess you think there are none new to be made in the next 40yrs? Terri's life might have been instrumental in those new developments, but now, thanks to the un-American ACLU and activist judges, she's dead. Culture of Death, I don't participate in.

Lowell--I have to say, I agree with John. I'm glad you enjoyed Terri watching the balloon, even though the autopsy confirmed she had no eyesight, no hearing, no level of thinking, merely a brain stem allowing her to breathe and nothing more. Don't be fooled by that video where she appears to watch the balloon--she had no ability to respond to any stimuli, let alone the baloon. None whatsoever. Plus she had permanent contractures in her arms--so if she had any sense of pain (which she didn't), her life was miserable.
There's a big difference between "Granny can't eat, let's let her starve" and let's keep a woman in a permanent vegetative state alive forever when she didn't want to be that way. I suggest that the next time a Terri Schiavo incident occurs, that you might offer up your retirement savings (which would probably cover less than 6 months of her care) and home and take care of her indefinitely.
Doesn't anyone seem to care about all the sick people in this country that can't afford their health care or take care of their problems? Their are people living in far worse conditions than Terri that will die miserable deaths simply because they can't afford their care. It's like FRC made this huge stink about Terri--while the whole time, she's looking down at you all and thinking "What fools you are, why won't you just let me die?" What about the rest of the people in the world that need help? Why Terri? The only possible cure for Schiavo would have lay in the hopes of stem cell transplants--which FRC has fought against.
AS a Christian, all I see in FRC are the farocies of the past. You chose to fight so much to Terri, who had no chance of a future. But how much do you fight for, or even dish out change to, that schizophrenic homeless person begging for money in the streets? I can't wait until the democrats wins this election, and FRC is removed from the Oval office's speed dial. I hope that FRC will look back at their support for Bush--who FRC felt was some sort of Christian man and going to bring moral change to this country--and realize that they were wrong. This man has ruined our country, bankrupted its people, and has the blood of 4000 US soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed by mistake, on his hands. I don't know about you... but when I look at the life of a comatose woman versus the lives of thousands of innocent people, I can't help but think how misguided FRC and it's support of the Republican party has been. There's always hope for change, pray about it. I believe if you truly open your eyes you that support FRC will see the error of your ways.

To Lowell: After seeing one clip, in Schiavo's many years of living in a vegetative state, which "suggested" that she was actually following a balloon... do some RESEARCH, like FRC claims to be based on. Everyone agrees that the clip was hand picked out of a billion and in reality she didn't respond to anything. Dr. Bill Frist, the conservative senator who fought for Teri, afterwards regretted what he did, and he, too, acknowledged that she didn't have any capacity to respond to the balloon or ever recuperate. Like Raven said, her brain was truly swiss cheese. I'm glad you enjoyed watching Terri, stuck in a vegetative state, seemingly watching a balloon. I'm sure you really get off on the simple things of life. I'd also like to know how much money, or help, or services, you offer to people like Terri--or better yet, people that aren't as incapacitated as her, people that actually could recover and experience life and spread God's love... if they only had the money to pay their medical bills.
But my question is this--is this what you want for yourself? Is this how you want to live if you suffer a stroke? Wouldn't you rather meet your maker? I would. Maybe you wouldn't. But then again, I have my wishes in writing, and the records (DPA) remain with my husband. If you want to live forever in the immortal realm of Earth when you are cognitively dead, please send me your contact info, and I'll ensure that this happens.
As precious as life is a gift from God, we all know also know that life can be kept alive indefinitely, life can be created in a petri dish, life can be created and frozen in a freezer to await (hopefully) implantation one day. Life can be inhibited by birth control, or using a condom; life, in the age of the miracles of science you refer to, can be created and terminated. That's a fact. And weather FRC wants to support that notion, that is what ALL of research and science supports.
The question is--what does God want? Does an individual have a right to choose (before or after the incident) how they have to remain if incapacitated?
I really think that with all the problems in our Society, that Terri Schiavo (I'm sorry!) is minuscule. It's as if she became the poster child for the right to life... but yet, according to her husband, she didn't want to live that way, again, would you? None of you ever knew her. You just chose her to be your symbol for "life." According to doctors, she'd never recover. And according to the autopsy, FRC was wrong.
FRC actually seems to be wrong about a lot of things. Tony Perkins, the chief here--is he a physician? Scientist? Does he have any background in clinical research? Even a masters degreee? He does not. In fact, based on what I have read, he was a marine, and most likely has murdered numerous people in war... people, who unlike Terri, were actually functioning and alive.
FRC fights against abortion, and for gay people to adopt children in need--but they fight against making health care universal for all. They don't give a dime to help the poor trying to raise their children. All they do is talk. They support the GOP that supports the right for people to keep guns in their homes (and guns... they only have one use: murder). The GOP that prefers corporations and costly health care over anything that could actually help people like Terri.
FRC is misguided, and FRC doesn't even know what Christianity is all about. When those that support FRC finally meet their maker, I'm sure they won't find nearly the warm reception from Jesus that poor Terri did. May she rest in peace.

Lowell:

1. Your attempt at writing is painful to read.

2. Did you notice that you criticised John for claiming to speak for God, and then went on to speak on God's behalf yourself?

3. Medical advances wern't going to do anything for Terri. Perhaps advances in decades could have regenerated the lost tissue, but the brain is more than tissue. When it was all but destroyed, so was Terri. What remained was just a shell with a few automatic responses, and those barely working.

4. My cats can follow hand movement. And when you see videos of Terri appearing to enjoy balloons or laugh at a joke, consider how these videos were made: By a family member who stayed with her almost every day for weeks (months? Not sure) with a camera, waving things around and talking. Then released only the highlights real - the few brief moments when, but luck or sheer coincidence, the random noise inside her head happened to give the appearance of function. What you didn't see were all the hours during which she ignored everything.

5. The dehydration annoyed me. For legal reasons, she had to be allowed to die by dehydration. This meant that none of her organs were usable. What a waste. She could have saved a few others, were the legal framework in place.

If it was Gods will for her to have died when man stepped in to save her, she would not have had to die by mans hands. Is our God no longer in control? How arrogant to think we have the right to choose who lives and who dies and when. The fact that she was breathing on her own and needed assistance in getting her nutrition I believe this would be a clue to what God was choosing for her. We are to care for those who cannot care for themselves, not toss them away because we are burdened by the existence.

Under Texas law, hospitals can cease to feed a patient whose prognosis is so poor that further care would be futile if that patient has no way to pay his or her medical expenses. A baby was pulled of life support under that legislation despite the mother begging to keep the child on it.
It was GW Bush as governor that signed that nice law onto the books.

I am glad I have made my wishes known in writing, to avoid a fiasco like this. I have it in writing that if I ever end up in a situation like this, where the doctors all agree there is no chance for any sort of meaningful recovery, to just let me die already. I do not want to put my family through what Terri's family endured.