"Lisa Ann" <[email hidden]> wrote in message ...
Quoted message said:I'm not speaking for Peter, but...it wasn't the people who disagreed
with *him* who he was disparaging, but the people who disagreed with
the *doctors*. Mrs. Shiavo was literally among the living dead.
Yep, it's a hard thing where she is concerned. I know she is in a better
place, and the whole thing was pretty needless. I just worry about where we
are going in the road on euthanasia. In actually, it was the morphene drip
that hastened her death, as much as the removal of the feeding tube.
What bothers me is that according to reports, there was a window of recovery
that was missed, and she was allowed to languish. That and the fact that
there was some question as to how she got into the vegetative state in the
first place and how the parents were locked out of some memorials and the
burial raise a flag for me. But, yeah I do think she's better off now than
she was before. BUT, I also think somone like Christopher Reeve is better
off now than he was before. The question has to be: Where do we draw the
line when we have to the technology to keep a person alive vs. quality of
life issues and how well the person has life in them.
Quoted message said:
Again, I speak only for myself.
As for you taking care of your mother...that's wonderful if you can do
that. My family had to decide if my Gramma was going to die of cancer
in a nursing home, or in my aunt & uncle's home. We chose the aunt &
uncle's home, here in Indy. My mother and I came down on weekends to
give them a break. Ironically, the 2 loudest proponents of the nursing
home solution were the 2 who absolutely refused to even visit her, let
alone take care of her. Too bad for them....they will never know how
much they missed. And I thank God I had the opportunity to do what I
did.
Yep, I went through a similar situation. My mom's in her 50s. She's not
terminal, but she has a lot wrong with her. She is legally blind, has
suffered a stroke (but recovered), is a type 1 diabetic, and suffered a
broken hip. She languished in a nursing facility, so I decided to take her
home. My family gave me much grief, even though they rarely visited her. I
refused to let my mom languish. We are still moving along, and I have hope
for a complete recovery for my mom. But according to my family's morality, I
was "in the wrong", because they told me I wasn't "facing facts". They would
have rather I had her in a nursing home and forgot about her. I felt as long
as she wanted to be home, then it was doable.
My mom is in no way as bad as Terri Schiavo. But, I do worry about the moral
bar of society, where it's almost becoming a "sin" not to euthanize someone
with health problems. I'm wondering where we will draw the line. Mrs.
Schiavo was obviously brain damaged, but so are a lot of people. The
question becomes, where we draw the line to ease their pain and allow them
to pass without wallowing in pain and suffering. What concerns me is that
decision was taken away from her blood relations against their wishes.
It is a sad situation all the way around. The only lesson each of us can
come away with is to have written notice of our wishes in a similar
situation.
Quoted message said:
Mrs. Shiavo undoubtedly died a horrible death...but as most
neurologists will tell you, that death started years before the feeding
tube was removed.
Sometimes, this is what love is; doing what you don't want to do,
seeing what you don't want to see, because this is what the person who
is dying would want. It's hard.
What I resent about Mrs. Shiavo's death....it should have stayed a
family affair. Nothing more, nothing less.
I understand completely. In my case, if I thought my mom would have received
better care in a home, I would have left her there or placed her in another.
But from my experience, she is much better off in her own home.
Politically if anyone is wondering, I consider myself a moderate, however
with government cutting of programs that allow for home care, I lean toward
the liberal/left end of the spectrum. But, obviously, I leaned toward the
conservative viewpoint in the Schiavo case in general.
I think neither side of the political debate is spot on these days. I just
worry about a general feeling that it is better to terminate the lives of
the ill or physically disabled, and that concerns me deeply. We aren't there
yet, but I fear for what the future holds.
Larry
