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Mar

17

The U.S. Federal Government Acts to Save Terri Schiavo

Posted By: 'Okie' | 11:14 am — 3/17/2005 | 1 Comment See comments below:

[Update: 1:27 pm]
From AP on MyWay.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – The state House passed a bill Thursday that could keep Terri Schiavo alive, less than 24 hours before the severely brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube is scheduled to be removed.

The Senate began debating a more limited version of the bill as lawmakers rushed to beat the scheduled removal of Schiavo’s feeding tube.
(…)

A little progress. Waiting for action from the Feds, now! (db)

[Update: 12:25pm]
Not good!

Reid Stalls Federal Protection Act (Schiavo Bill)

Senator Jack Reed, we’re told, is stalling on HR 1332. The Incapacitated Persons Legal Protection Act. If you had a notion to explain how this protects every incapacitated American and is a very important and wanted protection, you can do so with the following contact details:

[Heads up: Drudge]
From Netscape News:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House of Representatives stepped in with legislation to delay removal of the feeding tube, possibly as early as Friday, from a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband has been given permission by a state court to let her die.

The House acted late Wednesday evening after a Florida appeals court refused, earlier in the day, to block the removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube.
(…)
Senate Republicans are introducing a separate bill to give Schiavo and her family standing in federal court, and they hope it can be debated on Thursday, a GOP aide said.

Under the House legislation, a federal judge would decide whether withholding or withdrawing food, fluids or medical treatment from an incapacitated person violates the Constitution or U.S. law.

Looks like our elected representatives at the Federal level understand the gravity and potential for harm that is represented by allowing Terri Schiavo to be “euthanized” via starvation without having a prior directive by Terri, to deny herself medical treatment or long term care should she become incapacitated and be unable to give consent. I sure hope that the Supreme Court will back them up!

We don’t have a U.S. version of the Groningen Protocol just yet, but court decisions that side with the positions of the “Right to Die” contingent will create one via establishment of legal precedents. And those are extremely hard, maybe even impossible, to get rid of once they are in place. (db)

[Update: 11:30 am]
Just had the opportunity to read the entire Fr. Robert Johansen article at NRO and it is almost unbelievable what has and has not been done to/for Terri Schiavo since she was originally incapacitated. Not only that, the “expert witness” used by plaintiff Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband, in his quest to have her “killed” is a noted supporter of the “Right to Die” movement. Read this section, it is totally insane, then go and read the whole thing. God help us all! (db)

Dr. Cranford was the principal medical witness brought in by Schiavo and Felos to support their position that Terri was PVS. Judge Greer was obviously impressed by Cranford’s résumé: Cranford travels throughout the country testifying in cases involving PVS and brain impairment. He is widely recognized by courts as an expert in these issues, and in some circles is considered “the” expert on PVS. His clinical judgment has carried the day in many cases, so it is relevant to examine the manner in which he arrived at his judgment in Terri’s case. But before that, one needs to know a little about Cranford’s background and perspective: Dr. Ronald Cranford is one of the most outspoken advocates of the “right to die” movement and of physician-assisted suicide in the U.S. today.

In published articles, including a 1997 op-ed in the Minneapolis–St. Paul Star Tribune, he has advocated the starvation of Alzheimer’s patients. He has described PVS patients as indistinguishable from other forms of animal life. He has said that PVS patients and others with brain impairment lack personhood and should have no constitutional rights. Perusing the case literature and articles surrounding the “right to die” and PVS, one will see Dr. Cranford’s name surface again and again. In almost every case, he is the one claiming PVS, and advocating the cessation of nutrition and hydration.

In the cases of Paul Brophy, Nancy Jobes, Nancy Cruzan, and Christine Busalucci, Cranford was the doctor behind the efforts to end their lives. Each of these people was brain-damaged but not dying; nonetheless, he advocated death for all, by dehydration and starvation. Nancy Cruzan did not even require a feeding tube: She could be spoon-fed. But Cranford advocated denying even that, saying that even spoon-feeding constituted “medical treatment” that could be licitly withdrawn.

[More blogging about Terri]

The Anchoress has this reaction to reading in Fr. Robert Johansen’s NRO article that Terri has never had an MRI or PET scan.

It is unthinkable and immoral – beyond words immoral – to starve this woman to death when she hasn’t even been accurately diagnosed! And you must read the whole thing – the description of Terri being punched between the eyes by one doctor during his “examination” made me want to hit something, myself. There is evil being perpetrated against this woman. She is MUCH sinned against. I’m so angry right now, I can’t see straight!

Captain Ed knocks it out of the park with this question and observation:

Why would a doctor get up on the stand and claim a diagnosis using tests that aren’t designed to support it? Perhaps the doctor has an axe to grind and sees Schiavo’s case as a way to promote his personal views. That appears to be at least likely, as Dr. Ronald Cranford has testified in a number of such cases, always on the side of PVS and the removal of care. It turns out that Cranford, who works at the same university hospital where the First Mate got her pancreas transplant, also has a long history of advocating euthanasia for a variety of other causes:
(…)
Up to now, my inclination was to consider this an unfortunate case of dueling experts and bitter family feuding. Now I think this is something more. The people who want the feeding tube pulled all seem to have vested interests outside of Terri’s well-being — Cranford wants to push an agenda for euthanazing people who he finds inconvenient, and Michael Schiavo appears to have a long history of neglect, or at least disinterest in pursuing the proper testing for his wife’s condition.

Stay updated at the Schindlers’ (Terri’s parents) web site, Terri’s Fight. (db)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 17th, 2005 at 11:14 am and is filed under Focus On Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.  |  Print This Post Print This Post  |  Email This Post Email This Post

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  • http://DawnsEarlyLight.blogs.com Bill Rice

    Congratulations to you on your Hugh Hewitt post! It was great to meet you in person. You are following an important issue that is coming now quickly to a head. Life is important, it should be valued by any society that is worth living in.

    Keep up the good work.

    Bill