Should the Feeding Tube be Removed? Share Your Vote and Reasoning.

[lawtonfogle]

Should it be removed. Please tell why you voted. I think no because she is not on life support. She is just like a baby who needs feeding.

 

[russ_watters]

I voted "yes", but you do know it was removed last week, right?

 

[lawtonfogle]

yes i do, maybe it should be 'Was it right that it was removed?'?

 

[matthyaouw]

Whut? I have no idea what you are on about.

 

[lawtonfogle]

why yes? Let's discuss this peacefully

 

[lawtonfogle]

i must leave for a while, let's see what happens :)

 

[kaos]

I ve seen the case on cnn. Her eyes are still moving. Is that a reflex or something?

 

[gnome]

There's already an extensive discussion here:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=67115

 

[russ_watters]

I ve seen the case on cnn. Her eyes are still moving. Is that a reflex or something?

Yes. Your eyes will even track objects without conscious thought.

Its discussed in several other threads, but in short, I voted yes because with no higher brain functions and no hope of ever getting them back (that part of her brain is physically gone), she is, for all intents and purposes, already dead.

 

[Monique]

It makes me sick to the stomach to think they would starve and dehydrate someone to death. There are better ways to handle euthanasia, this is downright barbaric.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I agree with Monique - I just think about her parents having to watch this and how horrific and agonizing it must be for them. If she could be euthanized quickly I would be fine with that, but this long, drawn-out process of her death and the whole media circus and the politics/politicians surrounding it is just such a sad and undignified way for a human being's life to end.

 

[Zantra]

I think she should die, but I agree with Monique. They could use give her a drug and end it quickly. But the same people who don't think she should have her suffering ended, also think that it's wrong to kill someone outright, and instead insist on a painful death through inaction.

Kevorkian, where art thou?

I happen to agree that a person who is in suffering and wants to end their own life, should have the right to.

 

[hypatia]

Funny how we can be so humane to our animals and mass murderers, by giving them injections to kill them..yet make others die of thirst.



ps Kevorkian is still sitting in a Michigan jail.

write a note to Dr Jack

 

[Evo]

Lawtonfogle, is your question whether she should be allowed to die or if there should be a more humane way to do it?

I agree she should be allowed to die, I also wish that euthanasia in a case like this would be allowed.

 

[mapper]

Her starving of food or water is fine way for her to go. You could drop her out of a plane and she wouldn't know wtf is going on.

 

[Monique]

you could drop her out of a plane and she would have no clue, not giving her food or water is good enough.

No respect for life.

 

[mapper]

I didnt mean it like that. I have a high respect for life. I was just saying she does not comprehend anything and wouldn't know the difference or what's happening. According to the doc's and her level of brain deadness. Starving her is more hard on the family then her.

 

[Monique]

I understand, but does suffering of family not count? And really I'm not sure how you determine whether someone can comprehend anything, simply by looking whether they can respond. There are instances where people are sedated with muscle relaxers, but are still contious. Doctors are cutting into them while they experience every little bit but they're left powerless to respond.

I am not all that familiar with the specifics of the case, I've seen footage of her state of being, but I'd be careful about drawing conclusions on suffering and contiousness.

 

[russ_watters]

She has no cerebral cortex. Its pretty clear-cut, medically. All this 'err on the side of life' (from Bush) and 'what if she suffers while she dies' stuff is pretty much moot. She can't possibly suffer: for all intents and purposes, she's already dead.

As far as her family goes, sorry, but its not the family that had the heart attack 15 years ago, its Theresa. How this hurts her family is irrelevant.

 

[Monique]

What I find confronting is that it apparently is legal to neglect someone. What's wrong with giving her an injection?

 

[moose]

she will never be normal...honestly
having her on the feeding tube would just be prolonging nothing...

 

[kaos]

What type of testing is required to determine that she is brain dead?

Just curious.

 

[Danger]

I understand, but does suffering of family not count?

I've been steadfastly ignoring this whole case, so the only facts that I really have are the ones that I read here. I'd offered no opinion because I didn't actually know her mental condition. The way I see it, if her cortex is indeed gone, then the effect on her is irrelevant. She has no knowledge of her condition. Her parents deserve to suffer for being so unforgivably selfish in the matter. It's her own family and friends who are being put through unnecessary pain. Give her a needle and let them get on with their own lives.

 

[meteor]

I don't think that she should be euthanized, because even if her brain is irreparable nowadays, perhaps can be repaired in the future with the medical advances that occur day by day. Who thought a century ago that heart transplants could be made until Barnard did the first some decades ago! Even if she declared that she wanted to die, that was only her state of mind caused by the great suffering that she was enduring. There are many people that pass great sufferings and think that they want to die, but they never commit suicide. Is doubtable that if she really had the methods to end with her life with her own hands, she would really do it

 

[Vega]

Her husband is her next of kin. What about his suffering knowing that his wife has been artificially kept alive all these years when she wouldn't have wanted to be? Once she got married, her parents ceased to have the right to direct her affairs. It's not their business.

 

[Norman]

I voted to let her pass away. She has no hope of getting better in the future. What really drives me crazy is the Federal Government stepping into this personal and family issue. I cannot believe they thought it their duty to pass legislation without any discussion between members. If our federal lawmaking body (congress and the president) can be moved to create laws so quickly and without foresight, how easily can they be swayed to pass more unscrupulus laws. I think this is the real danger in this situation. Thanks be to our forefathers for having the foresight to have the overview of the Supreme Court and the whole notion of checks and balances.

 

[Danger]

quickly and without foresight

I'm not going to partake in what is sure to be the following political discussion. It's not my country, and I don't care for politics. (Copyrighted First Thompson Law of Politics: Anyone who is possessed of the sort of mentality that is needed to run for public office is unfit to hold it.) All I want to state from a Canuk perspective is that, with the exception of some malicious manoeuvring, I have yet to see any evidence of foresight on the part of the current administration.

 

[loseyourname]

What I find confronting is that it apparently is legal to neglect someone. What's wrong with giving her an injection?

It's illegal. Taking someone off of life support is not considered euthanasia. Actively taking the life is.

 

[loseyourname]

I don't think that she should be euthanized, because even if her brain is irreparable nowadays, perhaps can be repaired in the future with the medical advances that occur day by day. Who thought a century ago that heart transplants could be made until Barnard did the first some decades ago!

Her cortex is gone. It's not a matter of repairing it; it's been replaced with spinal fluid. The seat of personality that was Terry Schiavo has been gone for years. All that remains is a body with partial brain function and no self. There is no way to restore that. Even if you transplanted a fully functional brain into her head, it would not be Terry.

Even if she declared that she wanted to die, that was only her state of mind caused by the great suffering that she was enduring.

No, it wasn't. She never endured any great suffering. From what the testimony has said, she made the decision after seeing older family members go through long, drawn out deaths. It's undignified and she didn't want that for herself.

 

[meteor]

Her cortex is gone

Not all, most of it, but not all

There's no evidence that she wanted to die, only the word of her husband, a man that possibly abused of her according to this page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiavo

Her parents want that she live. Morally I think that the persons that gave her life should have more power when it comes to decide her future

There is no way to restore that

.
In the article of wikipedia you can read that there are disputes about her real state. I don't think that you're a neurologist, so I'd be glad if some expert about brain in PF could give a more professional assessment