Terry Schaivo

[Stanhead]

Well, a persons heart can stop beating and their brain will remain active for about 2 minutes. Until the time that they become brain dead, they are still, in a way, alive.

 

With her it was the other way around. Her brain had lost many of its functions, yet her heart was still beating. But in my opinion, she was dead before the feeding tube was removed.

[Zmid]

It has happened in the past, but then it gets to the stage of asking how long a person should be kept on the life support machine. Indefinately? I think that's a bit harsh on the thousands of people on hospital bed waiting lists.

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No, I was referring to why it was that the life support was simply turned off rather than giving them a lethal injection which would kill them painlessly. I do agree that you cannot keep a person on life support indefinately.

 

I take no offence.  I dont even want to live here, its so screwed up.  I would rather live in Canadia.

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Or maybe even Canada. :P :D

[wraithguard01]

I think that she was still consious. However that is not the point I am going to argue. My grandmother is on a feeding tube, and she can't talk, however, her husband (my grandfather) is a very noble man, and did not divorce her after she had her stroke. (Granted she is not a vegetable, but bear with me, I'll get to the point in a second.) Unlike Mr. Schaivo, who was with another woman for the longest time. He was the one vouching for her tube to be removed. [He's going to hell for that one. I don't know how he lives.] Anyways, right before she died, she was told, "If only you could say you wanted to live, you could." Right as that was said, she started yelling (or grunting) very loudly and persistantly. I don't know what (excuse me let me check the acceptable language thread...) person thinks that means she isn't consious, but I'd say that that is one heck of a coincidence if she didn't mean to do that... Idiot supreme court justices Those darn supreme court justices need to get there act together...

[Adras]

I take no offence.  I dont even want to live here' date=' its so screwed up.  I would rather live in Canadia.

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Or maybe even Canada. :P :D

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Thats my word for Canada. Canadia =)

 

My step-dad was saying that what the media does is search through hours and hours and hours of tapes of her to find just the smallest signs of her moving and/or making noise or motions. Not sure if this is true (knowing the US media, it is), but you have to take that into account also.

[Faust870]

The fact that she was over capacitated and could not even form audible thoughts should definatly say something. The fact is that people need to die. By keeping people alive you are denying nature and what is natural. It is a function that is and will always be until the end of time.

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I honestly don't think I could have said it any better myself..

[NinjaSalad]

I don't mean to sound crewle, but really, how trivial is this compaired to the other major issues going on right now, YOUR WHOLE COUNTRY IS BASED ON LIES!!!!!! YOU HAVE INVADED ANOTHER COUNTRY IN THE NAME OF PEACE? and yet again the B man gets in...........

[Peregrine]

I don't mean to sound crewle, but really, how trivial is this compaired to the other major issues going on right now, YOUR WHOLE COUNTRY IS BASED ON LIES!!!!!! YOU HAVE INVADED ANOTHER COUNTRY IN THE NAME OF PEACE? and yet again the B man gets in...........

 

While I agree on the triviality of it (how many of the fanatics demanding she be kept alive would've been as concerned about all those other forms of death?), not only is it a hijack but it's wrong.

 

I'm not sure how you can say that just because the Iraq war was an unjustified one in your opinion, our entire country is based on lies. How do our actions 200 years later change what our country was based on?

 

Your focus on the war is a bit disturbing. There are a million more important things going on, and you only distract attention from the present government's other flaws. Besides, the only reason it was a bad idea was because of the poor planning involved. With a competent leader, Iraq would've been an entirely justified war.

[Fishystick]

Terry's death was plain murder. Who has the rights to pull the plug on another human's life? No one has, especially not by starving them to death. She had been kept alive for several years on that machine, why stop now? Did she tell anyone to kill her? As far as I know, she didn't. Now I can understand that living like that would be horrible, but if I had to rely on a machine to keep me alive, I wouldn't want anyone to shut it down and starve me to death, what a horrible way to die.

[Peregrine]

Terry's death was plain murder.

 

Murder requires that the victim be alive. Terry Schaivo died 15 years ago, ending "life" support just ended an illusion of life.

 

And even if she wasn't, murder isn't the right crime. You don't have a legal obligation to keep someone else alive. At best, you might have a case for negligence, but not murder.

 

She had been kept alive for several years on that machine, why stop now?

 

Only if your definition of "life" does not require more brain activity than the average rock.

 

Did she tell anyone to kill her? As far as I know, she didn't.

 

Except for her husband, who has the authority to make that decision. It was her stated wish that she not be kept alive in that situation.

 

Now I can understand that living like that would be horrible, but if I had to rely on a machine to keep me alive, I wouldn't want anyone to shut it down and starve me to death, what a horrible way to die.

 

Good, then when we're debating your life, we can use this quote to keep you alive. But you are not her, and your preference for yourself is irrelevant.

 

And since she had the brain activity of a rock, it isn't relevant how she died. For a death to be horrible and painful, the victim has to be capable of experiencing pain.

[Adelbert]

Alright, I'm to lazy to continue anything. I do not agree, but I give up to your incredibly strong facts.