The Seattle Times: Nation & World: As governor, Bush signed right-to-die law — I’m listening to the right-wingers on radio and TV go bonkers over the Schiavo woman who is now the most important thing on right-wing talk radio. This is so much so that they must be losing their audience to it. It’s a mania. Meanwhile, Bush appears to be a flip-flopper on the issue as outlined in this Seattle Times story. And, of course, none of these talk show hosts had anything to say about this situation with the baby or any other similar cases. Everything is focused on this one lone situation with Schiavo. Talk about a herd mentality. Does anyone know which talk show host first got on this topic? I’d be interested.
While Congress and the White House were considering legislation recently in the Schiavo case, the Texas law faced its first high-profile test. With the permission of a judge, a Houston hospital cut off life support for a badly deformed 6-month-old baby last week against his mother’s wishes after doctors determined that continuing life support would be futile. The baby died almost immediately.
“The mother down in Texas must be reading the Schiavo case and scratching her head,” said Dr. Howard Brody, the director of Michigan State University’s Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. “This does appear to be a contradiction.”
More on the baby killing here.
Something smells with the Schiavo thing. The Schindler family was on Fox News and they seemed to disagree with statements they should have agreed to.
I would have kept Congress and the president out of it. In fact, I’m surprised George W. got lured into the quicksand.
Someone independent should have been appointed to oversee her health. But I think the severity of her condition is not being accurately reported.
I hate all of these high profile fiascos where 2 sides are trying like used car salesmen to lie and deceive people into their point of view.
I have a feeling that the Terry Schiavo parents have a vendetta against the Michael Schiavo guy for reasons outside the scope of the whole issue. But maybe I am wrong. I don’t trust anything I hear on this.
I haven’t caught G. Gordon Liddy’s show in a while, but I would hope he is saying something different. I have heard him advocate prescribing heroin to terminally ill patients to totally ease their pain. I would also hope that he sees the gross infringement on state rights in this case.
Liddy was a lawyer, O’ Rielly was a teacher.
I am sad for the family losing their daughter.
I feel worse that her family is dishonoring Terri’s wishes.
I am disgusted by these Right to Lifers making a cause celebre of her.
I am horrified at ALL the politicians who decide that they had any right to intervene in such a personal matter.
As of this morning, the score is 22 Judges are in favor of respecting Terri’s wishes and 1 Judge for the parents. This includes 3 Trial Court Judges and 20 Appeal and Supreme Court Judges.
I used to think I could trust my wife to do the best for me if I was ever in a similar situation. Now I have put it in writing so all the world may know. My worry is that even that document may be challenged.
May peace be with you Terri.
The case of the baby is quite different than the Schiavo case. The baby was on life support. Schiavo is not. The only support she needs to live is a feeding tube. She breathes on her own. The whole case is heartwrenching. I understand the husband’s point that he is trying to carry out her wishes but I also see the parents’ point of view. They are willing to take care of her. The saddest part of the whole thing is that some people in this country are going to be happy when she dies later this week.
As for talk radio. They beat every issue to death. It doesn’t matter how petty or stupid it is. I stopped listening years ago because I got tired of the days and days of harping on the same issue. I think that talk radio has passed its prime. It is going to suffer a decline in the coming years. How many shows can you listen to that babble endlessly about the same thing? Satellite radio is going to give people limitless choices to listen to. No single host is going to be able to maintain the audience that Limbaugh, Stern, and Hannity do today.
I never thought I would count myself as a fan of NPR, but I find myself listening to it more and more (when I’m not using my Dell DJ). At least I don’t have to listen to the hosts constantly schilling for Corti-Slim or some other such lame product or service, or some moron caller sucking up to the host. I get sick of NPR too though. They have a knack for accentuating the negative aspects of every story. If you listen too much you’ll end up going to your doctor for some anti-depressants.
I understand how hard it would be to watch someone you love die. It is absolutely heart-breaking.
But what I don’t understand, is why are people (her parents) not respecting this woman’s wishes? Part of loving someone is respecting their choices. Just because you do not agree with them, doesn’t mean you have the right to override them. Doing that is a selfish choice, not a loving one.
The only debate is — who is the worst of the carrion-eaters circling around this story: self-righteous neo-cons, certain they’re the leaders of the Earth; religion freaks, already convinced they’re saviours of some kind; or the just plain opportunist TV talking heads and their editors who measure each others’ view-minutes with no concern for quality or ethics.
I’d lean towards the last — as being the worst. When they get together for a martini after work, I don’t doubt they sneer equally at the reactionaries they pimp for — and the public they mislead.
This is one area where I vehemently disagree with the Right. The government has no business getting involved in this case in any way. This is between the husband and the kids. Euthanizing someone after 15 years in a coma, when all doctors say that the person is in a vegetative state, is the humane decision.
I think this is the nail in the coffin for Senator Frist.
In fact, both of the leaders in the Senate are retarded.
He gives a speech saying “I looked at the tapes, and it seems to me [Schiavo] is not in a vegatative state.” Is that tele-diagnosis, or tele-quackery?
A couple weeks ago he talks about getting AIDS from sweat and tears. George Stephanopolous asks him point blank “You’re a doctor, and you think someone can get AIDS from tears and sweat?” and he sits there twisting in the wind. Eventually he says “the level of HIV virus in tears and sweat would be very tiny…” Not exactly split-second thinking. He’s a surgeon, for heaven’s sake.
YOU’RE A DOCTOR! We expect you to be a scientist. To tell it like it is! “Give it to me straight, Doc.” And instead you can see the wheels turning in his head as he thinks “I want to be President. So bad. How can I not piss off the luddites who are my only hope of getting elected.”
When he was elected Majority leader, everyone lauded his credentials: his extensive medical experience, his tenure as an HMO executive, his trips overseas to do charity surgeries. I had high hopes. But with high hopes come high expectations, and now his political tin ear sticks out like a sore thumb.
The texas baby “decision” was a law written in to let hospitals make a financial decision, easy. The baby had no hope, but was 100% there, mentally. Just not big enough lungs, evidently not a candidate for lung transplant because of the small chest area, yada yada. But, the baby was a fully functioning human, except for the life support thing, oh, and he wasn’t white….and, his parents didn’t have a lot of money to fight it, nor private insurance.
The brain dead woman (and her brain has shrunk, she has no capacity of “quality of life” in any sense of the word, she’s less functioning than the baby was…..so, don’t qualify it as “she only needed a feeding tube…the baby could interact with his parents, and smile, make eye contact, and react to stimuli). This is the ultimate example of people wanting to cling to life, no matter what, even though, out of the same mouth….the people fighting to save her….also CLAIM to be religious. They do talk about “going to god” and “heaven” and the rich rewards, blah blah. Seems to me, it’s more a sad state of how we have little context to think of death, grieving, and how religion has failed this culture. Instead of accepting life and death, it’s focused only on saving ONLY LIFE.
Why?
Because the religious leaders, if I can use such a broad term, as they don’t really lead, but promote and manipulate. But, whatever, they don’t seem to trust their superior being. They think THEY know better. So here is this woman who had a massive trauma, (god’s will) her brain ceased to work, (god’s will) if not for artificial feeding tubes she would have died years ago (which could be seen as god’s plan) Or, in the religious words, she would have already “gone to the lord”. Evidently……the people heading up this fight to play god….don’t really TRUST in god, or believe in him. If they did, they’d let the poor woman cross that threshold and go on to what waits.
I’m totally confused by all the right-to-lifers….who on one hand, hate medical proceedures that end life, but encourage medical proceedures that prolong life…. but meanwile talk about the glories of heaven, and god’s plan. WTF. What happened to trust in god’s decisions…. what about letting nature takes it’s course? What about letting a loved one go gracefully, and not disrupt the natural order of things?
Nope, I not only smell something fishy…I also see that it’s a HUGE distraction that takes away from our leaders leading, and loses sight of the purpose of government and religion. It’s dividing us — as people — in a debate that has nothing to do with us. Why are we meddling in the PRIVATE lives of one family — a rather dysfunctional one, at that?
Seems self-serving to me. Makes me ashamed and disgusted.
The law signed in Texas was the best that Bush could get, and was an ‘improvement’ over what was there before. One of their legislatures qouldn’t pass a stronger bill more in line with what’s happening with Schiavo. This case seems to have two issues, the right-to-die/abortion/euthanasia debate, and the possibility that the husband is just out to kill his wife, since he’s now living with another woman. This husband never mentioned his wife’s wishes when he sued to get money for her care. And if she never wished to live like that as he claimed were her wishes, then why did he try to get treatment for her for so long?