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Do you believe it to be Right or Wrong to withdraw the feeding tube from Terri Schiavo...

15 years with no signs of consciousness and on a feeding tube....

Life or Death? fox23news says: "One big worry is that, obviously, she's not brain dead. But is she really in a 'persistent vegetative state'.

She might just be disabled.... the truth is, no one really knows for sure.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler want Terri on the feeding tube. Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her husband wants her to die as this isn't what she would have wanted.

Schiavo's feeding tube was removed and replaced twice previously in recent years -- she went six days without it in 2003 -- and doctors expect her to live seven to 14 days without it.

What DO YOU think?



Mike.

Whilst I do feel she should be allowed to die, It should be a more sympatetic, humane method, rather than starving her to death...

Difficult topic, and God save me from ever having to deal with this personally. I side with the husband and leaving her off the food and water. I think it would be a horrible way to die, (thirst and starvation) but I know she could live the rest of her life in bed, unable to do anything, unable to interact with humans and I think it might be worse - for the living though. It is a selfish notion, but I would hope people wouldn't spend 15 years fighting to keep me a veggy in a bed. That is no way to live. Regardless of how you feel, if you don't have a living will, get one made up right away. If you are in her shoes, you don't want the living having to fight for your life or death - when they could possibly know if you had only documented it.

Nibblet99 wrote:Whilst I do feel she should be allowed to die, It should be a more sympatetic, humane method, rather than starving her to death...

Actually I was wondering if they could give her a "lethal injection". That way it seems more "humane" than having someone starve to death.

I do side with the husband as I cannot imagine being in a bed like that for 15 years... I did read that the husband was at her side all this time. I can see the parents side, no one wants their daughter to die; but I hate to say it, but maybe after 15 years it is time to let the suffering stop and allow the family to reheal itself again.

Mike.

absolutely with the injection.can you imagine the uproar if they starved a child molester or serial killer instead of lethal injection.but also keep in mind that as long as she is alive the good doctors can charge somebody a consultation fee,even if it is just a discussion over a cup of coffee about her case.

after reading more about the whole situation i think its wrong what they are doing to the poor woman.

first off shes not brain dead, shes aware enough to know the people arounnd her and at least shows signs that shes there. she never made any indication she wanted to be taken off any sort of life support. shes catholic which means if asked shed say no, saying to take her off and let her die would be a sin.

more importantly shes starving dehydrating to death, thats a horrible way to let someone die in front of you. its not like shes on a breathing machine thats keeping her alive. she can breath on her own and only needs food and water simply because she can not swallow on her own.

and they claim she used to be able to but without proper rehab shes not gotten any better and fell worse. imagine yourself in that situation. your there in your head but noone wants to help you physically come back. and its certainly possible to recover from something like that. and shes not in any pain, again shes only on a feeding tube. a feeding tube is not a heroic meassure to keep someone alive, its merely giving them what they need so they can live on their own.

her husband who now has a new family hes with, will not divorce her for over 10 years because she(and he as her husband) stand to collect a mulit million dollar settlement. had he truely not wanted to be with her, he would divorce her and wash his hands of the situation and leave controll in her familys hands where it belongs. hes in it for the money so they are letting a woman die a slow horrible death because of it.

/end rant

Putting everything else aside, is there anybody here who, after 15 years of existence in a vegetative state, would want to continue that way with little or no hope of ever having any kind of quality life? Personally, I would wait anxiously for the words from somebody, "it's OK, we love you, and it's time to go."

thats a personal opinion and cant be used to judge how she feels at all. she may be very happy shes alive and can see her family noone knows. the family knows her best and would know how she would feel about being alive or let die.

what about someone in a coma should they be let to die what if someone is paralyzed from the neck down. thats a meger painful life should we starve them off as well? what about christopher reves, he was living a painful horrible life, yet a lot of people considered him a hero for it, did anyone think to starve him to death? its very hard to draw a line and say a person isnt alive enough to be allowed to live or to 'let die'.

for me, if the person is alive breathing on their own and in good health they should be given the means to stay alive. a cure can come along, or the body can heal itself more than people think.

starving someone to death should not be an option in any situation ever in this country im sorry.

oldnslo wrote:Putting everything else aside, is there anybody here who, after 15 years of existence in a vegetative state, would want to continue that way with little or no hope of ever having any kind of quality life? Personally, I would wait anxiously for the words from somebody, "it's OK, we love you, and it's time to go."

iwannadie wrote:thats a personal opinion and cant be used to judge how she feels at all. she may be very happy shes alive and can see her family noone knows. the family knows her best and would know how she would feel about being alive or let die.

what about someone in a coma should they be let to die what if someone is paralyzed from the neck down. thats a meger painful life should we starve them off as well? what about christopher reves, he was living a painful horrible life, yet a lot of people considered him a hero for it, did anyone think to starve him to death? its very hard to draw a line and say a person isnt alive enough to be allowed to live or to 'let die'.

for me, if the person is alive breathing on their own and in good health they should be given the means to stay alive. a cure can come along, or the body can heal itself more than people think.

starving someone to death should not be an option in any situation ever in this country im sorry.

But I thought... 'UWANNADIE'... right?

lol.... long story behind my name, but part of the irony is i want to live even in that situation like her id want to be given the chance to live. hell ive been 'dead' 3 times already so ; )