If you were in Terri Schiavo's shoes, what would you want done?
 

Seriously.

Drop the political party shit and answer the question honestly.

If a dozen or more doctors declared all your higher brain functions to be zilch, would you want to be kept alive as a vegatable?

I sure as hell wouldn't.

I would be dead......and would thus not care.

Dead is......Dead.

if i'm not in a condition to pull my plug myself, then i want someone to pull it for me.

/double meaning?

this underlines how important it is to have your papers in order. We all don't want to think about these things, but it's important to have these directives in place. Had she had a living will all this would not be a question.

Health Care Directive

PULL IT!

Pull the plug and then, come back as a ghost and slap my parents silly...

I've already had long conversations with my hubby about this one, and I've got an appointment with an attorney to carve it in stone.

I absolutely, positively, do not ever want to be kept alive artificially. I'm ok with emergency CPR, and I'm ok with "heroic" measures to save my life, but if that life has to afterwards be maintained by a machine, I don't want any part of it.

I'm thinking very seriously of having a close friend, one whom I trust implicitly, to be the one who administers my living will... While I trust my husband, with my life and my death, I also know that times like these can sometimes cause the most even-keeled person to act selfishly in a moment of panic, rather than selflessly in the interests of the person whose life is at stake.

Seriously, nobody here can put themselves in Terry Schiavo's shoes, so i don't accept the validity of the question.

Have another poll. Seriously, would you personally remove her feeding tube?

Yeah, no machines for me. Nothing extreme, I'll let nature take its course, especially in cases of Coma or brain damage, things like paraysis and wicked diseases like CP, Parkinsons, etc. scare me too.

That's easy. Yes. If I knew that's what she wanted, I could indeed remove her feeding tube personally, even knowing that it would absolutely mean her death.

gather my family, and friends who want to say goodbye. and pull the plug.

If I were in that situation, comatose, irreparable brain damage and no future but laying there I would prefer death.... however, breathing on my own and starving me is barbaric and I would hope the doctors would euthanize me.

That's me personally.

To turn this into a political issue is pathetic. So according to this party.... if I can't pay for healthcare then aw well, but if I am in a coma with no hope, my family has no right to pull the plug and they go bankrupt. Hmmmmm sounds like a winner to me.

"Yes. If I knew that's what she wanted, "

I'll ask again, would you remove her feeding tube?

nope, i wouldn't. not until after i tried to find some way to end her life more humanely. but the right won't let us.

Let's try flipping it around Matthew. If a loved one looked you in the eye once and said they did not wish to be kept alive after seeing this case on the news, and something was then to happen to this loved one that placed them in a vegatative state, could you pull out their feeding tube to honor their wish?

I thought I answered that.

Yes. Yes. Yes. I would remove her feeding tube. As I hope and pray someone would remove mine should my wishes ever be ignored and my life sustained artificially.

I'd like the tests to be run.....all of them. I can pay....

I'f I'm braindead...pull the plug or tube...else keep me alive.

Who knows what therapies may become available.

Don't forget to drop the political party shit and answer Honestly

Let's try answering the question, then flip it around on me. I'm more than happy to answer yours, i know my answer. I'm not trying to back you into a corner. As sure as you are of yourselves, it should be a relatively easy question to answer, if it's not, why?. Your question is cake, i just won't oblige you if you won't do the same for me.

Bryan Dhai - how do you know "that's what she wants"? Are you privy to some info the rest of us aren't? You did say that's the only way you would do that.

pull the plug...i wouldn't want to live as a veggie or as a quadripalegic for that matter, and this is why i'm so grateful for being fully functional, anything on the level of said ailments...i'd rather die.

'RDR4EVR FOR PREZ!!"

"and this is why i'm so grateful for being fully functional"...

i'm confused.

Pull the damned plug.

About what?

I don't personally know that's what she wants. But (1) if I did, and (2) it were my place to make such a decision, then my answer would be yes, I could be responsible for her death by removing her feeding tube.

More specifically,

If you're asking whether or not as a healthcare provider, could I pull a feeding tube on Ms. Schiavo now, after all the controversy, then the answer is still yes.

As a married woman myself, and with several years of healthcare work behind me, I am reasonably comfortable with the assumption that her husband is far more likely to be aware of her wishes than her parents. I know very few people for whom talking about death and dying... especially their own death and dying... with their parents is not exceptionally difficult. Even when its the parents who are trying to discuss their own arrangements, its a difficult thing for parents and children to discuss between themselves. My own parents know my personal wishes, but that's because I'm perverse that way... I don't give a shit what causes them discomfort, the decisions about my body, my health, my life and my death are too important to leave it to them to decide.

I learned from one of the most amazing women I have ever had the honor of knowing, my hubby's stepmom, about how to live and die on my own terms, and how important it is to do that, and not accept any compromises. Rachel was an absolutely incredible person, and I still miss her dreadfully. But I wouldn't trade a second of the quality time we spent together during her last days for even a few more minutes if it meant that her wishes were being disregarded.

Keep me alive as long as I can breath on my own, so long as I am not a burden to my family. I have arrangments already made out so my wife and parents don't butt heads (not as if they would have otherwise). I don't want anyone responsible for taking my life unless it is necessary. As someone who has been in a coma, I can tell you that the dreams and thoughts are there.

about Rdr4evr being fully functional.


Not to sound too insensitive, but i call bullshit when i see it. I'm sure your stepmom would be proud of you using her death to add validity to a internet argument. If you can't show me the parallel between "the most amazing woman you have ever met"'s death, and Terri's situation, than the comparison is inane.

I would not, as I am not in a position to know what her wishes were. If I were in her husband's position, or her parents', as hard as it would be, and had never heard a word from her about the subject, I would not let a loved one who might as well be clinically dead continue to "live." I would not want my family to let me continue to live if I were in her situation.


A side note: I would like for everyone to please stop double-posting.

If you have to quote multiple posts, you can click 'quote,' copy the text, use the back buton, click 'quote' again, and paste the previous quote under the new one.

If you think of something to add before another person posts, please use the 'edit' button instead of posting again, especially for one-line posts. If anyone would like to edit their posts to consolidate them and blank out the others and leave a 'double-post' message, I'll be glad to clean them up for you.

I said keep me alive as long as possible, by whatever means possible. When they pull the plug, that's it. There is no coming back, so I want every option exercised. With my luck, they'd pull the plug on the day they find a cure for whatever I had :lol: . So want to be kept alive until science can't keep me alive.

-----

And personally, I think the coverage this case has recieved to be mildly sickening. It seems politicians (from BOTH sides) will take whatever measures possible to avoid tackling real issues. All the handwringing and grandstanding seems really ghoulish.

sorry matthew...you lost me completely in both your posts. what was so hard to understand about what i said? i simply said if i were a vegetable, or even a quadriplegic for that matter, i would rather die. i also said i am grateful that i don't have any such ailments, and am thankful to be fully functional. what's hard to understand?

....that Rdr4evr is fully functioning.

is that your attempt at an insult? if so, i don't know why the need, or how it came about...but it's a rather sad attempt, try harder.

Rachel's death is indeed parallel. She had emphysema, pulmonary hypertension, and lung cancer. She chose to live her life to the fullest without the aid of oxygen, and when the time came, she refused to be on a respirator or have a feeding tube inserted when her body filled so full of fluid she could no longer swallow very well... Her family (her sister and two brothers, all three of whom have the same diseases) fought her, and then us, tooth and nail over every single decision. We had to fight to have a respirator removed after she was hospitalized and her sister told the hospital that Rachel didn't have an advanced directive. Luckily for us, she did have one, and the hospital finally removed the respirator after verifying the document.

The only difference between Rachel and Terri is that Rachel had the foresight to put her wishes in writing.

And to make sure we're perfectly clear, she would indeed be very proud that her life... and death... had such a profound, positive effect on me.

Coma: Exhaust my funds waiting then pull the plug. Been there and it's a wild ride.
PVS: Exhaust my funds on tests & experimental cures. Then pull the plug.
Found on curb: Might just be passed out. Leave me bus fare & your email.

Edit: I'd also prefer a lethal injection. (weird to type that) Faster, possibly less painful, definitely less wasteful. But if it means legal delays then just pull the plug.

From personal experience I know/believe that one can sometimes exist outside of the physical body. What I don't know is how tied down we are to our living body. I would fear that keeping the body alive might prevent the spirit/soul from moving on to wherever it is supposed to go when we die. Therefore I would want to be killed as soon as the doctors said it was pretty much hopeless.

Also I would not want to bankrupt my family in an effort to prolong a vegetable type existence.

NO.....Dont try harder

Unacceptable and worthy of what comes your way....see you in three days

My, but this do get emotional, don't it? Well, if any good at all comes of this, it is to illustrate the importance, to each and every one of us, to put our wishes in writing. I, for one, will be making an appointment with Dewey, Skrewum and Howe, to have my Living Will drawn up.

To answer the question at hand; by all means...pull the freakin' plug. I have no desire to kept languishing as, what is essentialy, a piece of meat. I do not want my loved ones final memories of me being that way. Nor do I want to become a financial and emotional burden.

I've had a living will since 1994, no I wouldnt want to be kept alive by any means at all

I have a DNR and a Living Will, and while I hate tattoos, if it came down to it, I would have tattooed across my chest, Do Not Ressussitate - but of course I'd have it spell checked before I did that...

If it were me in Terri's shoes right now, I'd not want this to have gone on as long as it has, the man who was married to me, has a right to get on with his life, I'm not me anymore. If I were Terri, my parents better hope I not die soon, because I will haunt them from the great beyond for dragging this out, and for not letting m e be at peace

I'd want out... Pull It!

Pull the tube, no doubt.

I'd like to add a note to my let me die statement. I'd prefer a lethal injection to speed things up.

Look: If I were in Ms. Schiavo's shoes, I wouldn't want ANYTHING done. I'd be incapable of wanting anything. I would have no cerebral cortex with which to do any cognition of any kind. Most of us can't conceive of that--we're shown pictures of her "reacting" with "a smile" to her mother, and we think there's a retarded, stunted intelligence in there. There's not! It would be physically impossible for that video to actually be showing what it appears to show. It's a coincidence caught on tape, and that's all.

I find it impossible to have sympathy for the woman, simply because there's no human being over there to have sympathy for. She's not suffering! She's feeling no pain! There's no "her" anymore to have such thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, my heart totally breaks for her parents and her husband for their loss and for what they've gone through since her heart attack.

/threadjack. Were I in a severely and permanently incapacitated state, I wouldn't want artificial means used to extend my life. I don't have that in writing anywhere (except here, now), but I intend to very soon. IMO, that's the best thing that's come out of this whole mess.

ever read "johnny got his gun"?
it's about someone greivously wounded in world war 1 who is kept alilve in the basement of a hospital as a kind of medical curiousity.
the schiavo case seems to me about the technological capacity to prolong physical life well beyond the flickering out of consciousness.
it is about machinery.

i frankly do not understand the motivations of schiavo's parents in this--what they are hoping will happen---whether this whole saga, the whole raft of litigation, is about anything beyond the fact that her parents cannot let go. i feel quite a sympathy for them insofar as i imagine it completely unclear to them, this question of what exactly they are fighting for.

as for political correlates, i cant see any rational basis for linking this case to anything in a "pro-life" position, unless by doing it those who support such a position are interested, for some reason, in making a mockery of their own beliefs. this is not life that is being defended here. this is the maintenance of the minimal metabolic features that define physical life by mechanical means. this is not life.

Lebell, you left "i want to be a political pawn" out of the poll.

I'd voted for plug pullage.

I think she is dead. Once my awareness is gone, I have no need for my body. I'd be ready to go to wherever it is we go.

It needs to be asked, are you being sarcastic based on your previous statements in the other Sciavo thread?

And I must impress once again the importance of a living will. I would not want to be given up on easily, but there is a reasonable amount of time, and a medical diagnosis that would signal to my family to let me go if they love me.

Without doubt, pull the plug.

Though I have to admit that starving to death sends cold vibes up my spine.

definately pull it. Since this has happened I've made sure to tell all my friends and my family exactly what to do. I do not wish to be kept alive by a machine. If it's a coma.. pull the plug. If it's a feeding tube.. pull it. If I'm brain dead.. pull it.

Let me clarify.

If I am brain dead and there is no chance for any awareness and that I've had the opp to express my wishes before injury, I would want the plug pulled.

I feel that with Terri's case, there are serious doubts to her hubbys credibilty and her hubby's doctor's testimony. Like I've said all along (Thanks to my daily talking points memos :p ), I prefer to err on the side of life

pull my plug.

sitting in a bed, grimacing, making involuntary movements which people will think are purposeful and intended is no way to live a life for myself.

I'd have wanted the life support removed 15 years ago.

Pull the freakin plug will ya! Damn how long is long enough! Does this husband and lady have no rights. Why the hell is congress and the Pres. getting involved? It's just really sad that this was not taken care of 15 years ago!

Pull the damn plug. There is absolutely no quality of life whatsoever for you at that point.

Here you go. Go and vote.

If I couldn't live under my own power and my life was limited to making sporadic movements in a hospital bed, I'd unquestionably want to pull the plug and be given a massive dose of morphine.

I think the best thing to come out of all this is that it will spur more people to get living wills so they can clearly explain what they want done should something similar happen to them.

Here's the thing. Whether or not to teminate the life support of someone with no higher brain functions isn't about the person on life support. Everything about that person that made them a person is already gone. They don't exist anymore.

Teminating life support, like everything that has to do with death, is about the needs or the survivors. If I were to be in an accident tomorrow that caused all my higher brain functions to cease, I would be incapable of caring what was done to me. I would want my lifemate to do what was best for her; I would be beyond harm. She's told me that she would not want to have me around as a shell of the person I once was, so for that reason, I would want her to pull the plug on me, solely because it would be what was best for her.

On the other hand, since it's been brought up in this thread, if I were a paraplegic, unable to breathe without a respirator, but otherwise able to see, hear, and think, and thus decide for myself, hell no I wouldn't want life support terminated. There's too much of life that would still be available to me to want to give that up.

One last edit:

The last line of I Never Sang for My Father

"Death ends a life, but it does not end a relationship which struggles on in the survivors mind toward some final resolution...which it perhaps never finds."

This is one reason everyone needs a living will. In writing. If she had....case closed, she'd have been dead for 15 years already. I would be for pulling the plug for me.

For me pulling the plug in this situation 14 yrs and some odd months too late. While I can understand her parents reluctance to let go, I believe its way past time.

In a situation like this I would want my wife to do whatever is best for her and our daughter. If I'm in a PVS, then hell yes pull the plug and get the life insurance, and use it to raise our daughter.

My wishes now are based on what's best for my family, not what's best for me, since I'll no longer exist in any meaningful sense if that comes to pass.

And the government should have no right to countermand my wishes or those of my wife in such a situation.

I wouldnt want to die like that. If they pulled the tube they should also put me to sleep so I dont feel suffering.

Pull the plug, but please, don't pull out a tube and let me suffer.

Just a nice quick shot of cyanide would do fine.

Pull the plug. However, I would not want to die of thirst.... give me an overdose of morphine or something else and let me go!

Agreed Hurricane. Slowly increase the morphine drip and let me go to sleep.....forever. Don't starve me to death or let me die of thirst. Brutal.

pull the plug. my life is over.

Pull the plug. Being a vegetable is nothing I want to suffer through