If you were in Terri Schiavo's condition...

[elperromagico]

Poll question: If you were in Terri Schiavo's condition...

[Modem Butterfly]

1. Terri's Schiavo is already gone

It's just that her body hasn't figured it out yet.

I think her husband must be the strongest person in the world for standing up for her wishes all these years. I hope my partner is as strong if this happens to me.

[Stop_the_War]

2. She is in vegetative state...meaning she is not conscious or aware....

[Raised_In_The_Wild]

6. She certainly looks conscious and aware. I don't believe she's vegetative!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. She looks conscious and aware to you? Really?

I've seen video footage of her. Gurgling is the most anyone gets out of her. The fact that her mother claims that gurgling sound is "giggling" doesn't change the fact that she doesn't respond and that the vast majority of doctors that have actually treated her do not think she has any hope of recovery.

[Maru Kitteh]

14. I've seen lots of vegetables - she sure didn't look like one to me either.

I find it telling that hubby was all filled with love and hope for recovery UNTIL he won the settlement. He completely creeps me out. In her situation, I would hope the courts handed legal control over to people who really loved me, rather than someone who wanted to starve me to death.

Either way, those living wills are important, whether you have a pot to piss in or not. Make three copies and give them to your closest trusted friends and family.

[Walt Starr]

18. I find it even more telling that her parents didn't even visit her until

after the falling out with Michael over the settlement and they started getting paid by the anti-choicers.

[Walt Starr]

17. What are your medical credentials

It's been proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law that she is in a persistent vegatative state.

[elperromagico]

7. But, if somewhere down the line you might be in her condition,

what would you want?

It could happen to any of us. Take away the legal terminology and just express a gut feeling.

[stray cat]

3. I'm not sure if starving to death is dying with dignity.

It is an easier argument if someone is on life support. Removing a feeding tube is starving someone to death. Its a tough call.

[elperromagico]

4. Being in a vegetative state where you can't communicate

with your loved ones isn't exactly living with dignity, is it?

[stray cat]

13. No but if we're going to kill her lets just do it actively

It is more humane and perhaps more honest to give her a dose of potassium chloride and kill her outright. I am also not convinced from the pictures that she is in a vegetative state and there appears to be some controversy by doctors as to her exact condition.

[BOSSHOG]

5. My family knows my wishes

I put them in writing. Let me die. My father died last year of Alzheimers. I DO NOT want any one to have to care for me. I value the lives of and the financial security of my loved ones. When my quality of life goes, so should I. My family will grieve and then get on with life. I do not want some religious zealot with no financial burden connected to me to force my loved ones to keep me alive because of their "values."

[Modem Butterfly]

8. Make sure you have it in writing

My mother says that she'll comply with my wishes, but I suspect that, if it came down to it, she would hang on for far too long. I put my wishes in writing and gave my partner durable Power of Attorney when I was diagnosed with lupus. That way, should it come down to it, my wishes won't be argued with.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. I voted the first option, but "Other":

I wouldn't want to be the center of a politically driven battle by ultra right wing idealogues and would want my wife to make the best decision possible for me.

[mattclearing]

11. I voted not sure.

I don't know what happens when the lights go out. If her brainwaves are reading nil, then maybe it's time. But I don't know, and it would be presumptuous of me to judge.

I know what I wouldn't do, though, which is try to keep her alive against her own reported wishes, and the wishes of her family.

That's just not any Governor's business.

And it's hypocritical when that Governor is a defender of the death penalty.

[Danmel]

12. It depends, of course

If I were truly vegetative with no hope of a meaningful recovery, I'd want to die with dignity. If there was hope I'd be able to recover with some real function, then I'd want to try to live. This case is so difficult- I've been in this situation with a loved one, my mother, who had a series of strokes and was in a vegetative state. Just before she died, she had a few moments of awareness- she was able to squeeze my hand in what appeared to be a responsive manner. (let me just note that she was 76, with a history of heart disease and that she had had prior stroke.

We spoke with the neurologist who basically told us that she might regain a semi consciousness, but that she would not ever be able to speak, converse, write, communicate in anyway other than perhaps a blink or hand squeeze (which they couldn't really tell us whether it was real responsiveness or just a reflex) , that she wouldn't be able to walk, swallow, watch TV, or care for herself in any way with respect to hygiene or personal matters and that she wouldn't be able to read or engage in any of the activities she loved and that brought her enjoyment.

TO me, the worst fear was that she would regain just enough awareness to know that she was trapped in a useless body without the ability to do anything about it. She did not improve though and slipped into a coma. She was not on a vent at any time.

She had a living will and we ended up just refusing medical treatment for pneumonia, and they just provided palliative care. Fortunately we did not have to decide to remove her feeding tube or hydration.'

I can tell you that I know and that she had expressed to me on many occasions that she did not want to be sustained on machines if she had no hope for recovery. She even spoke to me about assisted suicide in the event she was in intractable pain. Thankfully she wasn't in any pain, but it was very hard.

I don't know what I would do if I were a relative of Terri Schiavo. I don't know what her wishes were and I don't know what her real medical situation is. It is a tragic situation that is made worse by people like Jeb Bush and people who really have no business interjecting themselves into cases who exploit the situation for their own reasons.

Long answer but it is not an easy thing.

[davsand]

15. For me it comes down to my family's well being, too.

I have always said I do not want to be trapped inside a body that is inoperative. I have also always maintained that the tubes and machines (when there is no hope of my recovery) are NOT to be used. I can't imagine being sentient yet trapped in a body waiting for death.

Something that also comes up for me is the fact that my husband and my daughter would, essentially, be frozen in that space of waiting for me to die. I would not be there for them but emotionally they would be caught between the point of loss and the time to re-assume living. That is not anything I want for them.

I told my husband last night that if he is ever faced with that issue with me that he should kill me off (without getting caught) and then cremate me.


Laura

[bunkerbuster1]

16. put me down for not sure.

I've made it clear to my family that I don't want to be kept alive by extraordinary means if I'm brain dead. But had I not done so, it's hard for me to say.

I'm going to admit something incredibly petty and small minded about myself--I'm rooting for the husband in this one, because I want to see Jebbie smacked down. Ok, not just Jebbie, I've heard Sean "Bukakke Boy" Hannity whining about this case, so I want hubby to win so that Sean will be upset as well.

To quote Bugs Bunny: "Ain't I a stinkah?"

Seriously--Terri's gone, frankly it doesn't really matter much if she's kept alive a few more years or not.