OT: Game, Set, Match--Legal murder by starvation

[rextorres]

Originally posted by tesco samoa:
is it not his right. He is the husband. As she cannot think for herself.

It is just messy and all parties involved are hurt.

I think I can understand his wishing to end this.

I hope I never do understand.

I think the only issue is she should not have made the bad judgement to have married the guy in the first place or she should have had the good judgement to have written a living will -especially if her husband is truly as evil as her parents say he is. Once you're married, though, - unless you've gone to the trouble to right a will - a spouse is responsible for you in life and death situations and I really don't see what NEW legal rights the parents should be given.

I am going out on a limb here, but it's seems like those that want the courts to step in would be the same ones that would complain about "activist judges".

[Mephisto]

/note to self: Do I really want to step into that messy discussion? Ah, I’m already in! Argh!

First of all on the topic of “starvation”: If you feed the patient with tee or some other liquid (possibly i.v.) and apply a small does of pain-killers starvation is in fact not a painful death. Many old people die this way. They are not forced to starve but they have no appetite whatsoever. The whole procedure is one of the most human ways to let someone go if the person wants to.

This brings us to the next question: Who has to decide if Terri shall live or not. IMHO the only person that can make a decision about this is … Terri. It totally depends on her will. Does she want to live the way she does or does she not?
If I read the links correctly, Terri left no written will. In this case the only decision that would be legal over here is to keep her alive. We don’t know exactly what she wants but if we end her live we can never give it back to her. When in doubt, save a life!

I can only encourage everybody – no matter the age – to make a binding will for exactly this case: When you are helpless and cannot speak for yourself. Find people you trust and give them the right to make decisions. At least write down what the treatment should be if you come into such a situation. Fate can strike you every day…

[primitive]

Had the "pull the plug" clause in my will for a decade already. Put it in when a former co-worker had a close call. He recovered, allthough with some permanent brain damage, before pulling the plug became an option, but things like that makes you think. Death is not always the worst option.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

i have sent an email to two of my area's local newspaper's and a tv station. why? $750,000 trust fund to the husband if she dies, there's evidence that her condition is the result of a beating, her husband is living with his girlfriend and has a kid and another on the way. just in case anyone needs a summary.

[gregebowman]

As one who lives near Tampa, I'm all too well of the Terry Schiavo case. I think the husband is a scumbag who may get off on not letting the parents see their daughter, who is slowly dying. I only hope that some Last minute court process can be created and that Terry can be put back on her feeding tube.

[Kamog]

I don't agree with euthanasia of any kind. If I were the one on life support, I would rather suffer than be dead. Even if the pain and suffering were great, I would still prefer to be alive than dead. Even if I seemed to be a brain dead, I would still want to be on life support, because there is always a chance, however small, of a recovery. Because once they pull the plug and you die, that's it, it's over.

[deccan]

Originally posted by Kamog:
Even if the pain and suffering were great, I would still prefer to be alive than dead.

I realize that this is a very personal subject and I don't wish to be offensive. But I suggest that you try not to say things like this before you've really, really been in pain. But then again, maybe I'm just squeamish.