TERRI and FEEDING TUBE WITHDWRAWL...

[BizNurse]

I have some very strong feelings about this case, as I'm sure most of you do.

I think the Autopsy will show what many of us saw in the films....

What are YOUR thoughts on how Terri's case was handled. Have you seen the nurses who cared for her being interviewed? Did they ADVOCATE for her when she was alive as they SHOULD have??

Linda/CMAS, BS, RN

[cassioo]

I think it's a family issue that went too far and was probably about the money and who got it (mostly lawyers).

I haven't seen the nurses interviewed wouldn't it be a HIPPA violation for them to discuss it without consent? and who's going to give that consent? If the husband did the parents would be in court again and if the parents did the husband would.

I feel for the other patients and families that were at the same facility. Saw a story where one person wasn't at the bedside of their family member when they died because they were stuck outside with security.

[1mg.epi]

I feel as if the husband was correct in his assessment. Every court felt the same.
I think the mother and father were very wrong to draw in the politicians and president. Terrie was bulimic which caused her heart attack. I think most eating disorders are developed due to child/parent interaction or control issues. I think the control issues continued to the point that the husband had to put his foot down and take full control, almost to the point of being extremely rude to the parents.

And as cassioo said, I felt sadness for the other families at the facility that many right to life people gave no thought to except their personal cause. Most those people their were pushing their own agenda.

This all may not be true, but it is my opinion.

[BizNurse]

Have you guys heard that when the EMS was called after the heart stopped they suspected foul play because of red marks on her neck? The post or autopsy should show more....

Yea, very sad that her family who had been by her side while her husband was with his common-law wife of ten years and two kids weren't allowed to be with her as she died...

Funny how two doctors could see two different things in an examination. I worked in neuro and cardiac for more years than I want to remember, and I have no doubt that Terri was NOT in a persistent vegatative state.... Those with a VS can not smile or respond at the appropriate times when questions were asked...

NOT sure about how the Nurses who spoke did so, but one had copies of her personal assessment notes on Terri for the year (or parts of it) that she was the nurse on the case... and it showed how she reponded to them.... and as recent as two years ago she spoke in simple words such as pain, yes, hello.. \

SAD the husband was allowed to stopp all therapy a few years ago to where she died contractured....

Linda/CMAS, BS, RN

[Night Angel]

Hell no they didn't!!!!!!!! I am so upset by this gross act of abuse, I can hardly see straight. The selfish bastard should've given her to her parents and gotten on with his life. He and everyone involved in starving Terri to death should burn in hell. Please excuse my lack of tact. There is no way in the world that a breathing human being should be starved to death. It is just barbaric. A whole new can of worms has been opened. My heart and prayers go out to Terri's family. May God see them through this horrible injustice.

[smbrn]

Has anyone seen the position statement by the ANA on this? It is despicable. It talks about patients at "the end of life" even though they MUST know that prior to the withdrawal of enteral feeding and hydration Ms Schiavo was not at "the end of life". They claim Ms Schiavo was in a PVS as if that was a foregone conclusion. Her status was in dispute and several prominent neurologists testified to the contrary of what the ANA says is fact. Naturally they sided with the husband, instructing nurses that it is their duty to give even substandard nursing care if that is what the legal guardian wants. Ms Schiavo died with severe contractures, missing teeth and a bedsore; all signs of serious nursing neglect. That is of no importance to the ANA. The legal guardian reigns supreme! So much for nurses as patient advocates. They did have something cheerful to say on their site. They have received a letter from Donald Rumsfeld regarding nursing care of imprisoned Iraqi terrorists. Perhaps if Ms Schiavo had been in an Iraqi prison the ANA would have been more concerned with what kind of nursing care she received. Unfortunately for Ms Schiavo her crime in the ANA's eyes was to be profoundly disabled and unwanted by her legal guardian and for that the ANA goes along with the death sentence by starvation for her, with nurses at her side!

[Jamielj]

[ QUOTE ]
Night Angel said:
Hell no they didn't!!!!!!!! I am so upset by this gross act of abuse, I can hardly see straight. The selfish bastard should've given her to her parents and gotten on with his life. He and everyone involved in starving Terri to death should burn in hell. Please excuse my lack of tact. There is no way in the world that a breathing human being should be starved to death. It is just barbaric. A whole new can of worms has been opened. My heart and prayers go out to Terri's family. May God see them through this horrible injustice.

[/ QUOTE ]




.com I completly agree....this really bothers me

[smbrn]

I am still so upset about this whole issue. I emailed Barbara A. Blakeney at the ANA about the position statement she wrote on Ms Schiavo's tragic case. The utter lies they told! Michael Schiavo couldn't have written a press release more favorable to his side in this. I also emailed some disability-rights groups to alert them to the ANA's position. As people on this site may know, several organizations, including Not Dead Yet and the ARC filed amicus briefs supporting the continued enteral feeding of Terri Schiavo and were and are extremely upset about the court ordered starvation of Ms Schiavo. Did anyone hear that lawyer Felos at his press conference just after Terri's death? He stood there and described her extremities "mottling", how cold they had become, just prior to her death. What business did he have witnessing and apparently touching Terri's uncovered, dying extremities? Is that "death with dignity"? The presence of your husband's lawyer who fought to have you put to death and incidentally ate up all the money a jury awarded for your care in legal fees while you lay neglected in a hospice? The whole thing is so upsetting. One might have hoped for some credible direction from the ANA on this, but of course not. Too busy playing politics to worry about real nursing issues. Despicable!