Will somebody please remove the feeding tube from Terri’s parents? They’ve lost 21 straight court cases now. Just fucking well give up already. Show a little decency towards the memory of your daughter, towards her grieving husband, and towards the rule of law.
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I find it shocking that she seems to be forced to die through starvation.
From what I have gathered she made no previous arrangements. Here in Belgium the euthanasia law could help if she wrote criteria for terminating her life before the accident or if she could indicate her wishes to a third party.
This reminds me to write down my criteria…
Yeah, that’s the way they do it here. I guess Karen Quinlan was the first to win a court case to die, and they just unplugged the life support. They won’t actually take a measure to kill somebody, but they will withdraw the intervention that is keeping somebody alive. In this case, she’s incapable of swallowing, but she can breath on her own, so allowing her to starve to death is the only way.
I believe when Vicki’s dad was dying of cancer and really really far gone, they did the same thing – pulling the feeding tube. They kept him hydrated and gave him pain medication.
If there’s one good thing that’s coming out of this, a LOT of my friends are making living wills now.
Actually, Dad pulled his own feeding tube. Literally. It was almost his last conscious act. His doctor asked him if he knew what he was doing, and he nodded.
It helped that Dad was a doctor himself, and that the medical personnel who attended him in the end were his friends and colleagues.
But you’re right; we gave orders (or Mom did) that he was to be kept hydrated and pain free. And then we waited.