Tag Archives: Terri Schiavo

Starving Patients to Death is Legal in Every State in America

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Opinion   |   Bobby Schindler

On June 24th, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the legally deficient 1973 ruling that a woman had a “constitutional right” to kill her unborn child.

Much of the credit was given to President Donald Trump for choosing Supreme Court justices who properly interpreted our nation’s Constitution. The pro-life community that devoted their time and resources and resolved to upend the law decriminalizing abortion is also due a significant amount of credit. Now, the battle to protect the unborn shifts to the laws of each individual state.

While this monumental ruling will certainly protect countless unborn babies, there currently exists a thriving Roe vs Wade type law that has a similar goal to end the lives of the medically vulnerable, as Roe did on the unborn. This law redefines feeding tubes, which provide a patient’s food and hydration, from basic and ordinary care to medical treatment and artificial life support.

Essentially, the redefinition of feeding tubes went unnoticed and as a result, it is now legal in all 50 states to either deny or remove a patient’s feeding tube – even against the expressed wishes of the patients – directly causing the patient’s death by dehydration and starvation.

In his book, Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, author and bioethicist, Wesley J. Smith writes that “defining ‘artificial nutrition’ as treatment instead of human care was a crucial step in the development of the culture of death.”

According to Smith, as far back as the early 1980’s, bioethicists like Daniel Callahan saw the feeding tube as a serious hurdle, openly stating that changing its classification from “basic care” to “medical treatment” would be “the only effective way to make certain that a large number of biologically tenacious patients actually die.”

Eventually, Callahan’s view became widely accepted. This included a 1986 opinion by the American Medical Association (AMA) that listed feeding tubes as medical treatment instead of a basic requirement for life, fundamentally changing the medical definition of receiving food and hydration by feeding tubes. This new meaning invites all kinds of scenarios that can end the lives of patients who either require feeding tubes permanently or temporarily until they can relearn how to eat and drink.

Take for example, the 2005 case of my sister Terri Schiavo, who needed a feeding tube after experiencing a brain injury and having difficulty swallowing. Her guardian and estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, incentivized by his adulterous affair and also monetarily by the close to a million dollars he would inherit upon Terri’s death, invented a story and subsequently lied to a judge, alleging Terri would rather die than live in in a disabled condition.

This revelation surfaced years after Terri’s unexplained brain injury when Michael conveniently remembered Terri’s desire to die just after she received a million dollar malpractice payout that Michael vowed would be used for Terri’s lifelong rehabilitation.

Nonetheless, the judge ruled in his favor and permitted the removal of Terri’s feeding tube, inhumanely starving and dehydrating her to death. A slow and horrific killing that took almost two weeks.

Indeed, Terri’s case alerted the public that feeding tubes can be removed from a family member – even when someone purposely lies and financially benefits from the inhumane and unjust death sentence. However, 17 years after Terri’s death, nothing has changed as dehydrating to death persons like Terri continues every single day.

Even more, this injustice is worsening because the bureaucratic killing apparatus deep-rooted in our healthcare system saves billions of dollars by rationing ongoing care, making it easy and desirable to kill. Not to mention that, unlike the zeal to protect the unborn, there is no urgency or serious effort to protect our medically vulnerable. Bear in mind, all of this was occurring prior to the medical bullying triggered by Covid-19.  (Continue Reading)

Full Article & Source:
Starving Patients to Death is Legal in Every State in America

I Will Never Forget the Look of Horror on My Sister Terri Schiavo’s Face the Day She Died

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By Bobby Schindler

terrischiavo2On March 18, 2005, my sister, Terri Schiavo, began her thirteen day agonizing death after the feeding tube – supplying her food and water – was removed. Terri was cognitively disabled and had difficulty swallowing and therefore needed a feeding tube. Terri was not on any “life support”, nor was she sick or dying. Nonetheless, she received her death sentence ordered by Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of Pinellas County Florida.

Greer’s order to remove Terri’s feeding tube was in response to her estranged husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, requesting permission from the court to kill his disabled wife. This was after Schiavo began cohabitating with his fiancée and stood to inherit Terri’s medical trust fund, which at the time was close to $800,000.

However, more disturbing was that the judge ruled to kill Terri, despite her mother and father pleading with Schiavo, and the court, to allow them to take her home. In fact, a guardian ad litem urged Judge Greer to refuse the dehydration request. Instead, this legally-required protector of Terri was dismissed from the original case by Greer and no replacement was ever appointed.

March 31st marks a very sad day; and this year, it will be the ten year anniversary of Terri’s death. Rush Limbaugh described it this way, “the day our country hit rock bottom”.

Terri’s case divided the nation and it will be discussed in high schools and college medical ethics classrooms for years to come. It is the anniversary of the death of a young woman who simply had a disability and needed basic and ordinary care to live, and a family who wanted to love and care for her just as she was.

With it being the 10 year anniversary, calls from the media have increased. Most of the articles are excoriating Governor Jeb Bush for his defense of Terri when he was the Governor of Florida back in 2005. But I have noticed one question has been asked more than others – “What, if anything, has changed since Terri’s death?”

Yes, things have changed – they’ve gotten worse. Exactly how many persons are being killed like Terri every year is difficult to know, although I think the numbers would shock us. What we do know is that we have a very active and aggressive right to die movement.

There are many dynamics involved to successfully convince our general public that it’s “okay” to dehydrate and starve a human being to death. If I had to point to one of the major accomplishments, it is how the right to die forces have been able to reclassify feeding tubes as “medical treatment”. However, just as effective is how they’ve influenced the masses to buy into the notion that some persons are in fact, not persons. Consequently, these human “non-persons” have no “value” and can be killed.

This should be frightening to read. But it is true. Even more frightening is how this ideology has impacted and been accepted in our culture, in particular, our health care community.

This, along with changes in public policies, now puts life and death decisions in the hands of physicians, hospitals boards and ethics committees – basically strangers – in the place of family members.

After Terri died, my family’s experience, contesting this powerful right to die movement, led us to establish the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, which seeks to raise public awareness of the looming culture of death, and to educate the public about care potentialities. Most importantly, however, is to help families in situations similar to what we experienced – loved ones in danger of being killed, like Terri.

Indeed, the calls from families for help have increased, and increased significantly, as the years have passed.

Why is this? How has the right to die agenda been able to efficaciously shift our attitudes to the point that is has become everyday practice to starve and dehydrate a person to death. The issue may see complex, however it seems to me that the answer is very clear. It is because they lie.

terrischiavo7

I saw it in my sister’s case and I see it in the stories from the families who call us. And one of the most pathetic lies out there is that killing someone by denying them food and water is a “peaceful” and “painless” experience, and the patently absurd notion that it is a “death with dignity”.

It’s important to differentiate that Terri’s condition, and countless others like her, is quite different from a situation where it may be medically appropriate to withhold food and fluids because a person is actively dying and their bodies are shutting down, no longer able to assimilate their food and hydration.

Terri as seen on day of deathNonetheless, the never-ending propaganda about the peaceable nature of forced dehydration compelled me to make public this image of my sister created from my memory. This (right) is what Terri looked like just before she died. It was horrible to see.

And yet, Schiavo’s attorney falsely told the public during a press conference, just days before Terri’s death, that she looked “beautiful”. This is what they want you to believe, not the harsh truth about the madness of what we permit in the rooms of hospitals, nursing homes and hospices every single day across this country.

These are the hard facts my family and I will have to live with for the rest of my life: After almost two weeks without food or water, my sister’s lips were horribly cracked, to the point where they were blistering. Her skin became jaundice with areas that turned different shades of blue. Her skin became markedly dehydrated from the lack of water. Terri’s breathing became rapid and uncontrollable, as if she was outside sprinting. Her moaning, at times, was raucous, which indicated to us the insufferable pain she was experiencing. Terri’s face became skeletal, with blood pooling in her deeply sunken eyes and her teeth protruding forward. Even as I write this, I can never properly describe the nightmare of having to watch my sister have to die this way.

What will be forever seared in my memory is the look of utter horror on my sister’s face when my family visited her just after she died.

Those pushing this agenda will certainly deny this, they have to. But there was a reason the court ordered that no cameras or video be permitted in Terri’s room while she was being killed. They claimed privacy issues. My family knows otherwise. And they do too.

So when will this heartlessness end? When will the lies end? When will the American people decide this insanity has to stop?

I don’t know. But I do know this – the lies will never end.

Full Article & Source:
I Will Never Forget the Look of Horror on My Sister Terri Schiavo’s Face the Day She Died.

The Market for Brain Death

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From

Life  Issues Institute, Inc

A silent and deadly epidemic is moving across America. No one is broadcasting it. No one is writing about it. Almost no one is even talking about it. But every day in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices across the country, more and more of our medically vulnerable loved ones are being euthanized.

Indeed, some physicians have admitted to this behavior. A 1998 article from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that hastening death is occurring and is not rare. In a survey of 355 oncologists, “(15.8%) reported participating in euthanasia or physician assisted suicide,” and “38 of 53 (72%) oncologists described clearly defined cases of euthanasia or physician assisted suicide.1

Surgery-border Life Issues 092614These decisions are being made by paid medical professionals. And loved ones, to their horror, are finding they’re not even part of the discussion. The patients’ crimes? They’re charged with having insufficient quality of life, being too expensive to keep alive, and being beyond the reach of medical science and therefore beyond hope.

Such judgments may lie behind what seems to be an increase in the “brain death” diagnosis. The difficulty of making a pinpoint diagnosis in such complex neurological matters—and the lucrative financial incentives to harvest organs—will ultimately propel this issue into the forefront of public consciousness and discourse.

Not surprisingly, the current procurement market for human tissues and organs in the United States is booming, driven by insufficient supply and heavy demand. According to The Milliman Report (see page 4), if all 11 tissues and organs could be harvested from a single patient declared brain-dead, however unlikely, the going rate for procurement would exceed half a million dollars. If all costs related to those 11 transplants are counted—preparation, physicians’ services, post-op care and the like—the money involved exceeds $5.5 million.2

It’s crucial to shed a bright light on this menacing darkness, but we need your help. Here are four ways you can assist:

First, we need to hear from healthcare workers and professionals. If you’ve witnessed this happening in your work environment, please come forward and share your observations with us. Perhaps you or someone you know has inside knowledge of the organ donation process as it relates to a situation of euthanasia.

sad-woman-glasses Life Issues 092614Second, we need your personal stories. We’re also looking for family members willing to share healthcare experiences involving a loved one that are similar to what we’ve conveyed in this letter.

Please trust that if you request your identity be held in confidence, that confidentiality will not be violated.

Third, we need people willing to be interviewed on camera. We have a golden opportunity to educate more Americans to euthanasia in our midst. A special episode of the Emmy© award-winning pro-life television series Facing Life Head-On with Brad Mattes plans to feature real-life accounts of people sharing specifics of this American travesty. The program reaches tens of millions of American households, so imagine the number of people whose eyes could be opened. America will be told what is happening to the elderly, the chronically sick and the cognitively disabled. If necessary, we can keep the identity of our TV guests confidential.

Finally, we need your prayers. This is, first and foremost, a battle against powers and principalities. We cannot hope to win on our own. Only the power of prayer will permit us to expose this hideous and inhumane attack on precious human life.

If you prefer not to be on television, we still need you. Our ultimate goal is to build a network of people who can speak publicly about these issues to educate others regarding this horrific, unnoticed practice. This may entail speaking to pro-life groups or others sympathetic to protecting innocent human life; addressing a state legislative committee regarding pending legislation; or speaking to a hospital ethics committee as they struggle with a challenging situation or policy. Our goal is to develop a network of experienced experts who can speak directly to the issues at hand.

This is literally a life-and-death matter. And we who are blessed to have life and a voice must intervene to help those who are in danger of having life taken from them. We hope to hear from you soon.

Reach us by e-mail or visit the Euthanasia page on the Life Issues Institute website.

For more information about this troubling issue, visit www.lifeissues.org and www.lifeandhope.com.

Sincerely for the vulnerable among us,
Bradley Mattes                   Bobby Schindler
Executive Director            Executive Director
Life Issues Institute          Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

1 http://www.hospicep atients.org/questionable-death.html
2 http://publications.milliman.com/research/health-rr/pdfs/2011-us-organ-tissue.pdf

9/26/14

Life Issues Institute is dedicated to changing hearts and minds of millions of people through education. For over 23 years, organizations and individuals around the world have depended upon Life Issues Institute to provide the latest information and effective tools to protect innocent human life from womb to tomb.

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“Poor People” video

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What is happening to our world & the people we once thought we knew?

Who stole our compassion?

Who decided we are expendable?

Who will rob us of our dignity & rights?

Who will pull the plug on us before we are ready to go?

SCHINDLER: My sister Terri Schiavo was alive like Jahi McMath

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Ethics of  brain death declaration

By Bobby Schindler  — Thursday, January 16, 2014

Much has been written about Jahi McMath in recent days. The 13-year-old Oakland, Calif., girl underwent surgery Dec. 9 to remove her tonsils. She was declared “brain-dead” after going into cardiac arrest.

Since that time, experts have opined on the ethics of the brain-death declaration, the family’s decision to transfer her to another facility, and the involvement of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network in helping the family.

First, let me make it clear that our organization does not initiate contact with victims and their families or with the media. We did not contact the McMaths. We did not contact any media outlet.

We were contacted, and we responded. We respond because that is our mission — to provide aid, comfort and support for vulnerable persons, and to speak truth to power. No one faces more risk in today’s health care system than our medically vulnerable.

Continue reading at original source:
SCHINDLER: My sister Terri Schiavo was alive like Jahi McMath

Faceless Hospital Board Relents: Jahi McMath Can Continue Her Fight for Life

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Jahi McMathOminous case is only the latest example of government and hospital boards taking private medical decisions away from families

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 6, 2014 / – The parents of Jahi McMath won a key victory in the right to care for their daughter, Jahi McMath. Jahi entered Children’s Hospital in Oakland in early December to have her tonsils removed, and after complications from that surgery, was quickly declared “brain dead” by the hospital only a short time later, despite what her family was reporting as signs of responsiveness. Since that time, Jahi’s parents have waged a protracted legal fight with the hospital to force them to provide even the most basic care for their daughter.

Over the weekend, the hospital finally released Jahi to her parents, who have transferred her to a facility while they wait and watch for signs of improvement in her condition.

“This is a temporary victory in the ongoing fight to protect the right of parents and families to make private medical decisions for their loved ones,” said Bobby Schindler, Executive Director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, and brother of the late Terri Schiavo.

“Sadly, these cases are becoming more common in our current medical environment, where government bureaucrats and faceless hospital boards, in the form of ethics committees, strip away the rights of parents and families to make their own decisions regarding medical treatment.”

Once Jahi arrives safely at her new destination, her condition will be assessed in greater detail, and medical specialists will begin taking steps to hopefully improve her condition.

“Jahi’s fight has only just begun,” said Schindler. “And there are many other families across the country who face similar battles. That’s why it’s so important that people fight back when an ethics committee tries to take away their medical rights. Given our current medical environment, with more and more emphasis on government, we all have reason to worry.”

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit group dedicated to helping the medically vulnerable who are facing life-threatening situations. For more information, visit: lifeandhope.com

Jahi McMath Supporters Pressing for Release from Children’s Hospital Oakland

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 Supporters of Jahi McMath continue to work for her transfer out of Children’s Hospital Oakland. The 13-year old patient who suffered massive complications after a surgery that led to a “brain death diagnosis” continues to show signs of life.

 

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., December 31, 2013 / — Under the direction of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, numerous organizations and individuals have been working on behalf of Jahi McMath and her family in relative silence for the sake of the sensitivity of her case.

At this point, Terri’s Network, Life Legal Defense, Angela Clemente & Associates, The Wrongful Death & Injury Institute, New Beginnings and others defending Jahi’s life, see that it is now appropriate to step forth publicly and represent the many supporters who have been working tirelessly to obtain Jahi’s release from Children’s Hospital Oakland and transfer her to a safe place.

Jahi McMath has been labeled a “deceased” person. Yet she retains all the functional attributes of a living person, despite her brain injury. This includes a beating heart, circulation and respiration, the ability to metabolize nutrition and more. Jahi is a living human being.

Together with our team of experts, Terri’s Network believes Jahi’s case is representative of a very deep problem within the US healthcare system – particularly those issues surrounding the deaths of patients within the confines of hospital corporations, which have a vested financial interest in discontinuing life.

“Families and individuals must make themselves aware of what so-called ‘brain death’ is and what it is not,” said Bobby Schindler, executive director with Terri’s Network. “Additionally, families and individuals must educate themselves regarding their rights as patients, the advance documentation that must be completed prior to any medical procedure as well as how to ensure best any patient’s rights.

“Every person needs to understand that medical accidents happen every day. Families and individuals must be more aware of the issue of accountability and patient rights.”

We continue to work toward Jahi’s transfer.

~*~

The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was established by the family members of Terri Schiavo to protect the rights of people with cognitive disabilities. It has communicated with and supported more than 1,000 families, and has been involved in hundreds of cases since Terri’s Death. To learn more about the work of the Life & Hope Network, please visit lifeandhope.com

 

Death Panels: To Be Deemed the Most Non-Existent Reality of 2010?

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Gary HarveyOver and over and over again, we hear how fear mongers and wing-nuts are falsely claiming there are “death panels” where death panels do not exist. Keith Olbermann goes so far as to claim that rather than death panels, there are “life panels.” He just doesn’t seem to get it that not everyone’s experience is like the one he had with his father’s passing, where his father’s wishes were upheld. Olbermann just doesn’t seem to get it that some people, instead, get to find out just how real the “death panel” concept is and has been for some time now.

I’m sorry for Olbermann’s loss on the one hand, but quite offended on the other. How dare he suggest his situation is proof there are no death panels and we are all just paranoid, if we say they do exist? (My interpretation of the Politico article, “Olbermann’s father dies” .) Not everyone is privileged to have a son in such a vocal position, or to have everything work out as the person and family wishes it to. There are actually some who find the so-called non-existent “death panels” stepping right into the middle of a fight for life situation and deeming it is time for them or their loved one to be dead.

Let’s talk Andrea Clark down there in Texas a few years ago.

The so-called ethic’s committee decided she was a futile care case and it was time to put her down. Didn’t seem to matter that wasn’t her wish or her family’s wish or that she was fully aware of what was transpiring.

This was the action of a “life panel”?

What about Ted Stith, Sr., from New York?

Ted goes on vacation down there in Florida, has a stroke and, immediately after he does, it is suggested that he be starved and dehydrated to death? Didn’t seem to matter that a friend is reported to have said he was aware, was reaching for water and was trying to communicate. On second thought, I guess it did matter. According to reports, she was banned from his room and the possibility of giving him food or water, even if it was his rightful request to be made, and so he was denied the mere necessities for survival.

This is what Olbermann considers the “life panel” process?

We also have Terri Schiavo, who was put to death by court order. A case where she, a brained damaged but otherwise healthy individual, was starved and dehydrated to death based upon heavily conflicted testimony. Perhaps the conflict itself should have been taken more seriously, as would have been, if the people fighting for her life had been considered of importance to the right audience.

Olbermann considers starving and dehydrating a healthy person to death to be what “life panels” do?

More recent in the news is the Gary Harvey case.

The so-called ethics committee decided Gary Harvey should be starved and dehydrated to death as well and put it before the court. He was, after all, at death’s door, wasn’t he? The order to put Gary Harvey to death was suddenly pulled after the media picked up on the story. Gary Harvey, who was supposedly at death’s door and needing to be starved and dehydrated to death last summer, is still alive. Looks like someone got something wrong about Gary being unable to survive and ready to die, and needing to be put down, especially by such a hideous method as starving and dehydrating him to death.

The fight for Gary’s life, by his wife, while a system suggests it’s time to kill him off, is Olbermann’s opinion of a “life panel” in motion?

Just how would Olbermann have felt, if he went up against a committee that decided they knew better and was going to disregard his father’s wishes?

Just how would Olbermann have felt, if his dad could have been saved, but the “system” decided otherwise?

No doubt, it would have been quite different if Olbermann was fighting for his father’s life, per his father’s wishes, and he came up against a system that does have so-called ethics committees (death panels), or the court system that makes mistakes and doesn’t necessarily listen to the truth and rule accordingly, or an insurance company that was refusing to pay for rightful care, or even a nurse that didn’t see the fight still in his dad.

Bet it would be different then!

Maybe Keith Olbermann ought to get out of the studio and talk with the people who have lost family members to his wondrous “life panel” concept that is actually what is becoming the non-existent reality of the 21st century.

Whether it be by denial of coverage, denial of care or courts deciding to kill people off, because of conflicted testimony…

Death panels do exist — and under the NewWorldCare proposal, they will become far more common!

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Carrie Hutchens is a former law enforcement officer and a freelance writer who is active in fighting against the death culture movement and the injustices within the judicial and law enforcement systems.

_________________________

Originally published:  Death Panels: To Be Deemed the Most Non-Existent Reality of 2010?  By on March 17th, 2010 – Dakota Voice

Life and Hope 2013 Gala Film

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On Friday, April 5, 2013, the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network held its first Award Gala with keynote speaker Governor Sarah Palin. If you were there, thank you! If you were unable to attend, we hope you can join us next year for what will sure to be another special evening.

But for all of our supporters, whether you were there or not, we would like to share with you a short VIDEO of the highlights of the Award Gala with Gov. Palin, Gary Sinise, Glenn Beck and much more!

CLICK HERE to watch AWARD GALA VIDEO!

We hope to see you at the Second Annual Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Award Gala on Thursday, March 27, 2014. Details of this event are forthcoming.

Please Consider Helping Us
Terri’s Life & Hope Network is a non-profit and can only continue by having your support. Please consider helping us by donating to our ministry.

Perhaps a monthly donation of $5 or $10 a month? This would significantly help our efforts so we can help protect our medically vulnerable. Whatever the amount, we would sincerely appreciate it.

You can CLICK HERE to make a safe and secure monthly gift, or to make a one-time donation.

If you have any questions, please call us at: 855.300.HOPE (4673)

Thank you! Bobby Schindler

Claim: Jesse Ramirez Case Unlike Terri Schiavo’s

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Originally posted Wednesday, July 4, 2007 on Dakota Voice

I was reading ABC News’, “Pulling the Plug: Ethicists Debate Ramirez Case“,  by Dan Childs, ABC News Medical Unit (June 28, 2007) and found it interesting how the defense is still up. No case is ever like Terri Schiavo’s. There is always an alleged difference, with similarities downplayed or outright denied. Might that be because people are starting to realize that an innocent woman was wrongly starved and dehydrated to death, like Jesse Ramirez almost was?

We do have it right in our face that the law does not have true safeguards in place. Had the Ramirez family not stepped in, Jesse Ramirez would most likely not be with us today, let alone sitting up in his bed and interacting with people. It doesn’t even matter if Rebecca Ramirez was basing her decision upon incomplete information the doctors provided. It shouldn’t be that easy to make a mistake. After all, this type of mistake is beyond serious — not an Oops! It is forever and someone is dead!

There are several issues at hand.

Childs writes, “The injuries Ramirez sustained in his accident were traumatic in nature, meaning that the shock of impact likely ripped apart some of the fragile connections in his brain, leading to his coma. “These injuries, on occasion, can heal to a certain extent, allowing the patient to recover functionality. This is far different from the damage caused by anoxia, in which a lack of oxygen to the brain causes irreparable brain damage. Those who suffer this type of damage, including Schiavo, have a much slimmer chance of ever regaining consciousness. ”

Even if it is true that Terri Schiavo had a slimmer chance in comparison to that of Ramirez, do we truly know the degree? How can we know to what degree she could have recovered if she had been afforded the therapy that so many “think” she had? How do we know to what degree Terri was affected by the isolation and lack of stimulation? (The latter alone proven to be detrimental on the well-being of humans.) We simply can’t know. Nor do we know just how conscious and alert Terri actually was in spite of all this, since tests were denied and anyone who might suggest she was not PVS was then closed out with attempts being made to discredit their opinion.

Similar is that Terri and Jesse are human beings. Each had a spouse that made the decision to place them in a hospice. Each were ordered to be starved and dehydrated to death by the spouse. Each had family and friends that said they were responsive.

The difference is that Jesse had Judge Katz and Terri had Judge Greer.

In Terri Schiavo’s case, the majority of people were not aware of all the facts nor the possibility that a conscious human being could be starved and dehydrated to death by a spouse, guardian, court, hospital or simply anyone. Even if one does not want to believe that Terri was conscious, Andrea Clark  from Texas cannot be forgotten. She was indeed conscious, but the doctor and hospital felt it was within their rights to deem her futile and pull the plug. Perhaps if her case had been first, Terri would have had a chance.

The media frequently reported that Terri was brain dead, so that is what the majority of people believed, though it was absolutely not true.

The media frequently reported that Terri was on life support as though machines were keeping a dead body alive. She was merely on a feeding tube.

In Terri’s case, the truth often didn’t matter. Whatever the media reported must be the gospel. As a result, the Schindlers were often made to look like religious fanatics that wanted to keep their daughter’s body alive at all costs. They couldn’t possibly be seeing any response because brain death makes that impossible. So, they were either lying or misreading so-called “reflexes”. But… what might the majority of people thought, had they known the truth?

Childs’ article says, “”This guy was not hopeless and in a persistent vegetative state by any means,” says Dr. Steven Miles, professor of internal medicine and bioethics at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics.”

Would we have known that if the family hadn’t intervened and Judge Katz hadn’t agreed with them?

If Terri Schiavo’s care decisions had been taken out of Michael Schiavo’s hands, might we have likewise discovered she was not in a persistent vegetative state?

Also in the article was, “This is by no means a miracle of any kind,” Miles says. “Traumatic comas are notorious for late wake-ups.”

I agree! With the medical and legal trends as they are, the miracle was that Jesse was allowed a chance to live and recover.

Jesse Ramirez’s family didn’t agree with his wife’s decision and sought to have his feeding tube replaced. Judge Katz granted the request, appointed a guardian and set up a hearing. This saved Jesse’s life! Too bad Katz wasn’t also the Schiavo judge. Perhaps the outcome would have been much different. Nevertheless, when did it become acceptable to starve and dehydrate people to death? How can anyone suggest that is a humane thing to do only to non-criminal humans? There is no logic.

The Schiavo and Ramirez cases are very similar in that they show us just how careless we have become with the lives of those who have been injured or fall ill.

The Terri Schiavo case was a wake up call!

Though the snooze button appears to have been hit, with people still under false beliefs that molded their opinions, the Ramirez case is a loud and clear alarm going off! A man with a chance to recover was nearly murdered by a society and its trend to be too ready to give up and pull the plug on others. What does that say about us as a society?

Maybe it is time to do some serious soul searching, while we still have souls to search!

Carrie Hutchens is a former law enforcement officer and a freelance writer who is active in fighting against the death culture movement and the injustices within the judicial and law enforcement systems.

The Jesse Ramirez Miracle

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Originally posted Wednesday, June 27, 2007 on Dakota Voice

News reports state that on May 30th, Jesse Ramirez and his wife Rebecca were traveling in their SUV, in the midst of an argument, when he lost control of the SUV and had a rollover crash. Both occupants were ejected from the vehicle. Jesse, 36, reportedly suffered critical injuries, which include a broken neck and head injuries, while Rebecca, 33, suffered only minor injuries.

It appears that around a week after the accident, Jesse underwent surgery, only to be transferred to a hospice the following day with orders to have his feeding tube removed. Who made the decision to transfer him and end his life? Rebecca Ramirez, the woman with whom he was having marital problems even as they crashed.

AZcentral.com’s “To keep him alive or let him die?”  by Rich Dubek and Kevin Kennedy, 12 News (June. 13, 2007 11:37 PM) reports, “Last Thursday, Jesse underwent surgery. On Friday, Rebecca Ramirez moved him to a hospice facility and made the decision to pull his feeding tube. She refuses to talk to 12 News but Jesse’s mother Theresa says “he deserves a chance to live, and she (Rebecca) won’t listen.” )

Jesse’s family turned to the courts for an emergency order to reinsert the feeding tube. As a result, Judge Paul Katz became involved in the case ordering the reinsertion of the feeding tube, resuscitation if necessary, and appointed a guardian to gather information for a June 26th hearing. Judge Katz’s actions are quite impressive after watching Judge George Greer a few years ago in Florida giving orders to kill first and ask questions later or not at all.

USAToday.com had an amazing story. “Injured man’s awakening called ‘miracle’”

By Dennis Wagner, USA TODAY

PHOENIX — Eighteen days after his wife instructed doctors to disconnect food and water tubes, a Chandler, Ariz. man is sitting up in his hospice bed, giving the thumbs-up sign and communicating with visitors.”

Sitting up in his hospice bed and communicating with visitors?

The news was reported by Judge Katz at the June 26th hearing and confirmed by Judith Morse, the appointed guardian.

The article also says, “Jesse Ramirez Jr.’s awakening, which friends called “a miracle,” occurred after his sister, parents and other relatives went to court and obtained an emergency order for feeding and hydration tubes to be reinserted, reversing a directive given by his wife, Rebecca Ramirez.”

In light of the medical and legal trend we have witnessed in recent years, I don’t think the miracle is with Jesse Ramirez Jr.”s awakening, but rather, with him having the chance to awaken! Without the opportunity provided by Judge Katz, an injured man would have been wrongfully terminated several days ago! It’s a fact that needs to be faced and addressed!

Judge Katz, through his legal decisions, prevented a wrongful termination from taking place in the Ramirez case. Can we count on someone like Katz to be there to prevent the next wrongful termination being played out? One can only hope.

Previous article: A Chance of Having a Chance: The Jesse Ramirez Case

Carrie Hutchens is a former law enforcement officer and a freelance writer who is active in fighting against the death culture movement and the injustices within the judicial and law enforcement systems.

A Chance of Having a Chance: The Jesse Ramirez Case

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Originally posted  Monday, June 18, 2007 on Dakota Voice

It’s happening again! A spouse attempting to have a spouse starved and dehydrated to death. This time it is in Arizona.

News reports state that on May 30th, Jesse Ramirez and his wife Rebecca were in the mist of an argument, when he lost control of the SUV they were driving in, which resulted in a roll over crash. Both were ejected from the vehicle. Jesse, 36, reportedly suffered critical injuries, which include a broken neck and head injuries, while Rebecca, 33, suffered only minor injuries.

AZcentral.com’s “To keep him alive or let him die?”  by Rich Dubek and Kevin Kennedy, 12 News (June. 13, 2007 11:37 PM) reports, “Last Thursday, Jesse underwent surgery. On Friday, Rebecca Ramirez moved him to a hospice facility and made the decision to pull his feeding tube. She refuses to talk to 12 News but Jesse’s mother Theresa says “he deserves a chance to live, and she (Rebecca) won’t listen.”

Dubek and Kennedy further reported, “An attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a group which supports pro-life causes, is representing the family. They say while Rebecca Ramirez has certain rights as a spouse, they question whether she is the right person to decide Jesse’s fate considering their marital problems. Attorneys also say Rebecca does not have written power of attorney to remove Jesse’s feeding tube. ”

I would have to agree with the attorney and family.

According to News5’s “Judge Orders Life Support For Patient”  (POSTED: 6:17 am PDT June 15, 2007 & UPDATED: 4:00 pm PDT June 15, 2007), “Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Paul Katz ruled Thursday that the feeding should continue and Jesse Ramirez be given resuscitation if necessary.”

The report continues, “Katz ordered that an independent attorney charged with being Jesse Ramirez’s advocate investigate the matter and come up with recommendations for resolving it.”

“Katz also scheduled a June 26 hearing on the matter.”

Also included in the report by News5, “Ramirez, 33, has said she does not want her husband to live if he could not care for himself.”

Why? Is she worried that she will be required, as his wife, to care for him? Nevertheless, she was reported as saying “she does not want”, rather than “Jesse not wanting”. Her wanting could be totally irrelevant to the case. After all, it is “his wanting about himself” that is what is important here and in every other case.

Luckily, Jesse Ramirez is in Arizona, rather than Florida with George Felos as his wife’s attorney and Judge George Greer presiding over the case, or in Texas with the futile care law. At least in Arizona, under the jurisdiction of Judge Katz, it appears he has a chance of having a chance. A chance to survive and heal, if that is his possibility! When did that become too much to ask?

Carrie Hutchens is a former law enforcement officer and a freelance writer who is active in fighting against the death culture movement and the injustices within the judicial and law enforcement systems.

What Say You, Kevin Moshier?

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Tragically, Gary Harvey of Horsehead, NY fell down the basement stairs
in January of 2006 and received a traumatic head injury. Since that
time, he has either been in a nursing home or in the hospital and is
under the guardianship of the county. Ironically, the county, who claims
to be looking out for their ward’s best interest, was involved in a
so-called ethics committee decision that Gary Harvey should be starved
and dehydrated to death. The judge over-ruled the call for execution of
an innocent man, though a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) remains in effect.
Sara Harvey, Gary’s wife, is desperately fighting to keep her husband
safe. One can only wonder how much Gary knows of what is going on around
him. Does anyone in charge even care? * * *

 

Sara & Gary Harvey

Sara & Gary Harvey

The Gary Harvey case haunts me, Kevin Moshier.  Does it ever haunt you?  Do you ever wonder, as his court appointed attorney and simply as a human being, if Gary actually knows what is going on around him, but merely can’t let others know? What if he does, Kevin? What if he knows everything that has been said to him or around him? What if he feels everything? What if he feels desperation when his needs aren’t adequately met and when he has to fight still another infection? What if he feels the isolation and misses the once frequent visits of the wife he so loves? What if… Kevin Moshier?… what if he is actually a human being, who once laughed and planned and thought tomorrow would be one day closer to his future plans and dreams? What if he still isn’t done hoping for a better tomorrow? What if he needs your help, Kevin? Will you help him? What if you don’t? What if you don’t, Kevin Moshier? What if you leave him to fight alone? Will his tomorrows then forever end?

GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN TO HEADLINE TERRI’S DAY

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Memorial Mass with Archbishop Chaput and Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Award Gala/Dinner with Governor Sarah Palin Highlight Day’s Events

Philadelphia, PA – March 4, 2013 – The national controversy that erupted over the court-ordered decision that ended Terri Schiavo’s life by removing her feeding tube in 2005 has been channeled into a positive effort of awareness, education and advocacy through the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network (Narberth, PA) that supports thousands of families worldwide. Terri’s Day, held April 5 in Philadelphia, marks an annual day of recognition and commemoration.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will celebrate “The National Memorial Mass for Terri’s Day” on Friday, April 5th, 2013 at 5:00pm at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 18th Street & the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. All are invited and encouraged to attend.

Governor Sarah Palin will be the honored speaker at the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network’s Award Gala and dinner following the mass, scheduled to begin at 6:30pm at the downtown Philadelphia Marriott. During the gala, the inaugural “Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Award” will be presented to Moe & Sana Maraachli. The award honors an individual or family that defended the life of a loved one against overwhelming odds. Deborah Flora, actress, producer, radio talk show host and second runner-up to Miss America, will preside as emcee at the gala, which will include addresses from award-winning author and bioethicist Wesley Smith and critically acclaimed author and speaker Brian Gail, plus several celebrity video addresses.

Terri’s Day was established by Terri Schiavo’s family to remember her and foster education, prayer and activism regarding discrimination against the cognitively disabled, and advocacy for people in situations similar to what Terri and her family faced.
“Terri’s life and legacy continue to live on, as our nation is now aware of the immediate threat placed upon the hundreds of thousands of persons with cognitive disabilities,” says Bobby Schindler, Terri’s brother and Executive Director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. “We invite churches to hold memorial services and to educate their congregations about the dignity of every human life, despite any disability or disease. We encourage the media and educational institutions to help dispel the myths and inaccuracies about Terri’s life and death by providing accurate, factual information. And we invite all people to reflect on the ethical considerations of caring for the weak and vulnerable.”

For more information, or to purchase tickets for the gala and dinner with Governor Palin, visit Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network’s website at www.lifeandhope.com.

About the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Award

croppedimage593285-Website-PicTerri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was established by the surviving family members of Terri Schiavo to protect the medically vulnerable. It has communicated with and supported more than 1,000 families, and has been involved in hundreds of cases since Terri’s death. Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was the recipient of the Gerard Health Foundation Life Prizes Award for its efforts in protecting the value and dignity of the profoundly brain injured.

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Editors Note: Photo and interviews available
Media Contact: Ellen Langas, NouSoma Communications, Inc. Office 610-658-5889; Cell 610-256-2946; ellen@nousoma.com

Bobby Schindler Files Petition Requesting to be Gary Harvey’s Guardian

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Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo,  has filed a petition in the New York Supreme Court – Chemung County asking guardianship of Gary Harvey be turned over to him.  How can the County refuse to resign or disagree with the petition?  How could they dare say this guardianship transfer would not be in the best interest of Gary Harvey?  Legitimately, they can’t.

Should the County fight Bobby Schindler’s effort, then the County (and those involved in the case on their side), shall have been proven to have lied to the court and the community.  The County claimed it did not want to be Gary’s guardian, but there was no one else.  Now there is.  So, if they fight to retain guardianship, that means there is an ulterior motive for doing so.  After all, just why would they fight so desperately to retain a ward they didn’t want in the first place or thereafter; have warehoused; and, seem to think is bothersome and time consuming in the isolation and hide the information (from his wife) health care plan they have prepared for him?

Bobby Schindler has an impeccable reputation.  He is knowledgeable about TBI (traumatic brain injury).  He has first-hand experience in dealing with a family member suffering from TBI.  He is compassionate and caring.  He is hopeful and realistic.  Just what part of all that he is, could the County honestly say is not good enough to be guardian of Gary Harvey?  Can we say – none?

Time will tell us what the County will do.  Let’s hope they choose the honorable path and agree it is in the best interest of Gary Harvey to appoint Bobby Schindler his guardian.  It is, after all, the right thing to do!

BREAKING NEWS! Terri Schiavo’s Brother Petitions Court to Intervene in Guardianship Case

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Contact: Mary Foley, Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, 484-278-4287, mfoley@lifeandhope.com

Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 27 / — Attorney Christopher Johnson has filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York, asking the court to allow Mr. Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schiavo to serve as Guardian for Mr. Gary Harvey.

In 2006, Mr. Harvey, a Chemung County resident, was involved in a home accident, which left him with a profound brain injury. His spouse, Mrs. Sara Harvey, sought guardianship only to be denied by the Chemung County Supreme Court who ultimately appointed the Chemung County Department of Social Services as Mr. Harvey’s guardian. Since that time, Mrs. Harvey has been in a prolonged court battle with Chemung County officials and the New York State Court System.

Indeed, it was in May of 2009 when the ethics committee from the hospital where Mr. Harvey was residing recommended the removal of his nutrition and hydration tube, and also issued a “do-not-resuscitate order” (DNR).

Fortunately, the court denied that request. However, inexplicably, the DNR stayed in place and Mr. Harvey remains under the control of Chemung County, despite the fact that the county tried to end his life.

“I have raised the question many times, ‘How can Chemung County, Guardian of Mr. Harvey, be acting in his best interest when they, in fact, tried to kill him?’ From all indications, it appears that Mr. Harvey has been warehoused and denied the opportunity to receive the care and rehabilitative services that would benefit his condition,” stated Bobby Schindler.

It is the hope that with this filing, the court will recognize that Mr. Harvey deserves the chance to receive aggressive therapy and rehabilitation. Certainly from Mr. Schindler’s experience with brain injured persons, he would afford Mr. Harvey the help he needs in the hopes to significantly improve his quality of life.

Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo and is the Executive Director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, established in 2005 to protect the rights of the medically vulnerable. For more information, please visit www.lifeandhope.com