LTTE: Bess Manesis letter: Schiavo should not be starved to death

[RC]

Bess Manesis letter: Schiavo should not be starved to death
The Forum
Published Wednesday, March 23, 2005

We strongly object to the notion a person can be starved to death. Terri Schiavo did not direct her husband or anyone else to do this in a living will and absent such a document, tube feedings should continue.

Her parents have offered to care for her. If a judge can decide to withhold nourishment, who will protect countless other citizens, who will speak for the infirm, the retarded, the cancer ridden, the institutionalized? By law in many states, one can not starve their dog or cat - how can a human being be deprived of such a right?

Many in the media parrot the notion Schiavo is in a "vegetative state" - anyone who breathes on their own is not "vegetative."

We have exhorted the president, our senators and representative, to continue feeding this disabled person.

Bess Manesis

and John Manesis, M.D.,

Fargo

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=86638§ion=Opinion


This guy claims to be a Medical Doctor? I would not want him to even do First Aid on me. What part of Terri's cerebral cortex being destroyed 15 years ago is so hard to understand?

This may explain the low expectations the righwingnuts have for what they conceder to be knowledgeable and informed. After all they don't seem to use their own cortex for much themselves.

[Lindacooks]

1. Well, actually, vegetables DO 'breathe'.

That's how they grow, ripen, and then rot.

[Avalux]

2. She's NOT being starved to death!!

She will die peacefully of dehydration. John Manesis MD? Yeah right.

[teenagebambam]

3. Her parents have NOT

"offered to care for her". Her parents have petitioned the court to allow her SIBLINGS to be named her guardians, and have her care continued to be paid for by the taxpayers. Her parents had her at home for a BRIEF time until they realized they could NOT care for her.

[Branjor]

4. Vegetables do breathe.

Karen Quinlan breathed for nine years after her breathing tube was removed. However, Karen retracted into a fetal position due to the damage to her cerebral cortex. I wonder why the same has not happened to Terri Schiavo?

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

5. well, we really don't know about her condition now

because no recent pictures of her have been shown. I do not recall having seen any recent medical examination reports either.

[shraby]

8. The court ordered that there be no

pictures some time ago.
When this all happened to Terri, written orders weren't the norm. Few people made written orders, especially people as young as she was at the time.

[noonwitch]

6. Because Karen Quindlan was comatose?

I don't think she had the type of sleep/wake cycle that Terri does. Then again, I'm on the opposite side of this issue from most posters here. I draw the line at removing a feeding tube from someone who didn't specify it in writing. That doesn't mean I support a bunch of opportunistic politicians cashing in on the situation for their own gain, or letting congress superceded the courts.

[Branjor]

7. Quinlan was also

in a PVS and had sleep/wake cycles. Her brain was in a state called "decorticate" which caused the fetal posturing. I don't know, but maybe Schiavo is decerebrate, a more serious brain state than decorticate and one which causes spreading rather than retracting of extremities. Who knows....

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. No, Quinlan was also in a vegetative state

In fact, I was under the mistaken impression that the Quinlan case had taught the nation the difference between a coma and a PVS. I do recall a very vivid description of her condition, with sleeping and waking cycles and being curled into a fetal position.

Of course, that was nearly thirty years ago. A lot of people have forgotten. Or don't care to know.