D
dems4me
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2ndAmendment said:
The GOP's TITANIC Shiavo mistake...
- Thread starter Larry Gude
- Start date
Crow eating time again
Based on a continued reading of Florida law I now have a reversal of my stance as to the legality of Michael Schiavo directing the removal of the feeding tube.
Definitions from Chapter 765 of Florida Code
(4) "End-stage condition" means an irreversible condition that is caused by injury, disease, or illness which has resulted in progressively severe and permanent deterioration, and which, to a reasonable degree of medical probability, treatment of the condition would be ineffective.
(5) "Health care decision" means:
(a) Informed consent, refusal of consent, or withdrawal of consent to any and all health care, including life-prolonging procedures.
(10) "Life-prolonging procedure" means any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention, including artificially provided sustenance and hydration, which sustains, restores, or supplants a spontaneous vital function. The term does not include the administration of medication or performance of medical procedure, when such medication or procedure is deemed necessary to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.
(15) "Proxy" means a competent adult who has not been expressly designated to make health care decisions for a particular incapacitated individual, but who, nevertheless, is authorized pursuant to s. 765.401 to make health care decisions for such individual.
Legally Michael Schiavo is the health care proxy for Terri and has the right to make informed decisions on her behalf including the refusal of life-prolonging procedures. You might not like what he has done or the fact that he is living with another woman and has a new family, but the law is the law. What had hung me up was the constant reference to the PVS and the legal definition that term carried. But I have no problem understanding that Terri is in an end-stage condition and as such her husband can legally make the decision as he has done.
Now if the states would allow for a better means other than starvation and dehydration to expedite the end I think the process would be more merciful.
Based on a continued reading of Florida law I now have a reversal of my stance as to the legality of Michael Schiavo directing the removal of the feeding tube.
Definitions from Chapter 765 of Florida Code
(4) "End-stage condition" means an irreversible condition that is caused by injury, disease, or illness which has resulted in progressively severe and permanent deterioration, and which, to a reasonable degree of medical probability, treatment of the condition would be ineffective.
(5) "Health care decision" means:
(a) Informed consent, refusal of consent, or withdrawal of consent to any and all health care, including life-prolonging procedures.
(10) "Life-prolonging procedure" means any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention, including artificially provided sustenance and hydration, which sustains, restores, or supplants a spontaneous vital function. The term does not include the administration of medication or performance of medical procedure, when such medication or procedure is deemed necessary to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.
(15) "Proxy" means a competent adult who has not been expressly designated to make health care decisions for a particular incapacitated individual, but who, nevertheless, is authorized pursuant to s. 765.401 to make health care decisions for such individual.
Legally Michael Schiavo is the health care proxy for Terri and has the right to make informed decisions on her behalf including the refusal of life-prolonging procedures. You might not like what he has done or the fact that he is living with another woman and has a new family, but the law is the law. What had hung me up was the constant reference to the PVS and the legal definition that term carried. But I have no problem understanding that Terri is in an end-stage condition and as such her husband can legally make the decision as he has done.
Now if the states would allow for a better means other than starvation and dehydration to expedite the end I think the process would be more merciful.
Legally, I am pretty sure the answer is no in all 50 states. I think Alaska tried a referendum on assisted suicide and it lost, but I am not sure.Tonio said:
Ethically is another matter. Doctors are sworn to "do no harm". Like that works. In this case, would "assisting" her do harm? That is the question, but it is obviated by the law.
Just checked and assisted suicide is OK in Oregon.Ken King said:
Oregon is the only state with a law that specifically allows physician-assisted suicide, enacted in 1997.2ndAmendment said:
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act was approved by voters in 1994, but blocked for three years by critics who challenged its constitutionality in the federal Supreme Court.
Oregon won, but again came under attack by U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft, who threatened to revoke the licences of doctors who assisted suicides. The federal appeals court struck down the bid in May of 2004.