Honorable members,
Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped
briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating
disorder. She left no living will.
Outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo lay, eight more people -
including a 10-year old boy and 13-year-old twin girls - were arrested Friday
for
trying to bring her water.
''I don't want her to die,'' Joshua Heldreth, 10, from North Carolina,
said before his arrest. ''I'm not afraid because God is with me.''
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050316235609990012

The Lord giveth and He taketh away...Remember for those calling this
disability,
she "did this herself" and if it were a workers comp case she would have been
found
"at fault" due to her eating disorder and self destruction. Eating disorders
are
suicidal; she started her climb to the mountain long ago; 15 years to be
exact...

Peace,
Karen

Schiavo Case Underscores Importance, and Limitations, Of Having a Living Will

By ANDREA PETERSEN and RACHEL EMMA SILVERMAN
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
March 22, 2005


As the case of Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged Florida woman,
winds its way through the courts, doctors and patient advocates are calling on
people to create living wills, documents that detail the kind of medical care
they would want in case they can't voice their own wishes.


Some doctors say living wills are only a good start. They can't cover all of
the potential what-ifs and medical gray areas that can arise. Also, some
recent research shows that doctors won't follow them to the letter. In a study
published last year in the Archives of Internal Medicine, doctors were asked to
consider six hypothetical medical cases. Overall, 65% of the decisions the
doctors made were contrary to patients' advance directives.


State-By-State

See a selection of laws and regulations in various states regarding advance
medical directives.
Your State's Directives
"Living wills don't reflect the complexity of the decisions," says Nancy N.
Dubler, director of the division of bioethics at Montefiore Medical Center in
New York.


Ms. Dubler recalls a patient at Montefiore who had a living will that stated
that she didn't want to be put on a ventilator to help her breathe. The
woman's daughter, however, wanted her to continue with the treatment. While the
patient did have serious dementia, she was expected to recover. The hospital
gave
greater weight to the woman's prognosis and her daughter's wishes and decided
to give the woman a ventilator. She did recover and lived for another two
years.


Living wills are still important, however, especially since they can
communicate your feelings about what kind of life is worth living to your
family. It
can be critical if family members don't agree on your treatment, as has been
the case with Terri Schiavo; her husband has requested to have her feeding tube
removed, while her parents have sought to keep her alive in a protracted legal
battle. A U.S. District Judge in Florida said Monday that he wouldn't rule
immediately on Ms. Schiavo's parents' request for an emergency injunction to
keep her fed.


Your Will

continued on link
http://pf.channel.aol.com/wsj/investing/3canvas?id=20050322090909990001

Karen Hallenbeck~Sikorsky~George BS,RN,UM,QC
http://hometown.aol.com/anewplanforyou



Owner-Moderator
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ADayWithoutPain/
"ADayWithoutPain"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnAnGeLInPain
"AnAnGeLInPain"

Ya'll are special you truly are, and to be the
catalyst for this group is a miracle for I know
in my heart that God's will created this group(s)
and each of you are very very special to me, always
no matter what I AM SO PROUD to a "part of" what
this family has become..AND WILL BE!!!!
Interqual Certified
Published Psychiatric Researcher
Advocate for those in CIP, HIV, Psychologic Pain
"A Higher Power is necessary to find the ability to withstand self
destruction.."


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