Terry (the lady in Florida) Tube or no Tube?

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Posted by OSCARtheGROOM

I think everybody's opinions would change if the tables were turned.

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i disagree....
i know exactly how i would act...IF it was my DH, my mom, my sister...i would let them go!

I would NEVER put them through living like that...NOT EVER...

I KNOW THIS AS FACT!

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Posted by RedHead

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Posted by OSCARtheGROOM

I think everybody's opinions would change if the tables were turned.

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i disagree....
i know exactly how i would act...IF it was my DH, my mom, my sister...i would let them go!

I would NEVER put them through living like that...NOT EVER...

I KNOW THIS AS FACT!

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I'm not talking about you mama. I'm talking about the people who think the tube should have stayed in , and let her parents take care of her.

Ooops sorry Bri...you edited your post after i started writing

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Posted by RedHead

Ooops sorry Bri...you edited your post after i started writing

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Its ok mama.

I think that it should be removed.

He stuck by her for 8 years before he even suggested it.

Let the poor man move on and let the woman die in peace.

I really think I might sign one of those waivers that say, ya know, if i'm in a coma for a certain amount of time to just let me go. I wouldn't want my family to suffer about having to make that decision.

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Posted by newnybride2be

since this case has become such a big topic in the news, Ive been thinking lately, when is the right time to make a living will... That way it would never have to come to this.

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well i think there is no time like the present to make a living will or to have a NDR

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Posted by Moehick

Numerous doctors have said she can't feel hunger so this is the most humane way.

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My father has been on a feeding tube for almost 6 months. I asked the doctors about the hunger thing. You are right. They don't feel hunger.

There is a very different perspective when the subject is a child versus a spouse. I am not a mother yet, but I can imagine that losing a child has to be the worst thing that parents could possibly experience. It happened to my parents the year before I wasborn and to this day, mom doesnt discuss it really. I am sure they (Terry's parents) feel helpless and with any hint of hope, they want to keep her alive. I am sure they are also experienceing major guilt that they cannot do any more for her.

I don't know if the government should necessarily decide. However, I think I question the motives of the husband. It is not like the woman is brain dead...she is brain damaged. If she was brain dead I could see it. However, she is able to breathe on her own. The only support she has is the feeding tube. If she was brain dead they would remove the tube and she would pass away within minutes...not weeks. I think what the courts should do is allow the husband to get out of the marriage and see if he is still fighting for this feeding tube to be removed. I think it is cruel to let someone just dehydrate to death. No, she is not cognitively there, but that does not mean she is any less human. The thing is that she did not leave a living-will, so knowing what she would want is not going to happen. The rest is hear-say. If the parents are willing to care for her, let them. There are many individuals out there that need some sort of vital support but may not be cognitively able to decide.

ETA: we all must understand that just because we would not want to live our lives that way, does not mean that we can make decisions for other people. The problem here is that she did not have the legal documentation to decide either way. maybe it's not how you would like to live, but we can not be the voice for everyone...otherwise we are no better then the government.

As far as her making any type of recovery...anything is possible. Anyone catch the article in Newsday a couple of weeks ago? A woman was hit by a car 20 years ago and suffered brain damage and could not communicate. Suddenly, after 20 years, she was able to speak again. The young brain has the possibility to create new pathways over time to compensate for injured tissue. Who knows what may happen.

QUOTE]Posted by FutureMrsH

As far as her making any type of recovery...anything is possible. Anyone catch the article in Newsday a couple of weeks ago? A woman was hit by a car 20 years ago and suffered brain damage and could not communicate. Suddenly, after 20 years, she was able to speak again. The young brain has the possibility to create new pathways over time to compensate for injured tissue. Who knows what may happen.

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UNfortunately your statement is false. The woman who recovered recently was no where near anything like Terry.
The extent of the brain damage was totally different and you cannot draw any comparisons from the case...

TERRY...has pretty much COMPLETE brain damage in the cerebral cortex...and anyone who knows anything about brain functioning (i took a class in brain and behavior back in grad school) knows that THERE IS NO comming back from that! There just isn't..INFACT it is the one thing that all the doctors that have seen terry AGREE ON...
NOT only is she not getting better, in the past 15 years her brain has been DETERIORATING!!!

Her cerebral cortex is pretty much GONE! No doctor, no therapy no nothing ...not even a miracle is goingt to change that she will be a vegetable! Her brain damage is PERMANENT!

These are the facts! So you cannot compare the the two people, their situations and conditions are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

I feel very bad for the parents but it is now time for them to stop all this crazed holding on to someone who is NOT THERE! It is sick fanatical, religious groups that are convincing them that there is hope when there is NONE!

Do i think starving to death is cruel..yea. DO i think we should be able to give this poor woman something so that she just peacefully passes...yes.
BUT she needs to be let go!

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Posted by RedHead

QUOTE]Posted by FutureMrsH

As far as her making any type of recovery...anything is possible. Anyone catch the article in Newsday a couple of weeks ago? A woman was hit by a car 20 years ago and suffered brain damage and could not communicate. Suddenly, after 20 years, she was able to speak again. The young brain has the possibility to create new pathways over time to compensate for injured tissue. Who knows what may happen.

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UNfortunately your statement is false. The woman who recovered recently was no where near anything like Terry.
The extent of the brain damage was totally different and you cannot draw any comparisons from the case...

TERRY...has pretty much COMPLETE brain damage in the cerebral cortex...and anyone who knows anything about brain functioning (i took a class in brain and behavior back in grad school) knows that THERE IS NO comming back from that! There just isn't..INFACT it is the one thing that all the doctors that have seen terry AGREE ON...
NOT only is she not getting better, in the past 15 years her brain has been DETERIORATING!!!

Her cerebral cortex is pretty much GONE! No doctor, no therapy no nothing ...not even a miracle is goingt to change that she will be a vegetable! Her brain damage is PERMANENT!

These are the facts! So you cannot compare the the two people, their situations and conditions are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

I feel very bad for the parents but it is now time for them to stop all this crazed holding on to someone who is NOT THERE! It is sick fanatical, religious groups that are convincing them that there is hope when there is NONE!

Do i think starving to death is cruel..yea. DO i think we should be able to give this poor woman something so that she just peacefully passes...yes.
BUT she needs to be let go!

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Actually, you need to go back to class. As someone who has taken more then one class on brain functioning, anatomy, and physiology I can tell you that although nuerons do not regenerate themselves, they can make new pathways over time. AND THAT IS A FACT TOO! This is why you see stroke patients re-gain language function over years of training...new pathways can be created. I am not saying that she will get up and resume the life she had before, but it is possible for brains...especially young ones to create new nueral pathways to communicate with each other. I am not comparing them...but I am saying that it just shows how recovery can occur. I took brain and behavior too...along with anatomy and physiology and nueroanatomy. I am also doing my honors thesis on brain-related injury. The things that nuerons can do are very exciting to the future of the medical field. There are many populations of people (TBI, stroke, down syndrome) that have such severe nuerological deficits that they need to be assisted w/ nutrition. However, just because they may not have typical cognitive function (even those with profound deficits) should not live because they don't live at a standard that we would want ourselves too? The fact of the matter is that her brain stem is still in tact...she is not brain dead. Dehydration is not a peaceful and 'quick' passing. I just saw FH's grandmother die of dehydration and I can tell you it was not peaceful, nor was it quick. That husband will not watching, her parents will.

She has no cerebral cortex...in fact it is NOT regenerating it has DETERIORATED over the past 15 years..
she isn't comming back...NOT ONE medical donctor has said it anything other than that.
To regenerate there needs to be tiisue and according to them and the CAT scans there is NONE

ETA...she is not young she is 40

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Posted by suven


because then he doesn't get to keep what's left of her 1.3 million dollar medical malpractice lawsuit money.

I am troubled by the fact that Terri was in this state since 1990. In 1992, her husband testified at the malpractice lawsuit that he wanted money so that he could care for his wife for the rest of her life.

Once she (HE) won the money, he ordered that all care for her be stopped (no physical therapy, not too many visitors allowed, no TEETH BRUSHING).

Suddenly, in 1998, after he had a child with another woman, he remembered that Terri said she didn't want to be kept alive on life support. Of course, if he divorces her, he doesn't get any money. If she dies while they are still married, he officially inherets her lawsuit money to spend as he wishes- not just on her medical care and legal fees.

IMO, this is not someone who should be making decisions for her.

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I don't understand why it's not his money now, since they are still married. Why does he have to inherit it from her?

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Posted by RedHead

She has no cerebral cortex...in fact it is NOT regenerating it has DETERIORATED over the past 15 years..
she isn't comming back...NOT ONE medical donctor has said it anything other than that.
To regenerate there needs to be tiisue and according to them and the CAT scans there is NONE

ETA...she is not young she is 40

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40 is not old...and she was 25 when it happened. You misunderstood what I am saying here. If she is in that bad of a condition she will die on her own. She would have to have something in her skull in order to continue breathing unaided. I am not, nor have I ever said that she will return to they cognitive state she was...or even a fraction of it. However, she is still a human being, although she is not a functioning one. Her feeding tube is being removed due to a matter of opinion. Time can not tell what may happen...she may make a slight improvement...she may die on her own. However, you can not deny the fact that there are possibilities either way. This is not something you or I can predict. People do function normally with whole hemispheres removed (AND THAT IS A FACT ALSO). I am not saying she will function normally...I am just saying that killing her because she doesn't is scary thing. Like I have said in previous posts, this is a personal decision...and it seems that you have made yours. So make your healthcare proxy...

I am just stating my honest opinion...and you have to respect that. I am also staing scientific fact...as are you. She is not going to be much more then she is now, even if nueral pathways are recreated, however to say it can not happen is incorrect and sentencing this person to a slow horrible death is, in my opinion wrong from a scientific and ethical perspective.

possibilities...for what?

ETA...i think holding out for possibilities isn't right..and as much as i disagree with your opinion i do respect it.
I just see everyday (actually m-f) what it is like to live with TBI...To function as a profoundly retarded person...It is not a life i would aspire to live nor would i hope my parent hold out for hope that i might one day become...

In her situation she hasn't gotten any better. She has deteriorated. She is a body..that is all she is now..ANd i think it is time that her parent realize that

THEY think there are real possibilities for her..and ther just isn't..that is the saddest part of all

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Posted by FutureMrsH

she may make a slight improvement...she may die on her own. (w/ the feeding tube in)

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that is improvement??