life support and the lowest of the low

[luciab]

Just when I think that Tom De Lay and the right wing can't sink any lower they manage to pull it off. I have been so appalled all weekend at their antics re Terri Shiavo that I can't bear it. It was, of course, a topic of conversation among the family, both the politics and the medical ethics. Mother was impressed by the tapes being shown of Terri that look like she's smiling and responding to stimuli. Everything I've read convinces me that there is no chance of recovery; that the "responses" shown on the tape are random and involuntary and not really in response to any stimuli. The tapes themselves are four and five years old. All medical evidence is that the cerebral cortex is gone. One report said that it "has been replaced by spinal fluid."

The irony of the R's jumping on this is that they used to say they believed that the federal government should be small and not get all involved in running people's personal lives. It's obvious, however, that this belief really extends only to business and not people. Business should be able to do whatever it wants--cut forests, drill and mine in pristine areas, dump poison and waste wherever they want. People, on the other hand, should be regulated as to their sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy and anything else that might possibly be considered private, and the government has the right to snoop in any way it wants to observe any behaviours, because lord only knows what people are really plotting to do behind those closed doors. Oh, sorry, that was a tangent, wasn't it?

Anyway, I want it on record here. Should I ever be in a persistent vegitative state, I do not want to be kept alive by means of a feeding tube. As a separate issue, if resuscitation will return me to a condition where I will still be unable to speak, move or care for myself, and I will not recover enough to perform those functions, I do not want to be resuscitated. Please feel free to print this out and wave copies of it at whoever is in charge. Especially if it's Tom De Lay. Heh.

Comments

[soucyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, two gay guys are killing marriage but steping in and telling a husband that he doesn't know what his wife would have wanted is just "protecting her rights". One of my favorite moments comes when people on the hill started listening to Bill Frist about the subject because he's a doctor. Um, he's a heart surgeon who has spent an hour on the subject and they were taking his word for it over the dozens of neurolgists who have spent 15 years on the case.

(must stop before fingers go though key board...)

living wills in NC

[anonamys.livejournal.com]

http://www.tchospital.org/AddDir/addir.htm

To do it right (a living will), read the above website, which was the only site I found that was not trying to sell documents for living wills. It has a FAQ and forms you can fill out (you'll need to have them witnessed, and probably notarized--I didn't read that carefully).

I should look into WA forms, I guess. (I think I've discussed funeral-type wishes with people, but I don't know that I've ever discussed living will stuff. It's just not that fun to talk about.)

Re: living wills in NC

[anonamys.livejournal.com]

Oh, here's another site: http://www.carolinasendoflifecare.org/hospice/ACP.html

(If you want more, a search on "north carolina advance directives" is probably better than one with "living will")