It’s Ironic Terri Schiavo Died of Starvation

[illflem]

Why is it ironic that Terri died of starvation? Because the reason she had a heart attack, which resulted in her 15-year life and death struggle, was her life and death struggle with an eating disorder.

The saddest part is Terri is not alone, one in ten people who struggle with anorexia will die because of starvation, cardiac arrest or other complications, yet Republican leadership continues to block legislation to ensure full and equitable access to mental health treatment.

If you watch TV or skim the papers, you would think the reason Terri was on life support for over a decade is because of some rare genetic disorder that did not have a cure. When I tell people it was because of an eating disorder, they are shocked.

http://www.yda.org/CMS/node/view/1552?PHPSESSID=6e5e915552d26eaaf35dc1b321c33ee4

[xultar]

1. She died of Dehydration, not starvation. n/t

[hlthe2b]

6. Right... This has been among the least understood concepts of this

ordeal, yet I'd venture most remember those facts of childhood about the much longer survival times for being without food versus being without water.

But, the press has continued to advance the confusion...:shrug:

[DURHAM D]

2. She did not starve to death . n/t

[expatriot]

3. I thought she died of dehydration... but I wasn't paying attention. nt

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

4. "Starvation"?

I understand your point about mental health services but I believe the term "starvation" is a politically charged and inaccurate term in the removal of gastro tubes.

In the case of DeLay removing his father from a ventilator, maybe that should be termed "suffocated" his father to death.

[illflem]

5. Suggest you all look where this article came from

instead of bitching at me

http://www.yda.org/CMS/node/view/1552?PHPSESSID=6e5e915552d26eaaf35dc1b321c33ee4

[happynewyear]

7. it is ironic

Being she was an anoxeric or a bulimic. Karma's a real bitch.

:kick:

[puddycat]

8. How is it Karma?

Karma would mean that her eating disorder would somehow affect her life in the next world, right?

But I don't believe this mythic nonsense anyway.

[Cruzin2Fold]

9. What is Ironic ...

is that in this day and time, the press nor you understand the difference between bulimia and anorexia. Bulimics do not starve themselves. They gorge on food. So making the easy jump between anorexia and bulimia is likened to making the jump between anorexia and overeaters anonymous. Somehow, it just makes you look all the more ill informed and unwitty.

[otohara]

11. Karma?

Ironic yes, karma NO!

[Gatchaman]

10. Blaming Michael is even worse

If you watch TV or skim the papers, you would think the reason Terri was on life support for over a decade is because of some rare genetic disorder that did not have a cure. When I tell people it was because of an eating disorder, they are shocked.

Even worse, fox news and the talk radio crowd are doing their best to portray her a a victim of a serial abuser. Hannity actually had a guest claiming that she didn't have a heart attack and that Michael Schiavo regularly abused her.

I wonder how this situation would have played out if she had been a man...

[kenny blankenship]

12. We'd have never heard of this dispute

"I wonder how this situation would have played out if she had been a man.."

An excellent question.

If Mr. and Mrs. Schiavo's roles had been reversed, this case would never even make the news. The engine at the heart of the whole thing, leaving aside the pathology of the Schindlers, is the cultural complex of the saintly suffering female. Her wishes in life were unimportant as well as her choice to wed Michael Schiavo not to mention the state laws relevant to such cases; and she was reduced to the status of a helpless infant as though she had all her life ahead of her, instead of being seen as what she was, a dead woman who'd left her body behind. Michael Schiavo had to grow a goatee and pair of horns in order to fulfill his role as her male oppressor, and so we heard every conceivable vile story the religiously insane could make up about him, instead of stories about his EXTRAORDINARY efforts to keep hope alive and work towards a medical recovery of his wife's mind, and instead of hearing about how Terri Schiavo's eating disorder tragically ended her life 15 years ago.

If their roles had been reversed, and Michael's had family disagreed with Terri about carrying out her lost husband's preference not to be kept "alive" as a mindless zombie, there would have been immediate unquestioned and widespread public respect for the integrity of his wishes, upholding the right of a man to be sovereign over his life and to say when it's time to call it quits. (To their credit, a vast majority of Americans DO respect Terri Schiavo's preference, but alas some STILL have trouble allowing a woman to make that kind of decision) And because he was a man, there would have been no activation of the saintly female victim complex among the religiously insane, which has been the drama played out in the present case, perpetuating it and spreading enthusiasm for "Terri" among people who, like Tom DeLay would not want to be zombified like she was, nor to see their loved ones reduced to zombies and molluscs.