Terri's husband refuses $1 million offer to turn over custodial rights to

[Bouncy Ball]

her parents:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4860072,00.html

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The husband of a brain-damaged woman being kept alive by a feeding tube has turned down a $1 million offer to let his wife's parents decide her medical treatment.

Michael Schiavo decided to reject the offer by California businessman Robert Herring, Schiavo's lawyer, George Felos, said Friday. He had until Monday to make up his mind.

Felos said his client has received similar offers - including one for $10 million - regarding the care to Terri Schiavo, 41, who has been in what court-appointed doctors call a persistent vegetative state since suffering a heart attack 15 years ago.

Michael Schiavo contends he once promised his wife he would not keep her alive by artificial means.

****************
So. He's turned down several offers of money to turn over custody of his wife to her parents to they can let the machines continue to force her body to live, despite the fact that she has no cerebral cortex, cannot possibly recover, and courts have found in Michael's favor that there is clear and compelling evidence that she would not have wanted this.

And yet, I've heard people say it's all about money for her husband. If it were all about money, why didn't he take that $10 million offer mentioned in the article? That's a lot of cash.

But no, he won't take any offers. I think that pretty clearly dispels any arguments that any of this is about money for him.

I sincerely hope that Terri is allowed some peace after 15 years of machines forcing nutrients into her body. SHE'S not alive. But she's not being allowed to die. Fifty years ago, this wouldn't even have been an issue....

[amazona]

1. good for him

I would hate to think my partner would take money to keep my body "alive" as a horror story and political football so long after my brain had departed this earth.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Bouncy Ball]

3. It reminds me of a 50s scifi movie.

Keeping a brain in a jar or something. Only in this case, it's her brain that's so irretrievably damaged as to not even be compatible with life, if it weren't for a feeding tube. It's so horribly sad. And I'm disturbed by how many people just blow off the court's finding that said that there WAS compelling evidence that she would NOT have wanted to be like this. Her wishes don't matter? God, how sad.

[passy]

2. Sometimes the question, why? is not worth asking.

People will always behave strangely.
If he thinks it's the right thing to do then people should just let him be.
He certainly is not doing her any harm.

[Bouncy Ball]

5. Very true.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. Medical advances have created some ghastly indignities.

I haven't followed this story; I had no idea that has been going on for 15 years. This isn't a quality of life issue. This is about the grey zone between life and death, which science has broadened. And that's a mixed bag.

As you say, Fifty years ago, this wouldn't even have been an issue.

[Bouncy Ball]

6. I've known about her case for some time.

Because of her case, my husband and I both had living wills made out which spell out our wishes very clearly. I would NEVER want to be kept in a condition like this. Never.

[Warpy]

10. I worked in neurology, and that's where you're going to see the miracles

However, after 15 years of waiting for one, even if a miracle did occur, it would be in a woman with a seriously impaired body and a brain which would not function well enough for her to be an independent human being ever again.

Look at her pictures the next time she's shown on TV. Look at her hands and arms. She has serious joint contractures and atrophied muscles. Would you want to awaken into such a body?

Ler her go. I think she's waited long enough.

[Bouncy Ball]

11. Did you mean to say "it wouldn't be in a woman with..."

I think you did, just want to make sure. I saw her, too and I agree, her body is not in good shape, either. But of course, it's her brain that's the real problem.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. I avoid hospitals like the plague...

....and please, God, if you exist, let me die at home in my sleep. You are correct, this wouldn't have even been an issue 50 years ago.

[tishaLA]

8. I can't believe Gloria Allred injected herself into this case

It is really a full fledged circus.

[Bouncy Ball]

9. Who is she?

[tishaLA]

13. The attorney who represented the money man

the guy with the $! Million. But she's usually a victim's rights attorney--and a good Democrat--although she went for paydays by representing people like Amber Frey from the Scott Peterson case and Denise Brown (sister in-law to OJ Simpson). So, essentially, she's a fame whore who had previously done lots of good work primarily on women's issues.

[Botany]

12. Faux News has a picture of her that looks very life like.

These are sick bastards ...... will not the Jesus "they" pray to welcome her
with open arms? Is not that the big goal of the born again sick bastards
who have stuck their nose were it does not belong.

And Jeb is playing this for all it is worth but if the same women was
active but unable to feed her self he would cut her off in a heart beat.

Her husband is doing the most loving thing he can for her.

:bounce:

[HawkerHurricane]

14. It's about control, of course.

Can you answer the question; Who Owns Your Body?

According to certain church groups, it's not you.

[Bouncy Ball]

15. Shudder.

:scared:

[HawkerHurricane]

16. Shudder indeed.

For centuries, the individual did not own his body or soul; the body belonged to the nobleman and the soul to the church. Only with The Enlightenment did the concept of a person controling his own self come into being.