- The clock is ticking. All of America is listening and
the ticking is growing louder and louder. Within the next 24 hours, America
will find out if Jeb Bush is made of the same presidential timber that
makes up his brother George or is Jeb just firewood. Will he cower in the
face a suspect Judge Greer or will he do what he knows in his gut is right?
Time will tell us. Would Judge Greer order the arrest of the popular governor
of Florida and brother of the President of the United States? Probably.
Greer has the ego for it. Greer is but one of the judges running wild in
our country today. Jeb Bush is Terri's last hope.
-
- Everyone is talking about Terri Schiavo. What amazed
me was how little people really know. Many people tell me they think she
was on a ventilator, hence the term "pull the plug." They are
shocked to find out she was not on a machine to breathe. "You mean
all she needs to live is a little tube in her stomach?" they ask.
Terri had a massive heart attack all those years ago, that is why she is
this way: another misconception. Tests the morning she was brought into
the emergency room ruled out a heart attack that very day. People's eyes
narrow when they are told she was found to have a fractured cervical spine
and fractured femur and other traumatic injuries. If Terri had died that
night in 1990, odds are, Michael Schiavo would have been arrested on the
suspicion of murder, based on the physical injuries found on his wife,
Terri Schiavo. When someone dies under suspicious conditions, an autopsy
must be done. It's the law. Even Michael could not have stopped it.
-
- Now incredulous, people ask how those fractures happened.
That is a very good question. That is a question that Judge Greer has never
asked, nor has he cared. No one, it seems, cares what happened to Terri
all those years ago. No one except her parents and siblings, and their
pleas for justice fall on the deaf ears of the American judicial system
more concerned with how Europe views our laws than upholding the laws America
has right now. Our courts are more interested in writing laws than ruling
on present law.
-
- Terri's full body bone scan showed numerous areas of
trauma. Read the extent of her injuries HERE. Why was nothing done? Nothing
was done because it is likely Terri's parents didn't know. Michael had
sealed Terri's medical records away from them. Now, we know why.
-
- The Supreme Court did what it does best. It said, "We
don't care." They passed sentence on Terri without explanation and
without even having to reveal if the decision was unanimous. After all,
they are the Supreme Court, they answer to no one - ever.
-
- As a nurse of 26 years, I am constantly amazed at how
little respect we nurses receive. In the news we hear that nurses are desperately
needed but why should we bother? Apparently we are just ignorant bed-pan-slingers
of no importance to the courts. We don't even have the intelligence to
know when a patient is responding to us. We do not know if a patient is
in pain.
-
- How long does your doctor spend with you at the bedside
when you are in the hospital? If it is a loved one in the hospital, how
many times have you spent hours waiting just to see the doctor to ask him
a question? Who is it that you see all the time? You see the nurse. Who
knows what is going on? Your nurse knows. While we spend hours with our
patients over days, weeks, months sometimes, our statements or opinions
are somehow considered unimportant and uninformed while a doctor who spends
minutes interacting with the patient is bowed down to and considered the
"expert."
-
- It is not the doctor that saves your life in the hospital,
it is the nurse, who knows her patients; spots a change - however small
- and takes the necessary steps to stop a crisis before it becomes a crisis.
-
- In Terri's case, nurses who spent hours taking care of
Terri, talking, laughing, joking and even sneaking food to her are being
ignored. Day after day they saw her; interacted with her; talked to her;
bathed her and yet, all of their statements are waved aside - what do they
know, they are just nurses. Yet, a man with MD after his name spends 45
minutes with Terri and his words are considered God-like. Judge Greer says
the nurse's statements are not "credible." How dare he.
-
- If Terri feels no pain, why was morphine ordered for
her for a toothache and menstrual cramps? If her brain is incapable of
comprehending discomfort, why does she need pain medication at all? Patients
in a true vegetative state do not feel pain, yet, Terri was medicated for
pain. WHY? Could it possibly be the doctor/God is wrong? One thing I am
sure of: There is more about the brain we don't know than we can possibly
imagine. It is said we only use about 10% of our brain. What I do know
is that our bodies can and have done amazing things that shock doctors
every day.
-
- In my years of dealing with doctors I have found that
certain personalities are attracted to certain specialties. Have you even
met a pediatrician you didn't like?
-
- Neurologists seem to feel that since their specialty
is the brain, they are above all others. I have often heard people complain
that the neurologist that had treated them acted as though he was doing
them a favor, lowering himself to touch them. Some patients have told me
these doctors will not even allow questions to be asked of them. If you
don't like their opinion, get out. Don't speak, just listen. They are God.
You do not question God. It should be no wonder that Judge Greer and Dr.
Cranford got along so well. They think alike. They both think they are
God.
-
- In Terri's case, the neurologist, Dr. Ronald Cranford,
is an avid supporter of the right to "humanely kill" someone
who isn't perfect. He is often sought after as a speaker for the Hemlock
Society. Dr. Cranford is on the board of "Choice in Dying," a
group that advocates euthanasia. What is the Doctor's answer to Alzheimer's
disease? Kill them. Dr. Cranford is not exactly without a pre-set opinion
whenever he sees someone who has a brain injury or disease. His first instinct
is to kill them. Judge Greer, who has never laid eyes on Terri, believes
Cranford's every word as if it were carved in stone. Other experts need
not submit an opinion. Based on past rulings in other cases, Judge Greer
is also an advocate of killing those who cannot speak for themselves. Terri
is not his first victim.
-
- In truth, if you believe Terri cannot feel pain because
her brain has been "liquefied," and cannot feel the pain of dying
of dehydration, then what is the big hurry to kill her? She isn't suffering.
She isn't hurting anyone by living. The only one who stands to gain from
her death is her "loving" husband who can promptly dispose of
any remaining evidence that might shed light on the events that put her
where she is today. He will order her body instantly cremated, probably
before her body is cold.
-
- Terri is, in fact, evidence in a possible capital crime.
-
- Terri was not bulimic nor anorexic. Tests upon her arrival
at the ER that day clearly ruled out a heart attack. The doctors were puzzled.
A healthy, normal young woman just "collapses" at home for no
apparent reason. Did she choke on food? No. Did she stick her head in a
plastic bag? No. Did she fall down a flight of stairs thus sustaining a
cervical injury and a fractured femur? Apparently she did not. The toxicology
scan was negative. Then what DID happen that morning in 1990 when Terri
Schiavo's life changed so radically? No explanation has ever been brought
forward. It seems no explanation was ever sought. A lazy or incompetent
police department did not follow up on the paramedic's report of suspected
domestic violence. But then, pre-OJ, police didn't bother to follow up
such things. Terri couldn't lodge a complaint, so they didn't care.
-
- One of Terri's nurses stated she discovered a bottle
of regular insulin in a thrash can in Terri's room after a visit from Michael.
She handed the bottle and her statement over to the police at the time.
When the nurse checked Terri's blood sugar, it was too low to register.
She put sugar on her tongue to counteract the insulin. She found new needle
marks on Terri's body. All that ever came of it was that the nurse was
fired! Last time I checked, that is called attempted murder! This needs
to be investigated, yet when the police were contacted by Bill O'Reilly,
they hung up on him. If they are embarrassed, they should be.
-
- Several nurses swore under oath that their documentation
on Terri talking, laughing, and swallowing was removed from the chart,
which is illegal. The lawyer for Michael Schiavo, Mr. Felos, not only gave
money to Judge Greer in 2004, but is under investigation for Medicare and
Medicaid fraud. What in God's name do these judges need to ask themselves,
"What is going on here?"
-
- Michael Schiavo has shown himself to be a liar. He swore
at the malpractice trials that he needed enough money to care for Terri,
his beloved wife, for the rest of her life. He became a nurse so he could
give her all the care she needed for as many years as God gave her. Once
the money was in hand, he threw her in a nursing home, withdrew all therapy,
slapped "Do Not Resuscitate" on her chart and started talking
about rich he was going to be when Terri died. His death watch had begun.
-
- During the years it took Michael to win the money, Terri
got reasonably good care. She was talking and walking with assistance.
There was not a whisper about her wishing to be allowed to die if she ever
became "a vegetable." Only after Michael had the money in his
hands did he suddenly remember her "wishes." After that, she
was treated worse than a man on death row. Suddenly she was just a "house-plant."
All therapy was forbidden. On one interview with Larry King, he admitted
it was HIS wish that Terri die, not hers. That she had never told him what
she would want him to do. A past girl friend stated he told her Terri had
said nothing about it.
-
- I saw Michael's brother on television. He apologized
for missing a scheduled interview the night before but he explained he
was at his brother's side, comforting him. Michael was at Terri's bedside,
inconsolable and sobbing over his much-loved and dying wife. I thought
I was going to be physically ill. Michael was sobbing? The same Michael
who would bring his dates to Terri's room and point to her like she was
part of a freak show and say, "See, I told you she was dying."
Was that the same Michael that would salivate with excitement every time
Terri spiked a temperature and then would call every hour to see if she
was dead yet? The same Michael that would constantly ask, "Is the
bitch dead yet?" "Isn't there some way we can hurry her death?"
That Michael?
-
- It is unbelievable to me that judges and courts who have
sworn to uphold the law and protect the citizens of this country turn a
blind eye to boxes of evidence that screams to be reviewed. There has been
no justice for Terri or her family. The law has slapped them at every turn.
Instead, they have all ruled in favor of a greedy, adulterous, and possibly
abusive husband who has admitted that she never expressed her wishes to
him or anyone else.
-
- Repeatedly our courts these days rule in favor of death.
It's as though they have a love-affair with the power and death. Oddly,
they vote to save the murderers and kill the victims.
-
- If Terri dies, there must be changes made. Our constitution
clearly defines three separate but equal branches of government. There
are not two branches and one supreme branch that rules over the other two.
Judges need to be brought back down to earth with the rest of us mortals.
They are not God, no matter how strongly they may feel that they are. Courts
have ruled that unborn babies have no rights. Now, even the living who
can't speak have no rights. Where does this end?
-
- I am not a religious radical and I resent everyone who
supports life being called a "God freak." Is it a crime these
days in America to believe in God and life? I have been present when the
plug was pulled. My own brother had his IV nutrition removed when he realized
there was no hope. I was at peace with his decision because it was HIS
decision to make and he made it. He only had days to live, no matter what
he did. My brother starved to death from stomach cancer and I can tell
you, he was in agony. There was nothing "euphoric" about his
death.
-
- If Terri had put in black and white that it was HER wish
to die, I would not be involved in this all. But we do not know what her
wishes were and I simply do not believe a lying, cheating, cruel, and repulsive
man who carries on the sham of being her loving husband.
-
- Interestingly, hate and love are close on the emotional
scale. It isn't love Michael Schiavo has for Terri. Terri's death is his
final act of control. His final act of control over her tortured adult
life: he is ending it and I have no doubt he will celebrate and make a
final toast to the "bitch" because, at last, she will be dead.
-
- As far as I am concerned, five minutes after Terri dies,
a fund should be started and it should be called: Terri's Justice. That
money should be used to hire private investigators and medical experts
to pour over every minute of Terri's life after she married Michael Schiavo.
The family should press for charges against Michael Schiavo for murder
at the very least and certainly for the wrongful death of their daughter.
He can destroy her body, but he can't destroy the medical records, the
test results, the bone scans, and the legions of people who line up to
testify against him. Terri may be dead, but in the end, she will have the
last laugh and then, she can rest in peace.
-
- - Barbara J. Stock is an RN of over 23 years and is fairly
new to political writing. She has had articles posted on BushCountry, GOPUSA,
AmericanDaily, RepublicanDailyNews, Town Hall, OpinionEditorials, and the
Judson Cox Newsletter. She has her own website called Republican and Proud
and welcomes comments at dickens502003@yahoo.com
-
- © Copyright 2005 by Barbara J. Stock
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- http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/stock/050325
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