Quote:
Originally Posted by WTF
Jahi underwent a tonsillectomy at the hospital on Dec. 9 to treat sleep apnea. After she awoke from the operation, her family said, she started bleeding heavily from her mouth and went into cardiac arrest.
Doctors at Children's Hospital and an independent pediatric neurologist from Stanford University have concluded the girl is brain dead.
The hospital wants to remove her from life support, but the family said they believe she is still alive.
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Yet another example of how bad comparisons leading to dumb arguments.
Terri Shiavo's husband wanted her pulled from the respirator but her parents did not. There was some hope in the first few years that she could be brought out of a persistent vegetative state to a state of awareness. So there were two different sides fighting over her fate. That put it into the court's hands.
There were also nasty allegations about financial interests on the part of both her husband and her parents. From Wiki:
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On June 18, 1990, the court appointed Michael Schiavo as Terri Schiavo's legal guardian; this appointment was not disputed by the Schindlers at the time. In May 1998, Michael Schiavo filed a petition to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, which her parents opposed. Richard Pearse was appointed by the court as a second
guardian ad litem (GAL), and on December 29, 1998, reported "Dr. Jeffrey Karp's opinion of the
ward's condition and prognosis is substantially shared among those physicians who have recently been involved in her treatment." Pearse concluded from Karp's and Dr. Vincent Gambone's diagnosis of PVS that Schiavo was legally in a persistent vegetative state as defined by Florida Statutes, Title XLIV, Chapter 765,
§101(12). This includes the "absence of voluntary action" and an "inability to communicate or interact purposefully."
Pearse found that there was no possibility of improvement but that Michael Schiavo's decisions might have been influenced by the potential to inherit what remained of Terri Schiavo's estate as long as he remained married to her. Due to a lack of a
living will and questions regarding Michael's credibility, Pearse recommended denying his petition to remove her feeding tube. Pearse reported that the issue of conflict of interest applied to the Schindlers as well since, had Michael divorced Terri as they wanted him to, they would have inherited the remainder of Mrs. Schiavo's estate upon her death.
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None of those factors are present in this case.
No one thinks Jahi has any chance of becoming aware again except her parents. It is easy to understand how they could be in denial.
Also, as was pointed out above, Terri Schiavo was going to die slowly of starvation after they pulled her feeding tube. That also got a lot more people interested in her case.
This girl is being kept alive by a ventilator. She will die withing minutes after it is turned off.
That said, Michael Schiavo's wishes should have been honored. He was the husband and the law put her fate in his hands, not her parents. The right-to-life folks should have stayed out of it and let her parents try - and fail - on their own.
But the comparison to Jahi's case is lousy.
Difference
