$$$ MILLION$ and The RADICAL DEATH ACTIVIST

http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

The Florida Death Cadre

Right-to-die activists went full throttle on state level projects after the 1997 Supreme Court decisions (Vacco v. Quill, and Washington v Glucksberg).

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Last Acts (RWJF) and George Soros's Project on Death in America (PDIA) used bioethics networks, hospital ethics committees, hospices, and cancer pain initiative groups at the state level as a ready-made framework for institutional and legislative change, and for public activism.

Florida had an active bioethics network via the universities. In addition, bills ushered through the legislature by Lois Frankel (D-Palm Beach) and Ron Klein (D-Boca Raton) established pain centers and created a state-level end-of-life panel. The panel's purpose was to advance changes to Florida statutes with regard to surrogacy and advance directives, DNR portability, and pain medication use. Florida did not have a state chapter of Health Decisions (the national organization), but Aging With Dignity provided a similar type of community forum for focusing and framing health care issues for the public.

With that framework in place, a number of national end-of-life projects — including RWJF's $11 million Community-State Partnerships (CSP)— were active in changing the laws and norms that regulate Florida end-of-life medicine. Midwest Bioethics surveyed the successes of the end-of-life coalitions in CSP's final newsletter (June, 2003; see Issue 19 in the archives).

The CSP newsletter points to Maine as a good example of how the state coalitions work under Midwest Bioethics' direction. In a section titled "Neutralizing Special Interests...," CSP reported that “coalitions are 'policy entrepreneurs' because they…neutralize special interests and defuse contentious policy issues." In Maine, for example, the state coalition at the Maine Hospice Council "further built consensus by inviting as many groups to the table as possible, including vocal supporters of assisted suicide and right-to-life groups." In other words, the coalitions sought to neutralize right-to-life.

Midwest Bioethics noted that "some of the state coalitions were made up of existing local coalitions, which allowed them to make use of networks and relationships already in place:... In Florida, state hospice service areas morphed into local coalitions that carried out much of the work on the CSP agenda."

In November, 1999, CSP awarded $450,000 to Florida Hospices and Palliative Care in Tallahassee. The grant was to fund the state-level coalition, Florida Partnership for End-of-Life Care. Samira Beckwith of HOPE Hospice in Ft. Myers was principal investigator for the Florida Partnership project.(HOPE Hospice had received a small NIH grant in 1997 for internet connection.) Ray Moseley, PhD (Florida Bioethics Network and University of Florida) was co-investigator, and University of Florida received part of the grant money.(Moseley's NIH grant in the early 1990s was to study “the insurance implications of the human genome map.”)

Meanwhile, Hospice of the Florida Suncoast had launched a palliative care training facility in 1994. Kathy Egan, MA, BSN, received an NIH grant to establish the "train-the-trainer" certification program. The training program was conducted by "the Institute" at Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. When Partnership for Caring launched their $12 million training and outreach program (Rallying Points) in 2000, the Institute became a national resource center for training trainers in palliative care.

Also in 2000, in nearby Tampa, Susan McMillan (NIH grant recipient) and colleagues at University of South Florida and Moffit Cancer Center began planning the Center for Hospice, Palliative Care and End-of-Life Studies. The Center would open in 2002, and Hospice of the Florida Suncoast was part of the collaboration.

http://www.lifetree.org/resources/funding.htm...

Here are some "data dumps" of information listing right-to-die and other end-of-life programs, their principal investigators, and organizations funded by RWJF and Soros's Project on Death in America. Also listed are some of the smaller-dollar grantors funding the same or similar projects. Other grantors include Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation; Nathan Cummings Foundation; Mayday Fund; Greenwall Foundation; Kornfeld Foundation; United Hospital Fund; Milbank Memorial Fund, and Commonwealth Fund.

The thumbnail sketches will probably be of most interest to the casual reader. These PDFs provide summaries of over 100 bioethicists, physicians, lawyers, nurses, social workers who played prominent roles in founding Last Acts and Project on Death in America. Many of these people remain prominent— or are growing in prominence —as they continue to institutionalize right-to-die through organizations such as NHPCO, AAHPM, ABHPM. Many of the top funders are in a position to define, or redefine, palliative care and hospice care. Note that many of the RWJF projects were directed by Soros grantees.

Diane Lynn's book Terri's Story gives in dept view of the right to die movement that has been in existance for many years.

Nana wrote:

http://www.lifetree.org/resour ces/funding.html
Here are some "data dumps" of information listing right-to-die and other end-of-life programs, their principal investigators, and organizations funded by RWJF and Soros's Project on Death in America. Also listed are some of the smaller-dollar grantors funding the same or similar projects. Other grantors include Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation; Nathan Cummings Foundation; Mayday Fund; Greenwall Foundation; Kornfeld Foundation; United Hospital Fund; Milbank Memorial Fund, and Commonwealth Fund.
The thumbnail sketches will probably be of most interest to the casual reader. These PDFs provide summaries of over 100 bioethicists, physicians, lawyers, nurses, social workers who played prominent roles in founding Last Acts and Project on Death in America. Many of these people remain prominent— or are growing in prominence —as they continue to institutionalize right-to-die through organizations such as NHPCO, AAHPM, ABHPM. Many of the top funders are in a position to define, or redefine, palliative care and hospice care. Note that many of the RWJF projects were directed by Soros grantees.

yeah, yeah yeah. To bad the Schindlers mothers didn't have you to speak for them before their ungrateful children put them to death. Oh THAT's right Nana. The Schindlers CAN kill their own mothers with yours and James' blessing. It's only Mr Schiavo who you despise for doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING. Only HE went through the court and Mrs Schiavo spoke through the court. The Schindler mothers had no such buffer and were at the mercy of their children. Being the good Christian person you are obviously aware of the commandment "honor thy father and thy mother" which apparently the Schindlers get a free pass with that commandment too. How very generous you and James are but only to certain people:-)

http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

The Florida Experiment

1990-Florida Bioethics Network is founded by two professors at University of Florida's College of Medicine:
Ray Moseley, Ph.D.- University of Florida, College of Medicine; Director of Medical Ethics, Law and the Humanities; bioethicist from Georgetown Univ. Kennedy Institute of Ethics; NIH grants in early 1990s to study the "Insurance Implications of a Complete Human Genome Map."

James Wagner, Ph.D., M.Div.- co-chair of a hospital ethics committee (Shands)

1994-Hospice Institute of the Florida Suncoast is founded. NIH underwrites the venture with a three-year grant totalling $288,000 to Kathleen Egan for a "Train the Trainer" program in palliative care.

1994- Florida state legislature establishes the Florida State Pain Commission, staffed by Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). The Commission is formed, in part, by members of the American Pain Society and the cancer pain initiatives.

1996- Towey launches Project 2010: Community meetings and discussion about end-of-life issues.

1997- Pain Centers: Florida Pain Management Commission recognizes pain treatment centers. "Florida no longer automatically investigates any physician who is reported for prescribing large quantities of narcotics. The commission is proposing a law that would include recognition of certain types of physicians and centers as pain treatment specialists. Florida also has produced pain guidelines that recognize the need for broad flexibility in prescribing drugs for intractable pain and require physicians to document individual need and failed attempts at alternative treatment."
Ref: Assisted Suicide reference at William University College of Law: Valerie J. Vollmar, 1998.

May 1998- Bill (HB 3387) to establish Alzheimer's clinics, also establishes a 22-member Panel for the Study of End-of-Life Care at the Pepper Institute. The bill was introduced in January in the Florida House by representative Lois Frankel (D-Palm Beach), and became law (without the governor's signature) in May, 1998.

The act specified how many members should be on the panel, and which organizations should be represented. The Panel was comprised of:
Two persons representing hospice organizations and one representing consumers, appointed by the Florida Hospice Association

Hospice:
Samira K. Beckwith (FL Hospices and Palliative Care; HOPE Hospice in Ft. Myers; NIH grantee)
Mary Labyak (Hospice of the Florida Suncoast in Largo; Partnership for Caring member; hospice was NIH grantee);

Consumers: Jack Gordon (Hospice Foundation of America; Soros/PDIA grantee), alt. David Abrams;

Three persons representing nursing homes and assisted living facilities:
Florida Health Care Association (FHCA): LuMarie Polivka-West, and Dr. Howard Tuch, MD;
Florida Association of Homes for the Aging: Marshall Seiden, alt. Molly McKinstry;

Three persons representing hospitals, appointed by:
Florida Hospital Association (FHA): Dr. Susan White, alt. Bill Bell;
Florida League of Health Systems: Belita Moreton;
Association of Community Hospitals and Health Systems of Florida, Inc: Joan Fulbright;

One person each appointed by the
Florida Medical Association: Dr. Alvin Smith, MD
Board of Medicine: Dr. Gary Winchester, MD, alt. Dr. Louis C. Murray, MD
Board of Osteopathic Medicine: Dr. Robert Panzer, DO, alt. Dr. Archie H. McLean
The Florida Bar (Kenneth Rubin, alt. Mary Alice Ferrell)
and the Florida Nurses Association: Cathy Emmett, alt. Dr. Georgie C. Labadie;

One member appointed by the President of the Senate
The Honorable Ron Klein (D-Boca Raton), alt. Kelly Skidmore;

One member appointed by the Speaker of the House
The Honorable Dr. Robert Brooks, MD (elected Chair of the Panel);

One person representing the Commission on Aging with Dignity
Jim Towey (aide to Gov. Lawton Chiles); alt. Jackie Roberts;

Two persons appointed by the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy at FSU, including a member of the clergy
Dr. Marie E. Cowart, alt. Dr. Penny A. Ralston;
Dr. Leo Sandon;

One person representing the Health Quality Assurance Division of the Agency for Health Care Administration
Marshall E. Kelley, alt. Dr. Susan Acker;

The Secretary of Elder Affairs, and one consumer representative appointed by the Secretary
Secretary of Elder Affairs: E. Bentley Lipscomb (Executive Director, Florida AARP circa 1999), alt. June Noel
consumer representative: Stan Godleski

In addition to these 22 members, the Panel invited bioethicist/journalist Kenneth Goodman, and Lofty Basta, MD, as advisors.

The Panel was responsible for changes in advance directives laws enacted in 1999 (see below).
http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

(Meanwhile, back at Last Acts: Midwest Bioethics Center tracked the progress of state EMS-DNR protocols with the help of the ABA. In a March, 1999, newsletter, Midwest Bioethics produced a map of the US indicating that Florida's EMS-DNR protocols had been created by statute, but were limited to terminal diagnosis.)

Aug-Oct. 1999- In August, 1999, the Florida Panel for End of Life Care produces report and recommendations. By October, new legislation is passed based on those recommendations. Choice in Dying (a/k/a Partnership for Caring) hails its passage:

“The State of Florida recently amended the Health Care Advance Directives Act to expand the definition of when life-support may be withheld or withdrawn. Effective October 1, 1999, Florida residents may state, in a living will, their wishes regarding the providing, withholding, or withdrawing of life-prolonging procedures when they are in a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or become persistently vegetative. Prior to these amendments, life-prolonging measures could be withheld or withdrawn only in terminal medical situations. Choice In Dying … recommends that Florida residents complete the new living will in order to ensure that end of life wishes are honored."

"Do-not-resuscitate orders ...will now be valid not only in the community when filled out, but in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, and assisted living facilities as well. The law will prohibit health care facilities from having the patient fill out a new advance directive once they have (and provide) a current one. The statutes also add 'end-stage condition' as an additional condition that will permit the withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures. Pain will be encouraged as a “fifth vital sign” in health care facilities and offices. Also created is a new pathway whereby a person in a persistent vegetative state, who has no advance directive and no health care proxy or surrogate, may have life-prolonging procedures withheld or withdrawn. Physicians and other health care providers will be encouraged to take continuing medical education courses on end-of-life and palliative care through statutory changes, and the Departments of Health and Elder Affairs will both have new roles to play in additional education of providers and the public on end-of-life care. "

http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

Oct/Nov 1999RWJF launches Florida Partnership for End-of-Life Care: Samira Beckwith and Florida Hospices and Palliative Care (Tallahassee) receive $449,960 from RWJF to launch the Florida Partnership for End-of-Life Care. Part of the grant goes to the Univ. of Florida's College of Medicine Program in Bioethics, Law, and Medical Program in Bioethics, Law and Medical Professionlism.

A description of the Partnership remains in the archive of the Midwest Bioethics site, here. Also read the two newsletters still online at the original Florida Partnership site. In addition, Florida Bioethics Network reported in their Summer, 2000, newsletter, that they would play a key role in the venture (Bill Allen of Florida Bioethics Network was co-investigator on the Florida Partnership project).

Five entities provided the nucleus of the Partnership:
1) Florida Hospices & Palliative Care in Tallahassee
Principal Investigator: Samira Beckwith, MSW (CEO of HOPE Hospice, Ft. Myers; President, FL Hospices & Palliative Care);
Project Director: Lynne Mulder (Executive Director, FL Hospices & Palliative Care);
Later: Susanne Homant from Michigan
2) Florida Department of Health
Freida Travis - EMS (had advised the Panel)
3) Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
Anne Menard, MSW
4) Florida Department of Elder Affairs
Linda Macdonald, MS
5) Bioethics departments at two universities (Florida Bioethics Network):
University of Florida College of Medicine's Program in Medical Ethics, Law, and Humanities (later called the Program in Bioethics, Law, and Medical Professionalism)
Co-Investigator: William (Bill) Allen, J.D.
Ray Moseley, PhD (from Georgetown KIE)
James Wagner, Ph.D., M.Div.
University of Miami's Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy
Kenneth Goodman, Ph.D.(philosophy, theoretical linguistics, journalism)
[At the same time, RWJF awards $450,000 to Susanne Homant, MBA, and Michigan Hospice & Palliative Care, to create the Michigan Partnership to Advance End of Life Care. Susan Homant would move to Florida where she would become executive director of Florida Hospices and Palliative Care, as well as registered lobbyist for NAMI Florida (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill). As head of FHPC, she would also lead the Florida Partnership for EOLC.]

Medical futility guidelines published by Health Council of South Florida
June 2000- Senator Rone Klein (D, Boca Raton; an endorsee of America Coming Together) introduced SB 1890 in March. By May 4 the bill passed both houses, and in mid-June was signed into law by the governor.

SB 1890 built on changes to advance directive statutes were initiated with the 1999 legislation. The 2000 bill made changes related to palliative care, including extending portability of DNR orders -- EMS to hospital. Extends portability of DNR orders; organ donation was added to health care surrogate form; removes the words "mentally and physically" in reference to capacity or incapacity.

See FBN newsletter, Summer, 2000, pg. 6 for details (article by bioethicists Jane Hendricks, JD)

Sept 2000- Moyers' On Our Own Terms

An August 2001 snapshot of the Florida Partnership web site shows that the Partnership's end-of-life coalitions were in gear prior to the September airing of the Moyers series. Coalitions were busy promoting the series and framing the issues in anticipation of community dialogue. For example, with the help of the local PBS affiliate, the Dade coalition created paycheck stuffers with information on the Moyers special.

Though Cyndi Ramal probably directed the Dade County coalition at the time of the Moyers series, this August 2001 directory indicates that Alex Fiuza became coalition leader later on. Fiuza is host of a program on Radio Paz, is community liaison for Catholic Hospice, and was high-profile on a national level as member of the board of advisors for RWJF-funded Diversity Resource Center in Washington DC. The Diversity Resource Center was one of the four resource centers for the national Rallying Points program. Fiuza was also Public Assistance Specialist with the Florida Department of Children and Families; Human Services Analyst for the Agency for Health Care Administration, and Elderly Services case manager for Dade County.

Mike Bell, listed as coalition leader for Pinellas County, was VP Development/Community Relations at Hospice for the Florida Suncoast; a member of Partnership for Caring; coordinator for all of the Florida coalitions; and would be on the advisory board for the Clergy End of Life Education Project.

Cathy Emmett, leader of the Manatee/Sarasota/DeSoto/Charlo tte coalition, was also a member of the Florida Bioethics Network

http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

Florida Bioethics Network listed the coalition leaders as of January 2001:

1. Kim Willis - Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, & Gulf

2. Laurie Ward - Gadsden, Liberty, Franklin, Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson, Madison & Taylor

3. Elaine Brown - Nassau, Duval, Clay, St. Johns

4. Judy Hury - Hamilton, Suwannee, Columbia, Baker, Union, Lafayette, Bradford, Gilcrest, Alachua, Dixie, Putnam, Levy

5. Suzanne Reynolds - Marion

6. Jennifer Bachman - Volusia & Flagler

7. Jean West - Citrus

8. Lee Hansen - Lake & Sumter

9. Sherri Blank - Seminole, Orange, Osecola

10. Hernando/Pasco - no active coalition in Jan. 2001

11. Marie Danser - Polk, Hardee, Highlands

12. Brevard - no active coalition in Jan. 2001

13. Mike Bell - Pinellas

14. Susan Lang - Hillsborough

15. Karen Lampert-Riley - Indian River

16. Cathy Emmett - Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, Charlotte [Cathy Emmett was affiliated with Florida Bioethics Network]

17. Mary Jane Kelly - Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Martin

18. Linda Nelson - Glades, Hendry, Lee, Collier

19. Sue Deakin - Palm Beach

20. Kim Parsley - Broward

21. Cyndi Ramal - Monroe, Dade

June 2000- The legislature also created an 18-member End-of-Life Care Workgroup to continue work begun by the Panel in 1998-99. The Workgroup made recommendations to the legislature in early 2001 (see Florida Bioethics Newsletter, Fall 2000 / Winter 2001; pg 8).

http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

Agency for Health Care Administration: Susan Acker, R.N., Ph.D.
Florida Assisted Living Association: Henry Pearson

Florida Association of Health Maintenance Organization: Sharon Zill, Ph.D.

Florida Association of Homes for the Aging: Marshall Seiden

Florida Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors: Julia Herndon

Florida Department of Elder Affairs: Gema G. Hernandez, D.P.A., and Marshall Kelley

Florida Department of Health: Freida B. Travis

Florida Health Care Associations: Howard Tuch, M.D.

Florida House of Representatives: Representative Heather Fiorentino

Florida Hospital Association: Susan White, Ph.D.

Florida Hospices and Palliative Care, Inc: Samira Beckwith, MSW

Florida Life Care Residents Association: Peg Terbeek,

Member Florida Medical Association: Alvin E. Smith, M.D.

Florida Nurses Association: Cathy Emmett, ARNP

Florida Osteopathic Medical Association: JoAnne Bujnoski, D.O.

Florida Pharmacy Association: James Powers

Florida Senate: Senator Ron Klein

Florida State Oriental Medical Association: Richard Freiberg, D.O.M., D.Ac, Dipl. Ac.
The Workgroup's recommendations borrowed heavily from Last Acts, even quoting directly from "Precepts of Palliative Care" in order to define the term "palliative care."

Jan 2001- Karen Kaplan (Partnership for Caring) kicks off Rallying Points with a conference in California. Attending from Florida Partnership were:

Marty Ratliff, Project GRACE

Linda Nelson (SW Florida Coalition)

Liz Bradley, Dignity Memorial

Kathy Brandt, Hospice Institute of FL Suncoast

Sherri Blank, Central Florida coalition

Debbie Harley, Hospice of Volusia/Flagler CEO

Jennifer Bachman, Volusia/Flagler coalition

Casey Clark, Florida Partnership

Danielle Hopkins, Florida Partnership

http://www.lifetree.org/timeline/florida.html

2002- Tampa: Center for Hospice, Palliative Care and End-of-Life Studies. USF collaborative with Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, LifePath Hospice in Tampa, and Moffitt Cancer Center.(Susan McMillan, University of South Florida professor, was a principal in the Center's founding. McMillan was PI for two NIH grants at University of South Florida, totalling over $1.2 million from 1995-2001) Opening conference: Mary Raymer (PDIA; NHPCO; Michigan Hospice), Florence Wald (PAS proponent); Susan McMillan, Ronald Schonwetter.

2002- At regional meeting of Last Acts in Tampa, NAACP announces it has joined Last Acts

July 2002- Statewide Hospice Clergy Education Enhancement Project is launched. The 1999 Panel had recommended EOL educational programs, so the legislature followed up with appropriations for a Clergy Education project. The Hospice Foundation of America directed the project, which was later dubbed Clergy End-of-Life Education Project, and the Department of Elder Affairs (Terry White and Linda Macdonald) provided administration.
The EOL coalitions of the Florida Partnership helped identify trainers.

Nov 2002- November 22: Ronald Cranford, MD testifies at the request of Michael Schiavo. Dr. Cranford had been a board member of Choice in Dying.(Choice in Dying is the special interest group that changed its name to Partnership for Caring in 2000).

Yes, the 1999 law allowed Michael to complete his quest. While case law existed, Florida statutry law had not caught up. This 1999 law allowed for that to make easier to end Terri Schiavo's life.

Svaha wrote:

<quoted text>
yeah, yeah yeah. To bad the Schindlers mothers didn't have you to speak for them before their ungrateful children put them to death. Oh THAT's right Nana. The Schindlers CAN kill their own mothers with yours and James' blessing. It's only Mr Schiavo who you despise for doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING. Only HE went through the court and Mrs Schiavo spoke through the court. The Schindler mothers had no such buffer and were at the mercy of their children. Being the good Christian person you are obviously aware of the commandment "honor thy father and thy mother" which apparently the Schindlers get a free pass with that commandment too. How very generous you and James are but only to certain people:-)

Oh I guess the $23,450,000.00 mentioned in just this 1 link alone went right OVER your head! And the OVER 23 MILLION DOLLAR$ the RADICAL DEATH ACTIVIST received is just the TIP of the iceberg. AT the pace the RADICAL DEATH ACTIVIST are receiving MILLION$ it could be into the BILLION($) by now. YEP, A LOT of MONEY is being put in the pockets of the RADICAL DEATH ACTIVIST to carry out their RADICAL PRO-DEATH AGENDA.

ONCE MORE for svaha AND I WILL TYPE IT S-L-O-W-L-Y so maybe this time Y-O-U can U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-N-D:

THE SCHINDLER'S did N-O-T P-I-N-C-H their nose
S-H-U-T, did N-O-T put a P-I-L-L-O-W over their
F-A-C-E, did N-O-T put their H-A-N-D over their M-O-U-T-H to S-T-O-P them from
B-R-E-A-T-H-I-N-G.

A-L-L of Terri's N-U-T-R-I-T-I-O-N and
H-Y-D-R-A-T-I-O-N was R-E-M-O-V-E-D.
N-A-T-U-R-A-L and T-U-B-E F-E-E-D-I-N-G-S.
This W-A-S P-R-E-M-E-D-I-T-A-T-E-D so Terri
W-O-U-L-D D-I-E.

imo

james wrote:

Yes, the 1999 law allowed Michael to complete his quest. While case law existed, Florida statutry law had not caught up. This 1999 law allowed for that to make easier to end Terri Schiavo's life.

So, did a law exist when the Schindlers completed THEIR quest to end the lives of their mothers? Oh, that's right, it was perfectly okay with you good "Christian" people for the Schindlers to murder their mothers. So much for "honor thy father and mother" (unless you want them DEAD of course;-)

james wrote:

Yes, the 1999 law allowed Michael to complete his quest. While case law existed, Florida statutry law had not caught up. This 1999 law allowed for that to make easier to end Terri Schiavo's life.

OUR TAX DOLLARS are being given by the MILLION$ to line the pockets of RADICAL
PRO-DEATH ACTIVIST that are promoting a RADICAL PRO-DEATH AGENDA. imo

Nana wrote:

<quoted text>
Oh I guess the $23,450,000.00 mentioned in just this 1 link alone went right OVER your head! And the OVER 23 MILLION DOLLAR$ the RADICAL DEATH ACTIVIST received is just the TIP of the iceberg. AT the pace the RADICAL DEATH ACTIVIST are receiving MILLION$ it could be into the BILLION($) by now. YEP, A LOT of MONEY is being put in the pockets of the RADICAL DEATH ACTIVIST to carry out their RADICAL PRO-DEATH AGENDA.
ONCE MORE for svaha AND I WILL TYPE IT S-L-O-W-L-Y so maybe this time Y-O-U can U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-N-D:
THE SCHINDLER'S did N-O-T P-I-N-C-H their nose
S-H-U-T, did N-O-T put a P-I-L-L-O-W over their
F-A-C-E, did N-O-T put their H-A-N-D over their M-O-U-T-H to S-T-O-P them from
B-R-E-A-T-H-I-N-G.
A-L-L of Terri's N-U-T-R-I-T-I-O-N and
H-Y-D-R-A-T-I-O-N was R-E-M-O-V-E-D.
N-A-T-U-R-A-L and T-U-B-E F-E-E-D-I-N-G-S.
This W-A-S P-R-E-M-E-D-I-T-A-T-E-D so Terri
W-O-U-L-D D-I-E.
imo

Actually, there was no intent to cause death. Your last sentence is in conflict with medicine and law and ethics. And that isn't my opinion; it's a fact.

Using your logic, Nana, Terri did not have her jaws wired shut, her esophagus mechanically blocked, or her muscles of peristalsis paralyzed. Nobody ordered her to not swallow consciously. Nobody atrophied her tongue.

Removing ANH from a person who cannot consciously swallow is NO DIFFERENT -- in principle -- from removing mechanical ventilation from a person who cannot breathe. The only difference is the specific futile treatment and the specific underlying medical condition. Why should it be okay to stop one machine that replaces a lost vital physiologic function but not another?? ANH differs from natural food and water because of its method of delivery, its composition, and its constitution. EXACTLY the same ways that the "air" blown through a ventilator tube differs from the air we breathe.

Not pinching off the nose is comparable to not blocking the esophagus. Not placing a pillow over the face is comparable to not wiring the jaw shut. Not stopping breathing with your hand is comparable to not stopping peristalsis. So what happened to Terri mirrors exactly what happened to the mothers of the Schindlers.

Not providing Terri with natural food and water is comparable to not providing the Schindlers' mothers with oxygen. Failure to provide is NOT the same as taking away. Terri did NOT have food and water "taken away" -- just like the Schindlers' mothers did not have oxygen "taken away."

The point is that in all 3 cases -- Terri's and the mothers of the Schindlers -- there was cessation of life sustaining treatment that was considered futile. That underlying principle trumps any case specific differences.

Nana wrote:

<quoted text>
OUR TAX DOLLARS are being given by the MILLION$ to line the pockets of RADICAL
PRO-DEATH ACTIVIST that are promoting a RADICAL PRO-DEATH AGENDA. imo

You think it is a bad thing to increase funding and awareness for palliative and end-of-life medical issues?

Svaha wrote:

<quoted text>
So, did a law exist when the Schindlers completed THEIR quest to end the lives of their mothers? Oh, that's right, it was perfectly okay with you good "Christian" people for the Schindlers to murder their mothers. So much for "honor thy father and mother" (unless you want them DEAD of course;-)

I wonder about that myself seeing as how the Schindler "murders" took place in PA.

Someone better launch an inquiry into their deaths right away as I'm almost confident that "Daddy-No Bucks" had greenbacks on the brain which served as the motive he needed to suffocate his mother to death.

After the "murder" in 1985 that would explain why "Daddy-No Bucks" hightailed it to his condo in Fla. before the fuzz in PA. caught on to his "murder for money" scheme.Then "Mommy dearest" had the gall years later to off her mother in exchange for some greenbacks of her own as well....man the things a Schindler WON'T say or do to make a buck!

http://blog.bioethics.net/2005/03/have-conser...

The Terri Schiavo Case: Following the Money
The Philanthropy Roundtable is a collection of foundations that have funded conservative causes ranging from abolition of Social Security to anti-tax crusades and United Nations conspiracy theories. The Roundtable members' founders include scions of America's wealthiest families, including Richard Mellon Scaife (heir to the Mellon industrial, oil and banking fortune), Harry Bradley (electronics), Joseph Coors (beer), and the Smith Richardson family (pharmaceutical products).

I found a Web site called mediatransparency.com which tracks funding for these foundations. Using just that Web site and the Schindlers' own site, terrisfight.org , I learned of a network of funding connections between some of the Philanthropy Roundtable's members and various organizations behind the Schindlers, their lawyers and supporters, and the lawyers who represented Gov. Bush in Bush v. Schiavo.

Here are a few examples:

Schindler lawyer Pat Anderson "was paid directly" by the anti-abortion Life Legal Defense Foundation, which "has already spent over $300,000 on this case," according to the foundation's Web site. Much of the support for Life Legal Defense Foundation, in turn, comes from the Alliance Defense Fund, an anti-gay rights group which collected more than $15 million in private donations in 2002 and admits to having spent money on the Schiavo case "in the six figures," according to a recent article in the Palm Beach Post. Mediatransparency.org states that between 1994 and 2002, the Alliance Defense Fund received $142,000 from Philanthropy Roundtable members that include the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation and the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation.

Wesley Smith and Rita Marker also work for organizations that get funding from Roundtable members. Smith is a paid senior fellow with the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that advocates the teaching of creationist "intelligent design" theory in public schools. Between 1993 and 1997, the Discovery Institute received $175,000 from the Bradley Foundation. Marker is executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia, which lobbies against physician-assisted suicide. In 2001, Marker's organization received $110,390 from the Randolph Foundation, an affiliate of the Smith Richardson family.

Roundtable members also played a role in financing the Bush v. Schiavo litigation.

The Family Research Council, which uses its annual $10 million budget to lobby for prayer in public schools and against gay marriage, filed an amicus curiae brief in Bush v. Schiavo supporting Gov. Bush, at the same time its former president, attorney Kenneth Connor, was representing the governor in that litigation. Between 1992 and 2000, the council received $215,000 from the Bradley Foundation.

Another amicus brief backing Bush was filed by a coalition of disability rights organizations that included the National Organization on Disability and the World Institute on Disability. The former received $810,000 between 1991 and 2002 from the Scaife Family Foundations, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, and the JM Foundation; the latter received $20,000 in 1997 from the JM Foundation.

These connections may be just the tip of the iceberg. I'm no Woodward or Bernstein. I got this information using only the most rudimentary Google skills. I imagine that a thorough search by a seasoned investigator would yield quite a bit more.