Friday, May 19, 2006

SEDATE, WAIT, INITIATE!
ANDREA CLARK'S SISTER, LANORE, AGREES!
Bioethicking death Protocol:

Leslie,

This is exactly what happened to Andrea. The night before they initiated the "pain management" program, Andrea told me, "I miss you." This, despite the fact she'd had a "devastating" bleed in her brain a couple of weeks before. Beginning the day the hospital began their pain management program, I lost more and more of my sister. The first week she was still communicating, though she was knocked out. Every week after, her communications grew more faint and more far between. By the last week, she seemed to be gone somewhere else, even though her pain meds had been cut considerably by her new doctor.

You're right. This is exactly what they do. Why is this not considered murder? If giving a patient an overdose of pain medication to cause death is unethical, which I was told by the chief ethicist at St. Luke's, that it is indeed unethical, then why is a slow overdose to cause death any more ethical? Is it more ethical because it's harder to prove? Is ethics just a matter of evidence?

Lanore Dixon
PRAY AND ACT TO SAVE KELLY MEYER
Prevent another Terri starvation!

"Thank you. I'll start on the e-mail now, and make a call first thing in the morning. Do you think it would also be a good idea to call MO Right to Life (573-635-5110)?"

Good. I think helping others is something Terri would have wanted us to do, and more importantly, God wants us to help others.

It wouldn't hurt to call MO RTL. They might have some suggestions.

To All: If there are any especially good knowledgeable talkers among us, please call Westchester House at 314-469-1200, and ask to speak with Kelly Meyer's family to tell them how tough it is to die by dehydration.