Marta Russell wrote:
>>Gary Williams wrote:
>>Anyhow, Sue Rodriguez petitioned the government for the right to end
>>her own life. But who shows up to stop her? Precisely the same
>>groups. The Anti-abortion crowd came up and got the "Persons With
>>Disabilities" activists riled up with the same rhetoric (You're
>>next!) and we had a circus identical to the one in Florida. Many of
>>the players names were the same. I wouldn't doubt if Marta was
>>there. She certainly heard about it.
>
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> I did not hear of this case and I was not there. It is just
> incredulous how you make assumptions about a person you don't even
> know. Seems I've become the whipping post for anyone who wants to
> jump in. It is sickening not to mention disillusioning.
>
>
>>So... in any case, Sue lost. The "God (read that 'the Church') owns
>>you" crowd were successful in insuring that Sue died of suffocation,
>>one of the most frightening experiences that a person can possibly
>>undergo.
>
>
> Didn't they give her morphine and other drugs to take away the fear
> and pain? My mother had pulmonary failure from pneumonia and was in
> intensive care for 2 weeks on a respirator. In the end she was not
> able to regain lung function and technically you could say that she
> died of suffocation because when they removed the respirator per her
> prior written instructions she could not breathe. She did not know
> much, if any, of this because the doctor and I saw to it that she had
> plenty of morphine and one other drug that I cannot recall its name
> and was resting in no pain and no fear. My daughter, cousin and
> myself were there to hold her hand when she died. She did not
> squeeze my hand and there was no response. She died very peacefully
> in a short period of time. So I'm telling you there is a way to
> transition a situation like this - by using medicine.
>
>
> I'm REALLY DISGUSTED by this attack on me. If you wanted to drive me
> from being active on this list you have succeeded.
>
> Marta
>
>
Not at all. All I would ask of you is that you be more careful of the
groups with whom you hitch your wagon to in future. Protecting the
rights of the disabled is a highly commendable path in life for you to
have chosen. But you have done them... and yourself... a *huge*
disservice by first; implying that the right to die peacefully is
somehow connected to some desire to kill the disabled; and secondly,
that the rights of the disabled are somehow connected to the Randall
Terry brand of religious tyranny.
Your true friends are precisely the people you have enraged by aligning yourself with the religious right. Believe me, they care nothing about you or the disabled...just your numbers at rallies and ballot boxes.
Gary Williams