[lbo-talk] Schiavo: case closed, sez WashPost

[jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net]

> This is what I found on Cranford.  He is well  known to the 
> disability activists.
> marta
> 
> >Meet Ronald Cranford, Doctor of Death
> >
> >Ronald Cranford, the medical expert in the Terri Schiavo case who 
> >delivered the diagnosis of PVS, is certainly not a neutral expert. 
> >He apparently has been stumping the country arguing for withdrawal 
> >of feeding tubes left and right.
> >
> >Here is an article in which he argues that feeding tubes should be 
> >removed - not only from PVS patients, but from Alzheimers patients 
> >as well.
> >
> >It's astonishing that someone sworn to heal takes such an aggressive 
> >stance towards assisting death - most of it is his personal opinion 
> >that the lives of the disabled are not worth living. The article 
> >makes clear that Cranford is truly a doctor of death - a strong 
> >advocate of physician assisted suicide.
> >
> >He rails against the "right to lifers" interfering with his desire 
> >to hasten the deaths of patients. But those troublesome "Right to 
> >Lifers" now includes the Pope - who has issued a directive that 
> >supplying food and water are not "artificial means".
> >
> >Cranford may have a point - when older people are truly at the end 
> >of life and are only being kept alive by artificial means. But he 
> >strongly considers a feeding tube to be "artificial means". And it 
> >seems he wants to spread his doctrine to all persons suffering 
> >disability - not just those near the end of life. If you are 
> >impaired, he would rather be rid of you.
> >
> >People at the end of life are one thing. But Schiavo is perfectly 
> >healthy, and just requires food and water. And how about the 
> >Wendland case? There, a wife wanted to pull the feeding tubes on her 
> >husband. He was not in PVS; he was able to interact with his 
> >environment. He could play with a ball, watched sports on TV, he 
> >painted, he responded to commands, he had various moods - but 
> >Cranford thought he should be killed.
> >
> >There appears to be an entire underground industry devoted to 
> >killing the crippled on the theory that they are being kind to them 
> >by killing them.

By what weird standard is Schiavo "perfectly healthy"? A nonexistent cerebral cortex hardly 
qualifies one as the picture of health. It isn't just non-functional, it has degraded to the point 
that its existence is highly questionable.
Since there is no possibility of recovering from Alzheimers letting patients severely afflicted die 
seems more than reasonable also. This stance doesn't seem to make Cranford anti-disabled 
as this article tries to suggest. Where does Cranford say that "all persons suffering from 
disabilities, not just those nearing the end" should be terminated? What person wrote this crap 
above?
Another personal tale. Rex, an very elderly gentlemen, is in a long term care facility. He needs 
to be sedated and restrained as he is extremely combative. He has had Alzheimers for some 
years now. He is a WWII vet who spent two years in a concentration camp. His mind has 
regressed to the point that he believes he is in that camp again. That is part of the reason for 
his combativeness. He has escaped several times only to be caught running through a field 
nearby, generally naked. He is confused when the police return him to the "camp". He no 
longer remembers family members. His quality of life is something less than excellent. Why 
should this man be put through the horror of believing he is in a concentration camp? Wasn't 
once enough? We know he isn't in one but, since he truly believes he is, he is suffering as 
much mental anguish as if he were. Why do we have this squeamishness over killing people 
like this? Why isn't Schiavos husbands desire for closure and a return to a better quality of life 
more important that keeping a person alive who physically cannot recover? A person is their 
mind not their body. Lose the mind and you have lost the person.
I'm glad there are doctors like Cranford "stumping the country arguing for withdrawal of feeding 
tubes left and right". I wish there were more doctors willing to do so.

John Thornton 
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