Talk:Terri Schiavo

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[edit] Ludacris

Didn't Ludacris write a song about Terri? Should that be mentioned in the pop culture section? 75.60.169.46 (talk) 15:04, 28 February 2008 (UTC) My mistake - it was not done by Ludacris. 75.60.169.46 (talk) 17:23, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Status of federal law

I'm leaving this note because I changed the summary to remove the statement that the federal law was struck down; since another user put that statement back in, I thought I'd explain my change.

Though the federal district court and the Eleventh Circuit declined to issue a TRO, both courts reached this result without determining whether Pub. L. No. 109-3 was constitutional or not. The district court stated that while "there may be substantial issues concerning the constitutionality of the Act, for purposes of considering temporary injunctive relief, the Act is presumed to be constitutional." 357 F. Supp. 2d 1378, page 1383. The Eleventh Circuit also did not decide whether the law was constitutional: "Defendants contend that the legislation is so extraordinary that it is unconstitutional in several respects. We need not decide that question." 403 F.3d 1223, pages 1226-1227.

Note that one Eleventh Circuit judge did later express the view that the law was unconstitutional (404 F.3d 1270 (11th Cir. 2005)), but he was not speaking for the court. I'm not aware of any later case holding that the law was unconstitutional.--68.162.33.170 21:57, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

It's hard to address the constitutionality of a law under the circumstances - it was only ever applied once, and the decisions of the state court were upheld without addressing the constitutionality of the law, so that point was effectively moot. Cheers! bd2412 T 08:24, 24 December 2007 (UTC)


Could anyone address the instance where Terri Schiavo was supposedly laughing? Alan Keyes put it up on his website.

http://www.renewamerica.us/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.251.89.74 (talk) 20:45, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

There were various videos of Terri and some of them showed her smiling, laughing and verbalizing sounds, although she was unable to articulate words. She would do this in response to her parents, especially her father. These videos were once available on Terri's web site, but I don't know where they can be found today. Perhaps someone knows and can post fresh links.67.142.130.19 (talk) 20:16, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Citation needed

It might be trivial but I think that the sentence

"The manner of death was certified as "undetermined"."

needs citation. --Kushalt 16:32, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. bd2412 T 08:38, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Propaganda regarding the 'vegetative state' and also the photograph of Teri's brain as irrelevant. This woman was literally starved and dehydrated to death in this country under a judicial order, while still communicative and breathing without any artificial life support, other than basic sustenance - food and water.

Everything else is irrelevant. It was judicial and spousal murder, pure and simple.

Proganda. Both the commentary, and moral and legal conclusions. This disabled woman was literally starved and dehydrated to death, and posting photographs of her brain does not excuse what actually ocurred. She was communicative, and not being kept artifically alive except with the provision of basic sustenance - food and water, not 'artifically' in any respect, since even premature infants are hydrated and given good intravenously.

Whatever excuses are being made, she was judicially murdered, pure and simple.

As I mentioned above, there were numerous videos of Terri that showed she was not in a state of PVS, although I don't recall the national news showing those videos for the masses to see. Left with the stories fed by the poor quality media coverage, many Americans were mistakenly led to believe that Terry was "brain dead," in a coma, or in a "persistive vegetative state." If the media had covered Terri's plight the way they did the aftermath of Katrina, perhaps she would have had a bit of a fighting chance. People would have been able to see the real Terri, not the one fabricated by the mass media and government powers that be.67.142.130.19 (talk) 20:21, 16 April 2008 (UTC)