Dean blasts Jeb Bush & Florida legislature over Schiavo case

[pruner]

Dean blasts governor over Schiavo case
Howard Dean says he is 'appalled' by Jeb Bush and the Legislature's moves in ordering a feeding tube reinserted into a brain-damaged woman.

BY PETER WALLSTEN
[e-mail]

TALLAHASSEE - Saying Florida Republicans should be ''embarrassed'' by their handling of a nationally watched right-to-die case, Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean accused Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature of interfering in a private matter when they ordered a feeding tube reinserted into the body of a brain-damaged woman.

Speaking just three blocks from the governor's office, Dean told a crowd that he was ''appalled'' by Bush and Republican lawmakers' move last month to overturn a court order and keep Terri Schiavo from dying after living for 13 years in a vegetative state.

''I'm tired of people in the Legislature thinking that they have an MD when what they really have is a BS,'' Dean, a physician and former Vermont governor, said to thunderous applause from about 200 lunching at the Capital Tiger Bay Club, a bipartisan group of Tallahassee movers and shakers.

Dean also lambasted Florida's Republican governor for his refusal to end the state's ban on gay adoptions. Earlier in the day, Bush unveiled a program aimed at finding homes for thousands of foster children -- but reaffirmed the ban on gay adoption while endorsing adoptions by single parents.

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7184741.htm

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. The woman is brain damaged...she's not a freaking vegetable...

She's responding to people...how in the hell can you deny food and water to someone who's awake and breathing on their own? The case has a lot of weirdness to it, like the suspicious broken bones all over her body when the ambulance picked her up. Her husband is suspected of trying to kill her. If he doesn't want her anymore, why doesn't he just divorce her? It'd be sooo much easier.
Duckie

[bleedingheart]

3. she can't eat on her own

If there were broken bones all over her body...why didn't the state of Florida arrest her husband 13 years ago? Where is the evidence the proof of this?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. So what if she can't eat on her own...

She supposedly had a fall...I'm just talking about what I heard...I don't know if it's absolute or not...But I think it's crazy to kill someone because they can't eat on their own, even though they are responsive and breathing on their own.
Duckie

[maha]

6. She's not responsive.

"She" is gone. Her brain cortex is gone.

[maha]

5. No, she isn't responding to people.

She appears to respond to people, but that's just reflex. Her brain cortex is gone; therefore, "she" isn't there any more. No thought, no consciousness, no awareness, no cognition, no recognition. The part of her brain that controls those things has atrophied away. She has enough brain stem left so that involuntary movement (heartbeat; breathing) remains. Her facial expressions, movements, etc. are also involuntary, meaning they're just caused by randomly firing neurons. "She" is not directing them.

[bleedingheart]

2. you know what is funny about letting singles adopt but not gays?

the fact that the Repubs are the ones who are trying to push marriage on everyone with kids ...for the sake of those kids but they are okay with singles adopting but not healthy happy gay couples...just seems so inane.

Why not let good people adopt no matter their marital or sexual preference?

[KittyWampus]

7. Good On Dean!

Glad to hear him speak up on both issues.

[Kolesar]

8. The Physician should speak up about this

I went through a situation like this when the nursing home insisted on putting a feeding tube into my father, after he had had a stroke. I had family members who caved in to the pressure and intimidation that the nursing home social director put on them, and "out voted" me. They put a feeding tube in through my father's nose although he was already showing signs of organ failure or "shutting down". He died in a few days after exhibiting all sorts of digestive problems that I do not wish to discuss.

Damn those absolutists, making decisions to cover their hides "Nobody is allowed to starve at Glenview". Damn you Jeb Bush, pandering to your psycho christian constituents.

Speak up Doctor Dean, you are the front runner and the new head of the Democratic Party. Give 'em hell.

[shance]

9. Governor Dean is bringing out the best in the Democratic party.

I make another observation why Governor is the kind of person I want leading this government. He RESPONDS to wrong doing and he speaks to what our hearts know to be the truth.

This deal in Florida was and is an outrage,not to mention an important issue, and an issue that I know I looked at and thought once again, they are assaulting what is true and what is right here in our country for their own agenda. But like so many other things Republicans do, it seems it was largely accepted as, just another Republican agenda driven maneuver.

I havent heard any responses from any other candidates on this, and so if any candidates have responded, I am grateful and would love to see their responses. But this response, like so many other responses by Governor Dean shows why he is the person he is, why he does care, and why he is giving 150% to this election and candidacy, not to mention country, and why he is such an awesome leader.