Friday, April 08, 2005

Cure for Glaucoma and Heart Disease?

Grandmama is old ... has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?

Glenn Beck's Interview with Kenneth Mullinax (AUDIO), nephew and cousin of the family, who believes the answer to the granddaughter's query is that it is grandma who indeed wants "to live with disabilities like these".

You have been told that if you have a living will which declares that you do not want to be euthanized unless you are in a persistent vegetative state, that you will be saved from court ordered starvation? Think again. An 81-year-old widow, neither terminally ill, comatose nor in a 'vegetative state' is being denied nourishment and fluids at another of those infamous hospices, this one in Georgia. Mae Magouirk had written a living will which was totally ignored by the medical team and her 36 year old granddaughter, Beth Gaddy. Two weeks ago, Mrs. Magouirk was a woman living alone, while relying upon her granddaughter to do errands. She was hospitalized for a severe, aortic problem and placed in intensive care. At the time of her admission she was lucid and had never been diagnosed with dementia. After her medical problem was corrected, her granddaughter had her transfered to the hospice, claiming that she held power of attorney for her grandmother, and once at the hospice, Ms. Gaddy demanded that the elderly woman be denied food, water or intravenous feeding. She told her grandmother's siblings who were legally the next of kin, "Grandmama is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus. She has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?" When the next of kin spoke up and had the feeding and hydration restored to their relative, the granddaughter went to court and had herself legally appointed guardian.

Ron Panzer, president and founder of Hospice Patients Alliance, said what is happening to Magouirk is not at all unusual. "This is happening in hospices all over the country," he said. "Patients who are not dying – are not terminal – are admitted [to hospice] and the hospice will say they are terminally ill even if they're not. There are thousands of cases like this. Patients are given morphine and ativan to sedate them. If feeding is withheld, they die within 10 days to two weeks. It's really just a form of euthanasia."

If you are an heir, you may have to decide between euthanasia and years of nursing home care which can sustantially diminish an elderly relative's monetary estate. That may be money that you were hoping to inherit. Does it matter that perhaps Granny saved that money for her old age, so that she could be properly cared for without being a financial burden to you?

Woman, 81, at center of feeding tube feud

WorldNetDaily: Granddaughter yanks grandma's feeding tube.

Helping Mae Magouirk: More cages to rattle

Starving an Old Woman

Eager to Inherit

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