The No Kool Aid Zone

The Slide from Terri to Mae…

Posted by Byron April 10, 2005 at 1:28 pm
Filed Under Matters of Life and Death | 1 Comment |

Heard of Mae Magouirk? She is Exhibit 1 under the category of “The Slippery Slide from Terri Schiavo to Barbarism”. According to this must-read article from WorldNetDaily.com, Mae has a living will which states that she does not want to be denied nourishment and hydration except in the case that she were either comatose or in the ignominious “persistent vegetative state”, a la Terri Schiavo. She is not terminally ill, nor comatose, nor “PVS”.

What she has, according to her nephew, is a heart condition that is serious, but treatable, as well as glaucoma. Plus, she is old (81). This, along with “prayer” in which she became convinced that Jesus wanted Grandma to go live with him, convinced her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, to put her in a hospice (why did a hospice accept a non-terminally-ill patient) in LaGrange, Georgia, so that Grandma could be starved to death, denied a feeding tube and hydration. Denied even artifical tears for her eyes, which cannot produce tears. Despite her signed living will to the contrary , Mae Magouirk is being starved to death.

Now, I learned of this on Friday, but due to my schedule, I’ve not been able to blog since Thursday evening. There is some good news at last in this case; read this article.

Here’s a quote from the first article that deserves reading and consideration:

Ron Panzer, president and founder of Hospice Patients Alliance, a patients’ rights advocacy group based in Michigan, told WND that 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.”

A few thoughts:

1. Jesus did not tell Beth Gaddy to send Granny home to Heaven. Beth Gaddy is described by a friend as a “devout Christian”. OK…but she is a “devout Christian” who doesn’t have a Biblical worldview, nor understand some clear issues that flow therefrom. Wow.

2. Is that last quote above making you wonder about hospices? Should Godbloggers begin to ask some questions about the current state of hospice care in America? Are any hospice people listening out there, and do they want their industry to come under close scrutiny for killing people?

3. Praise the Lord that Mae is being cared for now as she should be. And shame on Beth Gaddy for, whatever her motive, fighting to have her granny starved to death.

4. The slippery slope is looking to me like it has the makings of an avalanche…