Rant: Avian Flu. When Tony Fauci says it's bad, it is really bad news.
Oh, Tony is the honcho at allergy and infectious disease at NIH - el Supremo Inf Dis Doc in the US.
M

Rave: Cajuns and their distant relatives eat snakes at any given opportunity - very lean and heart healthy.
M

Rave - This is the last Friday of winter!!! YEAH!!!

Rant - It's supposed to snow on Sunday, the first day of spring. BOO!

Rave - My new stove arrived yesterday. <i>Good-bye harvest-gold stove, which served me well for 27 years</i>.

Rave - I'm making Waterzooi for dinner tonight, one of my favorite dishes I discovered in Belgium (sense-memory to far away places).

Have a great weekend, everyone. Peace.

Robyn :)&gt;-

Patrick, I too understand the situation very well. We had to withdrawl life support on my Grandfather. My point was that the husband is not a victim by any means. You don't have to agree with me, I'm going by what I read in the news.

I have a living will so this will never be an issue for my family.

You be the judge.....

http://www.inclusionnewsdaily.com/ar...avomichael.htm

A few excerpts:

Why did Mr. Schiavo not mention his wife's wishes during 2 malpractice cases?

In late 1992, one of Terri's doctors settled a malpractice suit out of court for $250,000. The following January a jury awarded about 1.4 million to Terri and $600,000 to Michael in a suit because her gynecologist failed to ask her about her medical history while treating her.

Michael asked the jury to grant $20 million to pay for Terri's future medical and neurological requirements, based on her life expectance, which he and his attorneys estimated at 51 years. Michael also told the court he wanted to become a nurse sp he could help his wife as log as she lived.

I am not judging whether or not she should live.

It appears to all be over now, so may her soul rest in peace.

I just read Michael Schaivo's transcript interview on his Nightline appearance.

I must admit that my sympathy level for the man dropped substantially after reading it.

I picture him much differently now than just a grieving husband faced with a tough decision.

I don't know what his real motivations are, but his lawyer should keep him away from the media.

mms and starrsville,
No comment on my creds?
Are your docs HMO and/or... employees?
Best wishes for good health!
M

Rave: Leaving for San Francisco in the morning!

Rave: Booked a great fair to Paris for a solo trip this August!

Rave: Going to Maui in June!

Life ain't half bad!

Mikemo:
I'm a little confused with your statement that a &quot;living will&quot; needs to be HIPAA compliant or it is worthless. HIPAA is an acronym for Health Insurance Portability &amp; Accountability Act. This, in a brief description was designed to protect patients privacy (records releases). Nothing I have ever read about this act concludes that you need a new &quot;living will&quot;.
All of the HIPAA forms I have both seen and filled out, ask for a list of individuals and insurance co.'s that you authorize the release of medical information.

I'm not an expert, but I am an RN in a hospital setting, and my DH is an attorney. I've never heard of this being an issue.

Where it becomes an issue is when an individual has executed either a living trust or a power of attorney that confers authority on a third party in the event of incapacity. If an individual becomes incapacitated, and his documents state that his son, for example, becomes his trustee upon such incapacity, then in order to have signing authority over father's affairs, son has to obtain a written opinion from father's doctor documenting his incapacity. The concern is that due to HIPAA, the doctor will refuse to disclose personal health information of the father to the son. It is under this scenario that it becomes important to have your health directives be HIPAA compliant so that son can compel doctor to give him the information he needs to manage father's affairs.

Rave: It's OO, Iceeu2, and Swalter518's birthday!!! Happy &amp; healthy ones to all of you! :-)

Rave: OO's move to Texas is going smoothly! So happy for you, OO....

Rave: ACC basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament. Four ACC teams are into the Second Round, and Georgia Tech is only minutes away from winning, I hope! ;;) GO TAR HEELS!!!!!!!! Win it all!

Rave: Bennnie and Tpatricco are doing well on their fitness programs! Way to go...........

Buckeyemom, I'm so happy for the news about your brother!

Everyone, have a great weekend!

Re:this whole mess in Florida:I am sorry it is such a media circus. I do hope she (Terri) gets proper palliative/pain care through the next two weeks.

Rave: Thanks to all of you for alerting me to the need for an HIPAA Privacy authorization Form to be attached to my Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. I located one on the web that can be added to that POA as an amendment. It can be downloaded at http://www.mobar.org/pamphlet/dpa.htm.

For those who have Living Trusts, the same problem may exist in case of your incapacity. I modified the form slightly to fit my Living Trust as an amendment and will have it notarized on Monday.

Of course, if you are not comfortable making these kinds of changes yourself, you should consult an attorney.

Thanks all for snake info, although I think I once was told that in a &quot;did you know...?&quot; bit of spam.

As for St. Patrick, was mostly pointing out that it's one of the few holidays we have whose agenda of one sort or another has more or less faded, other than wearing green and &quot;we're all Irish.&quot; Of course, it can be a highly partisan day for those with true ties to Northern Ireland; and having lived in both Boston and Chicago, it certainly has identifiable socio-political vibes there, esp. if there's a mayor named Daley.

But I remember having rather a tough time explaining to new neighbors recently arrived from Japan about why their elementary-age sons were being asked to wear green to school. &quot;Is it a religious day?&quot; &quot;Not, um, exactly.&quot; &quot;Then, what is the celebration?&quot;

Re: Schiavo -- considering the legions of others with difficult situations and agonizing family decisions, I consider anything that reaches this level of media coverage suspicious -- someone is almost always after money and publicity, and oh yes, money. Many many others are suffering through such things, and sometimes courts do have to be involved. But getting the media involved as participants isn't necessarily part of every such decision (although it's true sometimes that they intrude unasked if they sniff a sensational brawl).

Witnessed the &quot;Jesica&quot; transplant catastrophe; and it was the grimmest sort of circus, thanks to one megalomaniac (a local &quot;advocate&quot; for the family) who took the family, the hospital, the Mexican consulate, and the media for an appalling whirlwind of high-profile, destructive misery. Not denying that sometimes you have to shine a light on faults to fix a broken system; but this guy had been shamelessly after publicity for himself even before the hospitalization.

Final rant about media circuses like Schiavo's: What stories were bumped off the front page/lead TV coverage for &quot;expanded&quot; coverage of this story?

&quot;Author: PamSF
Date: 03/19/2005, 01:39 am
Message: Re:this whole mess in Florida:I am sorry it is such a media circus. I do hope she (Terri) gets proper palliative/pain care through the next two weeks.&quot;

While essentially I agree with that statement, I just saw on the Today Show, that the usual pain care with the removal of any life support is not really an issue here, as she is totally unable to feel any pain regardless.

travelinwifey says &quot;you be the judge&quot; - Why? Is there some reason you feel entitled to pass judgement on this man you don't know? For the record, Terry's best friend also testified that Terry indicated she would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially. The courts have ruled time and time again that based on the evidence presented by doctors and friends of Terry, she would not want to be kept alive.

Nobody can read the mind of Terry's husband. To insist time and time again that one knows for sure he is evil and maliciously trying to kill his wife for money is disturbing. But you didn't want to debate, right? Is that why you are posting links?

I am posting the links because it is apparent some are not familiar with the story.

Do you care to answer the question why Mr. Schiavo didn't inform the jury of his wife's wishes when he was asking the courts for 20 million dollars for long term care? She did tell her husband she did not want to live in a vegitative state, correct? And I would like an answer to that please.

You seem very angry Snowrooster and I don't like to debate angry people. I do not want to have to waste my day on this.

Mr. Schiavo's attorney told the court about Terri: She can't respond much but she can respond, and she does respond a little bit, not much. But enough to give him hope&quot;

Hmmm..... that's a far cry fom the stories this man has been telling after the lawsuit.

I am not judging this man by his thoughts but by his actions. And by the way there is only one judge, being God. What I have is opinions which I can express. Usually I am not attacked for them. Now are you going to go after Travelinandgolfin and others since he doubts this man's charater also? That would only be fair.

You choose to judge the man, I don't. I think that sums it all up. I hope that someday you don't find yourself dealing with a difficult situation and have complete strangers believing they have the right to pass judement on you.

&quot;Mr. Schiavo's attorney told the court about Terri: She can't respond much but she can respond, and she does respond a little bit, not much. But enough to give him hope&quot;

I'm confused. Are you saying that Mr. Schiavo's attorney told the court that she IS able to respond? The court appointed doctors all insisted that she is NOT able to respond, that any movements or noises are totally uncontrolled and not motivated by feelings or thought processes. Why would the attorney for Mr. Schiavo refute that statement?

If you want to argue that Mr. Schiavo didn't bring up Terry's wishes and destroy a possible settlement years ago, well maybe I'd agree with you. But I still fail to see what that has to do with the situation at hand. Why would he have brought that up then?

Um, now you are judging me, aren't you?

If you read my comments above you would see that my family did have to make a difficult decision regarding life support. My family had to petition a court to get my father's tubes removed afer bing in a vegitative state for 9 months after suffering a stroke.

Also Snowrooster my husband was a victim of a frivolous lawsuit in which a jury decided in our favor. I know exactly what it's like to have strangers judge you. And I also know people will say many things that are in order to get money.