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Starvation - Approaching Five Days for Terri

As her family petitions a federal appelate court, it is worth remembering that Terri Schiavo has been without sustenance now for over 100 hours and is likely experiencing the effects of starvation described by St. Louis neurologist William Burke.

A conscious [cognitively disabled] person would feel it just as you or I would. They will go into seizures. Their skin cracks, their tongue cracks, their lips crack. They may have nosebleeds because of the drying of the mucus membranes, and heaving and vomiting might ensue because of the drying out of the stomach lining. They feel the pangs of hunger and thirst. Imagine going one day without a glass of water! Death by dehydration takes ten to fourteen days. It is an extremely agonizing death.

Noting Terri's 100 hours of suffering, Andy McCarthy of The Corner writes,

Of course, the physical needs of the body are not limited to food and water. There is also air. But no judge, even in Florida, would ever have had the nerve in Terri's case to permit "the medical procedure that opponents refer to as asphyxiation." Too crude. Too quick. Too obviously murder of a vulnerable innocent. Brazen, instant savagery might wake us from our slumber. For the culture of death, better that we sleep.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you Terri.

Posted by tim at March 23, 2005 12:58 AM

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