Slow starvation and dehydration is not dying with “dignity” September 1, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
LiveAction, that truly remarkable upstart pro-life organization founded by Lila Rose, has a post comparing a book written by a New York Times reporter, describing how she allowed her ‘depressed’ mother to be starved and dehydrated to death, with the loving care given to the grandmother of a LiveAction blogger:
Earlier in August a former New York Times reporter, Jane Gross, published a book about her experience where she allowed her elderly mother to die of starvation and dehydration while in hospice care.
She talks about how “dignified” her mother’s 13 day slow ordeal was while inside she wished her mother would “hurried up and die – especially since her mother was not terminally ill. Her mother was depressed because she was not independent anymore.
In many levels, this hits a personal note. My 90 year old grandmother had been sick for a while. On July 29th she lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital with acute kidney failure and sepsis.
A few days later I left for Mexico and accompanied my mother, aunts, uncles & cousins to the hospital. There we learned that my grandmother needed an amputation due to acute gangrene, and required several platelet transfusions.
Making an amputation decision for someone that is dying seems absurd. Doing such a surgery did not make any sense at this stage of her life. Was this a heroic measure? Is it worth it to put someone in pain through more pain and suffering?
It was difficult, but her quality of life was rapidly declining. Together, with the rest of my family decided to go ahead, with the amputation. We asked the medical personnel to make her life as comfortable as possible.
My grandmother briefly recovered from the surgery. She never quite regained her awareness but was able to take some food and drink before the hospital could not help her anymore and sent her home.
After a couple of days, she died in the loving arms of one of my aunts while being sang psalms. In our hope we know she is in a place of no more suffering. And know we helped her passing in the most dignified way………..
………..Jane Gross in opposition describes a distant half-family, and how the decision of the starvation/dehydration death was made by her and her mother. There is no mention of medical personnel suggesting treatment for depression. Or any involvement from anyone else.
There is a brief mention on masking the “unpleasant” symptoms of the death by sedation and pain relief. [I cannot imagine the torture of dying of thirst after 13 days without hydration. Most opioids make you more thirsty, and I know from experience that when you are dried out, they don’t work nearly as well. Sometimes they don’t work at all. The suffering may not have been abated at all]
The author also says that: “There was no pretending I hadn’t been part of her decision, and had arguably even encouraged it. [this makes me shudder] Many experts say that old people often choose to end their lives, or say they don’t want them extended, not because of their own genuine wishes, but to spare their children trouble and expense. We needed to be certain that my mother was doing this for herself, not for me.”
Sorry, sounds like Ms. Gross encouraged this more for her than for her mother.
There is no dignity in allowing a confused, ill, and temporarily desperate individual to make a fundamentally irrational and immoral decision. The mother desired to die because she wasn’t independent? The mind boggles. I pray the mother did not die so as to spare her children some inconvenience. If that were the case, it makes this sordid tale far, far darker. My family suspects that an elderly relative, an incredibly kind woman who had always been very independent, may have been slowly drugged and starved to death by a ‘caregiver,’ who may have timed the final demise of my relative with the exhaustion of her savings (nearly impeccably, as if the caregiver had done this kind of thing before). I fear that the number of elderly who die unnaturally may be much higher than is commonly believed.
As for the more hopeful case, it’s a terribly difficult decision, determining how much care to give to an elderly family member who is gravely ill. The only right answer is to give the best possible that will allow the fullest retention of their human faculties until the moment God has chosen for that person to die. It is inconceivable to me that anyone would agree to starve a family member to death- that is not love, that is selfishness of the basest kind, no matter what the justifications are.
And, as the author of the LiveAction piece notes, this is exactly the way we treat 1.1 million infants every year – gruesome death for someone else’s preference, often convenience. Some day in the not too distant future, the bell that tolled for Jane Gross’ mother, may toll for her.
More developments regarding Fr. Michael Rodriguez September 1, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, Interior Life, priests, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
I am singularly impressed by this faithful priest. He has waged a virtual one man campaign against the forces of secular paganism and hedonism in El Paso. I’ve written many times about him in the past, but a quick recap: a year or so ago, the El Paso floated the notion of providing same sex partner benefits to city employees (this affected only a small handful of employees). There was much uproar and division in El Paso regarding this. The issue was put to a vote, and the people decided against extending such benefits. But self-annointed elites, even in a small time burg like El Paso, determined that the people did not know what they were doing, and went ahead and extended the benefits, anyways. There is now a recall election afoot to remove the city council members who forced through the benefits against the people’s will. In light of that effort, Fr. Rodriguez wrote a 4-page piece describing Church Doctrine on marriage and homosexuality, the nature of sin, and true charity. The pieces ran as paid advertisements that were full page ads that ran for four days straight – one page a day. The reaction has been mixed, with much hostility towards Fr. Rodriguez, but also substantial support. The El Paso Times has an article on the dustup today, and one thing is clear – the Diocese of El Paso is not supportive of Fr. Rodriguez’ efforts:
A recent series of advertisements attacking homosexuality has dragged the Catholic Diocese of El Paso into a citywide political recall debate.
The advertisements, titled “The truth about homosexuality,” were written by the Rev. Michael Rodriguez of San Juan Bautista Catholic Church and published in four parts in four consecutive editions of the El Paso Times. The ads started running on Saturday and ended Tuesday. The advertisements were also on elpasotimes.com.
While Rodriguez maintains the ads represent the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, officials of the Diocese of El Paso said they do not.
“These paid advertisements are the personal views and opinions of Father Michael Rodriguez,” said the Rev. Anthony C. Celino, the vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese. [This does not mean the Diocese does not agree with what Fr. Rodriguez has written. The reporter made that assertion without any supporting evidence. The vicar general simply states that Fr. Rodriguez was acting in a private capacity as priest – his solemn duty]
Celino said the Catholic Church is not taking and cannot take a side in the recall effort. [I strongly disagree with this. While the Church perhaps cannot say “Council Member X” should be removed, the Church can and must provide the moral guidance which should make clear that these council members cannot be supported by faithful Catholics. It is my understanding the Diocese has not done so, at least not with any force of conviction]
The advertisements quote several Bible passages and denounce homosexuality and any encouragement of homosexuality. It also alluded to Mayor John Cook and city Reps. Susie Byrd and Steve Ortega, who are currently the target of a recall petition, organized by Word of Life Church Pastor Tom Brown.
“All Catholics have a moral obligation before God to oppose any government attempt to legalize same-sex unions,” Rodriguez wrote in part two of the series. “Here in El Paso, certain City Council members have remained obstinate in promoting public recognition and legitimization of homosexual unions. Whether they realize it or not, their actions are objectively immoral and gravely harmful to marriage and the family. It should be obvious to all Catholics what our duty is with respect to these members of City Council.”
Rodriguez said he wrote the pieces but did not pay for the advertisements or submit the writings to the Times………..
….”I decided to write these articles primarily because it’s my duty as a Catholic priest to teach the truth when it comes to faith and morals,” Rodriguez said in a written statement to the Times. “My mission is to labor for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. [What a beautiful description of a priestly vocation] That’s why I wrote the articles. The government has no right to undermine or redefine the institution of marriage. This is beyond the scope of their competence.”
I’ve read the pieces Fr. Rodriguez wrote. They are to me very faithful, orthodox, and charitable. They have at their heart TRUE concern for the souls of those with same sex attraction, not the soft sentimality and unabashed endorsement of hedonism which the cultural ‘elites’ proclaim as “love.” Those pieces are at the bottom of this post. For some flavor of the negative reactions to Fr. Rodriguez:
Paul Landernan, an adviser for the El Paso chapter of the Stonewall Young Democrats, said that his organization — a youth-based organization that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the United States — is disappointed that Rodriguez is still stuck in the 19th century. [This is simply idiocy, but a common view of the secular hedonist left. Only those embracing their worldview of moral decay, sexual hedonism, and oppressive secularism, all coupled with a great willingness to accept government domination in all non-sexual areas of life, are with it! The rest of you knuckle dragging neanderthals are stuck in the 19th century]
“He has official duties for the people of his parish,” Landernan said, “some of whom are parents of gay people, related to gay people or work with gay people every day.” [But Fr. Rodriguez also has a duty as a priest to proclaim the Truth Christ has revealed as fully and widely as possible, with charity. Which he has done.]
Rodriguez’s words can divide communities, Landernan said. [Doesn’t forcing people to pay for other’s immorality also divide? The Truth always divides, Christ told us it would (Matt 10:32-35)
“Why would a person like this have that level of a violent reaction to the evolution of our society?” [I doubt this guy even read what Rodriguez wrote. There is nothing “violent” about it] he asked. “He suddenly turned the clock back 40 to 50 years to a time when the Jim Crow-type of thinking was acceptable.” [Again, this is absurd. Fr. Rodriguez said nothing of the sort. He said gays must be treated with charity, but true charity does not abide sin. They must be told, with love but also force, that the sins in which they engage are hideous in the eyes of God, and they must repent and be chaste. ]
None of the negative commentary addressed any of the very great catechesis that Fr. Rodriguez wrote, because what he wrote is unassailable. So, those in support of the secular hedonist agenda resorted to ad hominems. The very title of the El Paso Times article reveals the viewpoint: “Anti-gay ads…….” There was nothing anti-gay about them, just anti-sin.
Pray for Fr. Rodriguez. Pray for the Diocese of El Paso, and its bishop, Armand Ochoa.
Below are the advertisements written by Fr. Michael Rodriguez:
The Truth About Homosexuality 1
The Truth About Homosexuality 2
Reminder – First Friday with the Carmelites! September 1, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, Eucharist, General Catholic, Interior Life, Latin Mass, Liturgy, Our Lady, priests, religious.comments closed
I didn’t make it to Mass today, sadly. But tomorrow night (Fri, Sept. 2), I plan to assist at the Low Mass at 8pm and stay and pray with the Carmelites for as much of the night as I can, God Willing! It’s a tremendous blessing! The nuns will storm Heaven!
ALL SANCTITY OF LIFE ISSUES
Pray for Our COUNTRY and its future
Discalced Carmelite Nuns Invite YOU!!
Starts Friday night come as early as 4 PM
stay 30 minutes, one hour or as long as all night
Vigil ends just before 7 AM Mass
on Saturday, Sept. 3
First Mass (prayed in Latin) 8:00 PM
Food & Drink available in the room next to the chapel.
Please help yourself!
2nd Mass(in Latin) 3:00 AM
Leave your personal prayer requests
The Nuns will storm heaven!
The Monastery is at 600 Flowers Ave., Dallas, 75211, off of Jefferson.
convenient from I-30 and Loop 12.
Perhaps if you are there, you could say a prayer of thanksgiving for the priest who stay there most of the night, celebrating Mass, hearing Confessions and giving spiritual direction. It is a great blessing to have priests willing to make such sacrifices. You can join the nuns in their many prayers throughout the night, and adore our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Adoration is a very blessed event, and there are many Graces given especially for maintaining First Friday devotions! If you have not been down to the Carmelite Monastery, I strongly recommend you go, at least once, there are so many Graces to those who do! I bet if you go once, you’ll want to go again and again!
Too bad Obama didn’t ask me…… September 1, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, scandals, silliness, Society.comments closed
……I could have told him Solyndra was a company trying to design the impossible, trying to force mechanical systems to efficiencies never before achieved to make their phantasmical solar power system functional:
President Obama faces political catastrophe in the form of Solyndra — a San Francisco Bay area solar company that he touted as a gleaming example of green technology. It has announced it will declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. More than 1,100 people will lose their jobs.
During a visit to the Fremont facility in spring of 2010, the President said the factory “is just a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism and the fact that we continue to have the best universities in the world, the best technology in the world, and most importantly the best workers in the world. “
It’s not his statements the administration will regret; it’s the loan guarantees. The President was celebrating $535 million in federal promises from the Department of Energy to the solar startup. The administration didn’t do its due diligence, says the Government Accountability Office. “There’s a consequence if you don’t follow a rigorous process that’s transparent,” Franklin Rusco of GAO told the website iWatch News.
“Due-diligence?” How about “ask an engineer to review their product development plans?” Because of what they had, which wasn’t much, it was all based on smoke and mirrors, hopes and dreams, and the invincible belief that they were on a holy crusade to provide a wonderful new “clean” power source.
How do I know? Because I used to work at Flextronics, and in late 2007 or early 2008, Solyndra approached Flextronics to help them with their mechanical design. We reviewed their high level design and their expectations for the performance of certain elements of the mechanical systems involved, and quickly realized to meet their desired performance parameters we’d need efficiencies of more than 100% – completely impossible. Flextronics returned a polite “no thanks” on that RFQ.
But instead of doing some basic due diligence, Obama threw half a billion dollars at a company that has always had a reputation for pie in the sky claims and financial instability. By the way – Solyndra still has an application for another half billion dollars in federal grants pending, in spite of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But to Obama, the money didn’t matter – the “symbolism” did. It was vital that Obama symbolize his endorsement of ‘green energy,’ and, after all, what’s a half billion dollars between friends? It’s all for the cause, right?
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