Florida Disabled Woman on Feeding Tube Could Become Next Terri Schiavo
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 4, 2008
West Palm Beach, FL (LifeNews.com) — A Florida woman who has been disabled by a stroke and is on a feeding tube could become the next Terri Schiavo. Karen Weber’s husband wants to have her feeding tube removed because he claims she is in a persistent vegetative state and will not recover.
Should he remove the feeding tube, Weber would likely suffer the same kind of painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death that Terri suffered.
In a situation that is eerily similar to the one Terri and her family faced, Weber’s husband has given up on her care while her family is fighting to save her life and says she is alert and responsive.
According to an Associated Press report, Weber has been bouncing back and forth between a hospital and nursing home since the December stroke.
Both sides are battling in court and a judge has already issued an injunction prohibiting the removal of the woman’s feeding tube while a committee decides her competency.
Like Schiavo, Weber is unable to communicate her own medical treatment wishes and left no living will instructing doctors and family members.
AP says Karen’s husband Raymond Weber has said he doesn’t want the battle to become a media event and her mother, Martha Tatro, has said she will do everything she can to prevent Karen’s euthanasia death.
In the Schiavo case, Terri’s family said she was able to communicate with them and had independent experts and physicians who said she could make a partial recovery if given appropriate medical care and rehabilitative treatment.
In a lawsuit that eventually reached all levels of the state and federal courts, Terri’s former husband Michael Schiavo won approval to remove her feeding tube and take her life.
Terri died on March 31, 2005 after suffering for nearly two weeks with no food and water.
Since her death, the Schindler family has started a foundation in Terri’s name to help patients like her receive medical care and treatment and to provide legal and other resources for their families.
In a sign the Schindler family may get involved in a similar case in their own back yard, the family’s foundation alerted LifeNews.com to Weber’s case.
Related web sites:
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation – https://www.terrisfight.org
