Steven ErteltWe’re living through a time when there seems to be something new and alarming in the news every day. Our media cycle is dominated by the dramatic, and one consequence of this is that alarming events can unfold on the state and local level going unnoticed despite their ultimately national consequences.
Every year, I write to honor my sister, Terri Schiavo, on March 31st, the anniversary of her death, and reflect on the state of our nation when it comes to the treatment of our medically vulnerable.
Donald Trump will soon be President Trump. In light of this, it’s worth examining the potential impact of one of his most frequent promises: the replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Advocates responding heroically to crisis trump accountant-physicians responding indifferently based on cost
Recently, a New York Times article titled, First Rise in U.S. Death Rate in Years Surprises Experts, reported that the 2015 death rate in the United States rose for the first time in a decade.
March 31st will mark the eleven year anniversary of my sister Terri Schiavo’s mandated court ordered death by starvation and dehydration. Her death took nearly two weeks. The inhumanity of what happened to her will never be forgotten.
Imagine lying in a hospital bed and being asked: “Do you want to live?” Now imagine this: your answer doesn't matter.
Speaking to reporters at a Florida Republican Party conference recently, Dr. Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and candidate for the Republican nomination for President responded to a reporter’s question on whether he believed my sister Terri Schiavo deserved Congress’s intervention to stop her court-ordered 13-day death by starvation and dehydration. Dr. Carson’s response? “I think it was much ado about nothing.”
Since my family established the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network in response to my sister Terri’s March 2005 death, we have been involved in several high profile cases. Each one of these situations was tragic for its own reasons, even gaining international publicity – the case in Canada regarding Baby Joseph, Eluana Englaro in Italy, and in the United States, Jahi McMath to name a few. We’ve also been involved in hundreds of similar cases that did not receive the same kind of attention, but similarly, families were in desperate need to get help for their loved ones.
