Dying should be a quiet time
JANE GLENN HAAS
OUR TIME
Register columnist
jhaas@ocregister.com
Terri Schiavo is not the first nor the last person to die in a hospice.
She isn't the first nor the last to have a feeding tube removed.
But she, and 70 other people dying in the Florida hospice with her, may be among the first to suffer elder abuse because they are at the end of their lives.
And I'm not talking about removing feeding tubes.
I'm talking about verbal abuse and noise abuse from the media circus outside Woodside Hospice and the self-serving protesters who shouted and bullied family members visiting their own dying loved ones.
Then there is access abuse. Police set up checkpoints to park, required family members to show identification and then pass through another screening. One woman didn't make it in time to her dying grandfather's bedside because of the slow-moving security measures.
People who have nothing to do with Schiavo's case were harassment targets for protesters who held up signs about Schiavo's "crucifixion," "torture" and "starvation."
As I write this, Schiavo is still alive, and her family has asked the protesters to leave.
But they won't. They're having too much fun being the center of attention.
"Give Terri water!" they chant. People in wheelchairs, members of Not Dead Yet, a disability-rights organization focused on end-of-life issues, blocked an entrance to the hospice when they lay across the driveway yelling, "We're not dead yet!" according to news reports.
In their eagerness to claim the right to live, they are denying the dying a death with dignity and peace.
That's elder abuse. Thoughtless, selfish, uncaring and mean-spirited elder abuse.
Thousands of people are served by hospice in their last days. Many stay at home, surrounded by family caregivers. Others may be cared for in professional settings.
Many elderly patients on hospice often decide not to have a feeding tube inserted. Or relatives refuse the tube, saying the quality of life is gone, there is no chance for recovery and the time has come to let nature take its course.
None of these decisions is easy, says Debra Alves, director of Irvine Cottage, one of 15 residential-living homes operated by gerontologist Jacqueline DuPont. Of the 90 patients in her homes, DuPont-Baum estimates that 35 are in a hospice program.
Their last days are passing peacefully, which is the central point of hospice.
Schiavo and others in Woodside Hospice don't have that option.
Easter afternoon, about 100 people stood outside the Pinellas Park facility, blocked from the sidewalk by barriers of orange plastic.
One man periodically blew a ram's horn, according to news reports. Another chanted. People were sleeping in tents.
Those interviewed talked about their right to "righteous anger." They shouted "fascists" and "Gestapo" at the police.
Yes, they are entitled to free speech as well as their own agenda about death.
But if it's true one of the last senses to die is hearing, consider that this agenda is being screamed into the ears of other dying people.
The anger, the vilification, is impacting family members forced to make similar hard choices about end-of-life issues.
This isn't educational or motivational.
It's elder abuse. And elder abuse is a crime.
Do you know where your money is? Therapist Barbara Denny and Smith-Barney professionals Claudia Schumacher and Sue Mamer will help midlife women identify and feather their nest eggs at the next WomanSage meeting, April 12.
The group meets at 6:30 p.m. at First American Corp., 1 First American Way, Santa Ana.
Call (949) 222-4210 to RSVP or e-mail info@womansage.com
CONTACT US: (714) 796-7987 or jhaas@ocregister.com .
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