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"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Here's what we're dealing with, folks
Posted by Jill | 8:08 AM

In case you thought having a living will would insulate you against the lunatics of the right:

Under threat of a lawsuit, Pro-Life Wisconsin pulled a news release accusing HospiceCare of murder in removing the feeding tubes of severely injured Marine Staff Sgt. Chad Simon, but the group has not, as requested, issued a public apology or retraction.

[snip]

Simon, 32, of Monona, was injured by a bomb in Iraq in November. The father of a 6-year-old son, Simon never recovered from his war injuries and his family followed the wishes laid out in his living will that he not be kept artificially alive with food and water if he became permanently incapacitated.

On July 20, the Dane County Circuit Court ordered Hospice to follow the directives of Chad's surrogate decision-maker, wife, Regina Simon.

On Aug. 11, three days after Simon's funeral, Pro-Life Wisconsin issued a news release condemning the removal of Simon's feeding tube.

"Sgt. Simon was a victim of two different faces of the culture of death," Hamill said in the news release. "He was certainly a victim of international terrorism, but he was also a victim of America's rapidly decaying system of 'hospice' care. Sgt. Simon died of dehydration, not from any sort of brain injuries. Sgt. Simon was rendered handicapped by the bomb in Iraq, he was murdered by those who were in charge of his medical care."

Hospice responded aggressively the next day.

"The content of your press release is per se defamatory and subjects both Pro-Life Wisconsin and Peggy Hamill to legal liability," Hospice attorney Pitz wrote. "It is readily apparent from the press release that you intentionally have sought to falsely disparage Hospice."

Pitz also declared that the group had "falsely accused Hospice of committing a criminal act."

Hamill responded with a revised news release - the sentence referring to Simon having been murdered by Hospice was deleted - but never posted it on the group's Web site.

According to Pro-Life Wisconsin's Web site, the group exists to "restore and protect the inalienable right to life for all citizens," whether "born or preborn, young, old, disabled or terminally ill."


The full text of the retracted press release can be found here.

Now, this is not even REMOTELY like the Terri Schiavo case. This is a soldier with a living will stating explicitly what his wishes were -- and the wingnut lunatics STILL won't leave his family alone after they did what he would have wanted.

These people are despicable. They are not Christians, they are fascists. They believe that their will overrides that of the person who created the living will. They would impose their insane wishes on the rest of us, and they have to be stopped. And we cannot rely on Republicans, who refuse to speak out against their bullying tactics, to stop them.
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