In a situation recalling the recent death of Terri Schiavo in Florida, an 81-year-old widow, denied nourishment and fluids for nearly two weeks, is clinging to life in a hospice in LaGrange, Ga., while her immediate family fights desperately to save her life before she dies of starvation and dehydration.
Mae Magouirk was neither terminally ill, comatose nor in a "vegetative state," when Hospice-LaGrange accepted her as a patient about two weeks ago upon the request of her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, 36, an elementary school teacher.
Also upon Gaddy's request and without prior legal authority, since March 28 Hospice-LaGrange has denied Magouirk normal nourishment or fluids via a feeding tube through her nose or fluids via an IV. She has been kept sedated with morphine and ativan, a powerful tranquillizer.
Her nephew, Ken Mullinax, told WorldNetDaily that although Magouirk is given morphine and ativan, she has not received any medication to keep her eyes lubricated during her forced dehydration.
"They haven't given her anything like that for two weeks," said Mullinax. "She can't produce tears."
The dehydration is being done in defiance of Magouirk's specific wishes, which she set down in a "living will," and without agreement of her closest living next-of-kin, two siblings and a nephew: A. Byron McLeod, 64, of Anniston, Ga.; Ruth Mullinax, 74, of Birmingham, Ala.; and Ruth Mullinax's son, Ken Mullinax.
Magouirk's husband and only child, a son, are both deceased.
In her living will, Magouirk stated that fluids and nourishment were to be withheld only if she were either comatose or "vegetative," and she is neither. Nor is she terminally ill, which is generally a requirement for admission to a hospice.
Magouirk lives alone in LaGrange, though because of glaucoma she relied on her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, to bring her food and do errands.
Claiming that she held Magouirk's power of attorney, Gaddy had her transferred to Hospice-LaGrange, a 16-bed unit owned by the same family that owns the hospital. Once at the hospice, Gaddy stated that she did not want her grandmother fed or given water.
"Grandmama is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus," Gaddy told Magouirk's brother and nephew, McLeod and Ken Mullinax. "She has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?"
Emphasis added by me....OK, so much for the Schiavo thing being isolated, eh? Here we have an 81 year old woman, competent, not comatose, not vegetative, yet she is being dehydrated and starved. Maybe we should ask her if it is euphoric, eh? Also, here is the kicker: SHE HAS A LIVING WILL!!!! Yet uncaring and ungrateful grandchild no longer wants to care for grandma, so she invokes the name of Jesus Christ to justify her murder! Ridiculous! Shameful...however, it gets worse:
According to Mullinax, his aunt's local cardiologist in LaGrange, Dr. James Brennan, and Dr. Raed Agel, a highly acclaimed cardiologist at the nationally renowned University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, determined that her aortic dissection is contained and not life-threatening at the moment.
Mullinax also states that Gaddy did not hold power of attorney, a fact he learned from the hospice's in-house legal counsel, Carol Todd.
On March 31, Todd told Ruth and Ken Mullinax during a phone conversation Georgia law stipulated that Ruth Mullinax and her brother, A.B. McLeod, were entitled to make any and all decisions for Magouirk. Ruth Mullinax immediately told Todd to begin administering food and fluids through an IV and a nasal feeding tube.
Todd had the IV fluids started that evening, but informed the family that they would have to come to the hospice to sign papers to have the feeding tube inserted. Once that was done, Magouirk would not be able to stay at the hospice.
Ken Mullinax recalled that Todd said the only reason Magouirk was in the hospice in the first place was that the LaGrange Hospital had failed to exercise due diligence in closely examining the power of attorney Beth Gaddy said she had, as well as exercising the provisions of Magouirk's living will.
Todd explained that Gaddy had only a financial power of attorney, not a medical power of attorney, and Magouirk's living will carefully provided that a feeding tube and fluids should only be discontinued if she was comatose or in a "vegetative state" – and she was neither.
Gaddy, however, was not dissuaded. When Ken Mullinax and McLeod showed up at the hospice the following day, April 1, to meet with Todd and arrange emergency air transport for Magouirk's transfer to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, Hospice-LaGrange stalled them while Gaddy went before Troup County, Ga., Probate Court Judge Donald W. Boyd and obtained an emergency guardianship over her grandmother.
Under the terms of his ruling, Gaddy was granted full and absolute authority over Magouirk, at least for the weekend. She took advantage of her judge-granted power by ordering her grandmother's feeding tube pulled out, just hours after it had been inserted.
Georgia law requires that a hearing for an emergency guardianship must be held within three days of its request, and Magouirk's hearing was held April 4 before Judge Boyd. Apparently, he has not made a final ruling, but favors giving permanent guardianship power to Gaddy, who is anxious to end her grandmother's life.
Ron Panzer, president and founder of Hospice Patients Alliance, a patients' rights advocacy group based in Michigan, told WND that what is happening to Magouirk is not at all unusual.
"This is happening in hospices all over the country," he said. "Patients who are not dying – are not terminal – are admitted [to hospice] and the hospice will say they are terminally ill even if they're not. There are thousands of cases like this. Patients are given morphine and ativan to sedate them. If feeding is withheld, they die within 10 days to two weeks. It's really just a form of euthanasia."
Again, emphasis added by me. This is a growing epidemic. I guess now it can be told the Left's plans for 'fixing' Social Security. They simply want to off the old people. Yep, who cares if they have a living will or are lucid, they are old, and who wants to be old? So let's just starve them.
Ms. Gaddy sounds like a spoiled little brat who wants to get at Grandma's money and property. She sounds like she doesn't want the responsibility of taking care of Grandma other than taking her money and killing her. So what happens when the rightful folks who should be guardians come along? Ms. Gaddy finds an arrogant judge to legislate from the bench.
Georgia law stipulates who the guardians should be. And that is not Ms. Gaddy. This sad incident shows two things: 1)we should fight judicial arrogance and ignorance (the judge in this case has no law degree), 2)the alliances between certain lawyers, judges, and hospice boards must be delved into and examined. All over this nation, hospices are engaging in euthanasia when patients are not terminal, and some do not want to die and have living wills. We are getting closer to enacting Groningen from Little France, and if we do that, then we become like Nuremberg in the 30s. What next, we see via amnio that a child may be predisposed to nearsightedness and we say, who would want to live that way? We must protect life, cherish life, not find excuses to end it.
Doug's Dialogue
This is very sad and very pathetic. When I read this, I almost wanted to throw up. I deeply cherished the time that I was able to spend with my grandparents before they passed on. I now have only one grandfather that remains alive. I really wish that all of them were alive. They all offer unique lessons and insights into getting through life.
My grandmother on my mom's side of the family had fallen and had factured her skull. There was increased pressure in her brain and she was in a coma for a while. The family gathered thinking that this would be the last time we would see her. She remained stubborn and clung to life inspite of the setbacks that she was undergoing. The doctors decided in order to relieve some of the pressure on her brain they would install a shunt. This helped. Let me tell you it was a joyous day when she woke up and was talking to everybody and being able to recognize everybody. She knew that we loved her and we knew that she loved us back. For me that is a very special day. It was the last time I saw my grandmother alive. She died a couple of weeks later on July 4th that year. I don't know that I would have been able to have that day if the family had decided to be as cold and uncaring as Ms. Gaddy appears to be and remove her feeding tube. While that day is forever etched in my mind and is associated with the painful memories of her death, I would not trade that day away for anything in the world.
Ms. Gaddy can kindly piss off with her uncaring and unfeeling attitude towards her grandmother.
