This appears to shut down the argument that if Terri Schiavo had just put something in writing, none of the controversy would have occurred.

It seems to me that if a judge totally ignores the actual written and signed Living Will of a non-terminally ill patient, whose close relatives still live, in favor of a third-generation relative who has already lied once (in representing herself as having power of attorney) to gain control, this is a judge who might even be considered criminally liable for his actions.

Judge Greer at least had the law to back up his decision, poor as it was. This appears to challenge and defy the law, as well as reason and decency. And it's a clear statement that, with rogue judges on the bench, the much-touted Living Will is, in fact, useless. And we are at the mercy of relatives, including grandchildren and ex-spouses, when it comes to decisions about whether we live or die. (Yes, I know that legally, Michael Schiavo was not an ex-husband, but in fact, with another common-law wife and two children, he was not a husband to Terri.)

"This appears to shut down the argument that if Terri Schiavo had just put something in writing, none of the controversy would have occurred."

BINGO!!! Just as I argued and debated and argued and debated in the so-called Living Will and Advanced Directive thread a week or so ago. So all you Living Will advocates, what do you have to say now? Republican, Democrat, Conservatives and Liberals alike were all spouting the Living Will as the solution to all our problems with regards to the Terri Schiavo situation. I, along with a few others, were skeptical and in fact I completely disagreed that it was a solution at all.

Now here we are only a little over a week later and someone else is being killed with a living will stating to keep her alive. All because the granddaughter has this attitude:

"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?"

And there you have it. Living will be damned. If someone thinks that someone else wouldn't want to live in their condition, they don't get to live. Gotta love how her living will is saving her from being starved to death, huh? Lawyers were lucky to get the message out there the past 2 weeks before this story got into the news so they could take advantage of all those suckers running out to get living wills. Speaking of which, what does the resident GOPBloggers lawyer, who posted about getting an Advanced Medical Directive, have to say about this story?

'Fr. Rob Johansen brings to our attention this shocking story..."

What's so "shocking" about the story, Mark? We just went through weeks of drama surrounding the government ordered starvation and dehydration of an innocent woman. How is a granddaughter ordering her grandmother put to death shocking, after dealing with the government ordering an innocent woman put to death? We live in a culture of Death. The Democrats stand behind it. The media stands behind it. The liberals stand behind it. The euthanasia crowd stands behind it. The pro-abortionists stand behind it. Pro-Choicers stand behind it. Meanwhile, Pro-Lifers and so called Pro-Life Politicians just stand by "helpless" and let it happen.

We shouldn't be shocked after allowing 30+ years of convenient genocide of millions of innocent babies. And we shouldn't be shocked after denying a woman proper medical care for 12 years and then ordering her death by starvation and dehydration. This has been reality in our country for 30+ years. The Culture of Death has been flourishing for 30+ years and it is gaining steam heading into the next 30 years. This is no longer "shocking", it has been accepted. Accepted by the Pro-Death crowd as well as by the Pro-Life crowd since we have been able to do nothing to stop it. The judiciary is against us. Our President can do nothing. And our legislators have no spines to stand up and do what is right. So we/they are all accepting this.

We can pass all the laws we want to stop these situations, but there will always be some loophole the Culture of Death can exploit. Unless hearts are changed, this type of story will be more and more common, just as stories of abortions are common.

Michael,

I wish you weren't right about this, but you're right: the Culture of Death, encouraged by their murder of Terri, are going all out on the issue...we're going to have to gin up and pass a Human Life Amendment to the United States Constitution and we're going to have to really spell it out - put it together so that even the most pro-death judge can't find a loophole in it. I hate long laws, but we'll need to write such a thing with care, defining carefully each term used.

You'd think that the provision against denying the government the power to take a person's life without due process would mean something...but apparently a mere probate judge is now sufficient "due process of law" to kill someone...

Well a precedent was set last week. Starvation was shown to be "dignified" and "painless". Pandoras box is open and disabled people everywhere need to be prepared. I'm still waiting for a legislator with some balls to propose some law changes that would make starvation be an option in executions. Those lawmakers who voted against terri will have to either vote for starving criminals to death or explain why they beieve it is ok to starve the disabled and not criminals. This needs to be pounded home. the left has proven heartless to the disabled- why is noone noticing this?

They just couldn't wait, could they? Michael, you are absolutely correct. I was one of the few that agreed with you re: living wills and our lawyer friend kept parsing words and splitting hairs about them and now we see the evidence that he was dead wrong.

One of the weaknesses of the conservative-minded is that we believe that laws mean something and should be obeyed and enforced. Those on the COD left view them as low hurdles they must find a way over or around. We have nothing left now except to fight with all possible methods and tools to stop these awful people from massing numbers of those killed like this to equal those they are killing with abortions.

One other element to this story:

One of Mae's relatives - Kenneth Mullinax, according to Glenn Beck's radio program this morning, where I heard the news - reported that in the State of Georgia, the "Probate Judge" does not have to be a lawyer, nor does he or she have to be a member of the Bar.

This makes it doubly scary, because the person rendering the judgement has no legal background. I know in my own small community (Corry, PA, population 7500 on a good day), we are in the midst of a run-off for the local magistrate position. We have had, at one time, more than 20 would-be candidates, each of whom had to garner 100 valid voter signatures to appear on the ballot. The primary "lure" of the job is the $62,500 annual salary, and does NOT require any legal degree or Bar membership.

So, at what level can this idiocy occur? Seems like any yay-hoo in a judge's robe and with a semi-official gavel can get in on the "fun."

And, in this particular case, the woman has been off her nutrition for almost as long as Terri Schiavo. I don't remember exact numbers, but I seem to recall that she has been without food or water for at least 10 days, possibly as many as 11 or 12. So you see, at these lower levels, it can happen out of "the media spotlight" - such as it is - and no one is the wiser until perhaps too late.

Just an addendum:

The link to Glenn Beck's site has the audio of the interview with Mr. Mullinax, as it occurred on the show this morning. Lots of "meat" in the interview to check out, so I highly recommend it.

Apparently that weasel Felos was correct, this IS something that happens everyday all across this country...

This is really sad. However, I do have to ask. If shes not in a coma/veg state/etc, then where is the problem of her verbally saying she wants to live, or somehow communicating this? No where that I've read do I see that she has tried this, or offered an explanation as to WHY she cant. If shes not in a coma, termainally ill, or in a veg state, then what state is she in that she cannot communicate this ?

Story Reference from WorldNetDaily: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43688

The article points out that she has been "sedated with morphine and ativan, a powerful tranquillizer."

That's probably what's keeping her from making much of a fuss. Plus she's 81 years old, and a burly orderly might keep her "in line."

This is the stuff of nightmares, folks.

I would like to add that one of my grandmothers is on dialysis and not doing really well. If one of my cousins pulled this on her i would have to resort to giving them an old woodshed beating.

I could analogize to the "little Dutch boy," but that would be in really poor taste...

If as stated there is a "living will" and the Judge did something to help "end" the life of the person, than I like to see "all" "everyone" who pulled the tube arrested for first degree murder!