Perinatal Hospice - what it is about

From the Perinatal Hospice and Palliative Care Facebook page.

"This tender perinatal hospice video was created by Tammy Ruiz Ziegler RN CPLC, perinatal bereavement coordinator at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It has also been translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Czech, Japanese, Polish, and Ukrainian. Links to all translations here: www.perinatalhospice.org/resources-for-caregivers.html"


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tY7mq1g9pGk

Saying Patients are PVS Allows Courts to Starve Them to Death, What if the Diagnosis is Wrong?

by Bobby Schindler | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 4/21/14 12:50 PM

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/04/21/saying-patients-are-pvs-allows-courts-to-starve-them-to-death-what-if-the-diagnosis-is-wrong/                   
I have written time and time again about the dangerous and dehumanizing persistent vegetative state (PVS) diagnosis. Actually, we saw in my family’s battle to save my sister, Terri Schiavo, from death by dehydration, that a tremendous amount of debate raged over whether or not she was in this condition.

In fact, this diagnosis is what allowed the court to order the removal of Terri’s food and water. Yet despite continuing research validating that the PVS diagnosis is growing in its inaccuracy, the medical community uses this diagnosis to end countless lives of our medically vulnerable patients who are allegedly in this condition.

This latest finding is one of a continuous stream of reports that have been issued on the inaccuracy of the PVS diagnosis. From the Report, Brain Scans Show Vegetative Patients May Actually Recover:

The Journal’s report, released on Feb. 3, revealed that some patients who were believed to be in a PVS were actually able to understand and communicate. Through the use of functional magnetic resonance scanning (fMRI), researchers in the United Kingdom estimated that a percentage of those patients suffering from profound brain injuries possessed the capacity to comprehend and communicate in limited ways.

Indeed, every time these studies are published we should move to abolish the PVS diagnosis, in particularly, using it as a reason to kill. Sadly, however, despite these imaging studies and what they reveal about the human brain, the vast majority of the medical community sees nothing improper about using such an unscientific diagnosis for, what usually turns out to be, reasons almost never in the best interest of the patients.

Furthermore, not only can the PVS diagnosis be used as an actual death sentence for a patient, but as a death sentence figuratively speaking, as well. And it seems both are supported under the pretext to save health care costs. You see, the PVS can also be used to cut off funds for a person in need of vital rehabilitation. Because once insurance providers receive the PVS diagnosis in regards to the patient’s condition, no longer are they willing to pay for any rehabilitative services.

Consequently, with no way to afford rehabilitation, families are left to either care for their loved ones at home, or place them in a nursing home. The patients, who could benefit from such services, are basically warehoused and abandoned by a system, ironically, which if it permitted the rehabilitative services to continue, could prove to save costs over the life span of the patients.

Predictably, our mainstream media supports this “quality-of-life” standard agenda and the many years and millions of dollars that have been invested in manipulating our culture to accept killing our most vulnerable persons.
It is incumbent upon all of us, but physicians in particular, to ensure that the lives of vulnerable people are not needlessly ended by flawed diagnostic practices, careless legislation, or the idea that a person with a disability must prove themselves worthy of life’s most ordinary and basic needs: food and water.

http://www.lifenews.com/2014/04/21/saying-patients-are-pvs-allows-courts-to-starve-them-to-death-what-if-the-diagnosis-is-wrong/

Choosing Life Even When Life Is Short

God bless these parents and those photographers who minister through Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.

http://youtu.be/vsfybVa-_uo

We are here to love and to be loved for whatever time God gives us; and other people teach us to love regardless of their condition.  This little boy  was loved during his short life and brought forth love from others.

Grayson James Walker

Published on May 19, 2012

Grayson James Walker February 15, 2012, parents Patrick & Heather Walker

He only lived 8 hours, but what a huge impact he has had on the lives of thousands of people! Hope you all enjoy meeting and sharing moments with Grayson and his loving, faithful family.

God bless these parents and those photographers who minister through Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.

Respect Life Month

You may have seen crosses on church lawns or people standing in a group praying.  October is designated as Respect Life Month by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Respect Life Month recognizes life in all its glory and in all its forms, providing opportunities to embrace the whole cycle of life with which humanity has been blessed, from conception to natural death.

Visitation Catholic Church Elmhurst, IL

 

PRAYER FOR A CULTURE OF LIFE
Lord God, We thank you for our salvation in Jesus Christ. We thank you for the call he gives us -– not a call to sit in a corner cowering in fear over our enemies, mystified about how to overcome the Culture of Death, despondent because of our sins or worried about the perceived strength of our opponents. Rather, it is a call to stand victorious in the light of the Resurrection and to proclaim to the Culture of Death: “You have been conquered! You have no place here, no power to defeat the forces of truth and goodness!”
Yes, Lord, we stand in that light and we are filled with joy –- not a superficial joy that rises and falls with the ebb and flow of circumstances beyond our control, but with the profound joy that only you can give and that nobody can take away. In the strength of that joy, may we your people continue to proclaim your truth and share your grace not only within the walls of our Churches, but in the halls of government, in the voting booth, in the media, and in every inch of the public square.
Lord, in our work for you, may we find you in our efforts to change the world, may we ourselves be changed. In our struggle to build a Culture of Life, may we find life eternal. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(From bulletin of Queen of Angels Catholic Church, Chicago)