Author
JHS, Esq.
JHSiess successfully represented the late Florence Wendland and Rebekah Vinson in the landmark California case, Conservatorship of Wendland. Her writings here are dedicated to revealing her unique perspective. Siess is quick to point out that she felt from the case's inception that she was called to handle it as a matter and test of her commitment to the law and specific principles of social justice. Accordingly, she makes no pretense about being objective here and stresses that objectivity is not the goal. Rather, it is her hope that all who read about the protracted litigation that ended with a victory in the California Supreme Court for her clients, but Robert Wendland's death before the win was assured, will resolve never to let their family members speculate about their desires in the event of catastrophic illness or injury -- and not only talk in detail with their loved ones about their wishes, but also commit them to writing. Siess says she is confident you will, after learning what Robert Wendland's family members, caregivers and friends, in addition to the attorneys, judges and justices involved in this case endured, resolve never to permit your loved ones to become embroiled in such a battle. Questions may be addressed to jhsiess@comcast.net.
2 Comments
I just found this site, and I am glad to see that you are keeping Robert’s memory alive.
Unbelievable as it may sound, Robert’s and even Terri’s case has just recently made it to my awareness in the last couple of months. I don’t know whether to blame me or the MSM.
I do know that what got my attention was when I heard a reporter say that Terri was in a “PVS” then I saw the video of her and her mom.
That did it for me. There was no way she was “PVS” and then I knew that the MSM was not doing the research on this matter that it deserved. So I did my own.
What did I come up with? I realized that the public had been sold a bill of goods regarding “PVS”, and such.
What did it matter that Terri may have been “PVS”, which I don’t believe. Terri was a living breathing human being. That is all that mattered. And the “PVS” argument is just a propaganda tool.
I understand that you are a lawyer. I have a question I would like answered:
I can find it in the U.S. Constitution where is says that we citizens have a “right to life”. Where is it in the U.S. Constitution that we have a “right to death”? In law, if you have terms that are explicitly stated and those that are implicitly stated and those that are implicitly stated contradict those that are explicitly stated, which prevails?
I hope we can keep this story alive and make Congress have those hearings. The public has a right to know.
Zami
Nowhere in the Constitution will you find a “right to die.” It simply isn’t there.
Over the years, the courts have looked to the Constitutional right to privacy to answer the question of whether an individual has a right to chart their own course. They have decided that the right to privacy grants a competent adult the right to be let alone, i.e. to say that they do not want treatment to continue even if that means that death will result. Few of us would argue with the inherent appropriateness of allowing a mentally competent adult to decide, for instance, that they do not want to endure another round of debilitating chemotherapy and would prefer to spend the remainder of their days enjoying life, rather than suffering the side effects of a treatment that is not going to cure their underlying disease.
The courts have deemed the provision of food and fluids through a tube (nasal or stomach) to be “medical treatment.” But this is a position not universally supported. For instance, Pope John Paul II made clear that delivery of basic nutrition and hydration should not be considered an extraordinary measure, akin to, for example, CPR, dialysis, etc.
In California, the right to refuse medical treatment has been afforded the highest legal status — it is a fundamental right. The death culture proponents (and liberal media) have translated that into a “right to die.”
I have always argued, as did many in the Terri Schiavo case, that any analysis must begin with a presumption in favor of life. That is not just because it is an explicitly stated, as opposed to implicitly stated, right. But also because that is what a civilized society msut do in order to live up to its obligation to protect, defend and care for the defenseless.
Shockingly, in the Wendland matter, the Third District Court of Appeal’s decision, which was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court’s, included the bold statement that there was no presumption in favor of life.
In my opinion, if a statement like that doesn’t scare you, nothing will.