In response to my sister Terri’s death — and recognizing there were not any groups dedicated to helping the medically vulnerable — my family established the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network and its 24/7 National Crisis Lifeline to advocate for these individuals.
From what seems like the first day we started 18 years ago, we have been receiving calls from families who need help defending their loved ones. Here are a few recent examples (names/locations omitted for privacy):
- Mother contacted us seeking help after her twin newborns almost died due to the hospital’s lack of treatment for their sepsis and pneumonia.
- Daughter contacted us about her father who was being denied treatment by the hospital.
- Attorney contacted us for help after the hospital removed the son as his mom’s caretaker.
- Daughter contacted us seeking a doctor who would be willing to provide a feeding tube for her mother who has Alzheimer’s.
- Mother is battling her son’s girlfriend who is fighting for guardianship and wants to stop his treatment. Mother says her son is responsive and need time to heal.
It is apparent that families recognize the value and God-given dignity in their loved ones and want to take care of them. But on the other hand, too many physicians are embracing a nihilistic worldview, judging patients by their utility, and using their paternalistic decisions to impose death.
The unfortunate reality of today’s bureaucratic healthcare is that no one is ensured life-affirming care. When families are confronted with medical decisions to deny or withdraw care from their loved ones, they are alone and do not know where to turn for help.
Although many groups are confronting the culture of death at the beginning of life, there are not nearly enough organizations safeguarding our medically weak so that they will receive proper care or ethical “end of life” treatment, underscoring the need for our advocacy.
Even in the cases when a family wants to continue treatment — challenging the decisions of the hospital — they are typically afforded no due process against denial of treatment, no protection from euthanasia as a form of care, no right to food and water, no presumption of the will to live, and no access to rehabilitative care.
The Life & Hope Network is one of only a few organizations established to stand with families who want to care for their medically defenseless loved ones – over 4,000 since our inception! It’s been a long, frustrating, and arduous fight. Still, with your help, we are making progress educating people about the sanctity and dignity of every life — especially the elderly, disabled, and incapacitated.
Every month, aside from helping families, our work focuses on expanding awareness so that individuals know the serious difficulties that exist in today’s healthcare system. Most important, however, is that the public knows that the Life & Hope Network — a leading national patient advocacy organization — can provide resources to help families who are facing a crisis.
But we are a small organization up against a “Goliath” healthcare system with unlimited resources. It is the reason why we hope you will consider a tax-deductible donation (or a monthly pledge) so we can continue to help families with our lifesaving 24/7 National Crisis Lifeline.
Whether you give a one-time gift of $25, $50, $100, $150 or becoming a Life & Hope Network Sustaining Ally (monthly donor) — whatever you can contribute would be sincerely appreciated. Your kindness will support the next patient or family calling us for help and our commitment to assist those who are in harm’s way. You can click here to make a contribution. Thank you!
God bless you,
Bobby Schindler
P.S.: Please consider supporting our ministry, and in a special way, you can honor Terri and the work we do in her memory.