Sunday, February 3, 2008

Lauren Richardson

Another young woman in Delaware may possibly be starved to death, similar to Terri Schiavo. Lauren Richardson is 23 years old, and has been diagnosed as in a "persistant vegetative state". In 2006, she overdosed on heroin and suffered brain injury. At the time of her overdose, she was pregnant with her first child. She was kept alive long enough for her to give birth to that child. Now her mother has guardianship of Lauren, and wants to have her feeding tube removed.

The mother should speak to the Schindler family, about exactly what is involved in starvation death. From everything I've read, it is absolutely gruesome to watch a loved one go through such pain. How disgusting we live in a society where another one of our least is going to be murdered, by her family and the state.

Video of Lauren with her father:



Website about Lauren:

Life For Lauren

This cannot happen again in an allegedly civilized society.

6 comments:

Damaged said...

This story is not what it seems. It may seem cut and dry to many, but there is a alot that the public does not know. Lauren Richardson's mother is not mentally stable, she and her daughter did not get along. You can go to Lauren's myspace page and look to see where she states herself that she got along better with her father then with her mother. However, the verdict was based soley on her mother and her mother's uncle stating that she had said she did not want to live "like that" Not to mention, if Lauren did say those things in 2005 as told in court, she was on drugs and drinking when made them, and she was not a mother. At the same time she allegedly made these statements one of the two witnesses had just gotten out of a mental institution and one was on drugs himself. These do not seem like they should be admissable to me. The week that Lauren "accidentally" overdosed, she had been hiding from her mother who was trying to force her to have an abortion. She had been clean for ten months! Her stuff was packed because that weekend she was going to move in with her dad, because she had asked HIM to help her with the baby. Several doctors have requested to see Lauren and try different treatments. Her mother has refused all of them. Her doctor, who is not a neurologist told the family that she would not wake up, she would not move her body, that she would not respond to pain, that she would not breathe on her own again, that would not respond to people, that she would not show emotion. She does all of these things. She also can swallow and doctors have said with enough therapy she could eat on her own again. If she had gotten that threapy and could feed herself would we then hold her arms down so she cannot eat. Lauren's mother waited 7 months before stating that these were not "Lauren's wishes." And this was something that could have been said in the very beginning, before the fetus was viable. She had ample oppurtunity. It was only after Lauren seemed to be improving that she came forth with this information. How is that respecting Lauren's wishes? Lauren has never even seen her daughter, her mother will not bring her in. drugs for Lauren.She went THREE MONTHS without visiting Lauren at all, and only because Randy was going to be granted custody and allowed to take her home, did she come in and see her so no one could claim abandonment. As it currently stands, someone from the Richardson side of the family is there 84 hours of the week at least, whereas someone from her mother's side of the family is there for approximately 6 hours a week. This can be verified by visitors logs. She can come whenever she likes, she chooses not to because the Richardsons are there, evevn though she has been informed that they will leave whenever she wishes to visit. Now the Richardsons have been threatened with lawsuits if they continue to speak to the media and if they do not take down her website. In a country where we cannot legally help someone kill themselves when they are terminally ill and in massive pain, we are awfully quick to kill people who are not, and just based on hearsay. There was another group of people who used to kill disabled children and adults. Sometimes they used starving as a method as well. The Nazis.

Please call Governor Ruth Ann Minner and ask her to stop this from happening.

Wilmgington Office- 302- 577-3210

Dover Office- 302- 744-4101

Dawn said...

Kim, thank you for posting your comments. There is always more to the story than what is reported in the media, and I'm not surprised by what you've said.

I will be contacting Governor Minner asap.

Therese said...

this is so tragic. I am linking to this post Dawn. We need to get the word out.

AnchorMama said...

I called the Gov.'s office and left a message, but was told that the case is in the courts and the Governor doesn't get involved in cases like this. Uh-Huh. We need to keep praying.

Damaged said...

Everyone,

Thank you so much for all of your support!!! I know the Governor's office has been a little aggravating. I am not sure whether it is because it is still in appeals that they are responding that way... I really hope that people do not give up, but I am hoping that the public will become more aware!

Just an update: Lauren's Guardian Ad Lieum has put a restraining order on Randy for the video he released to the public, stating that he has invaded her privacy. Jason C. Powell (Lauren's G.A.L.) Has done nothing to support that Lauren is an actual human being and wants her feeding tube removed, but a video of her contradicting statements about her being unresponsive is an invasion of her privacy???

Once again, thanks for your support!!!

Kim

Dawn said...

I'm not surprised the GAL would do something like that. Remember GAL's do not work for the best interest of the person they are supposed to be guardian for; they are another arm of the court and serve them. He's angry because the truth about Lauren is now out in the public. Shame on him, and anyone like him.