mr. speaker , this case , what we are doing here tonight , is not about terri schiavo . 
the evidence for that begins in the way this was brought to this body , being brought in on st . 
patrick 's day at 11 : 30 at night , with no hearings , no notice to the body , nothing . 
it was going to be rammed through here without discussion . 
and what troubles me , and i have heard my colleagues here , as a psychiatrist , i can not make diagnoses of people that i have not examined . 
that is contrary to my profession , and i can be disciplined for doing that . 
the rest of you can be doctors . 
you can come out here and tell us anything you want . 
but a doctor can not come out here and say anything really about somebody they have not examined . 
so what you are now doing with this , and you want it both ways . 
this is what troubles me about this . 
on the one hand , you say this is not precedent . 
this is only one case . 
this is only one case . 
what am i supposed to do as a physician like the gentleman from michigan ( mr. schwarz ) xz4006370 ? 
as a psychiatrist , i dealt over and over and over again with family members facing this exact problem . 
it is gut-wrenching . 
you do not get any planning process here . 
you do not get any , well , this is going to happen in a month , why do n't you get ready for it . 
it happens and then you have got to make a decision . 
and there you are as a family group . 
everyone here is going to have this happen to them sometime . 
when my father was 95 years old , he had had a couple of strokes . 
on his first stroke , we talked to him . 
he was 93 before we ever talked about a living will , okay ? 
that is the way it is in america . 
that is why we do not have terri 's words in a will . 
you do not think about dying when you are young . 
all right . 
so my father has had a stroke . 
we said to him , dad , what do you want us to do in terms of extending your life ? 
he said , well , i do n't want any of those paddles that they use on er . 
they can do artificial resuscitation , but i do n't want that paddle thing . 
okay . 
the doctor came to me and said to me , jim , the paddles are much more humane than doing artificial resuscitation . 
if you press on an old man 's chest to try and start his heart from the external massage , you break the ribs . 
then he has got pain from broken ribs . 
actually , the paddle is much more humane . 
so i went back to my father , and my brothers and i , we had a talk with him , and he said , well , i want it done the way it should be done . 
then came the day when he had his third stroke and he could no longer swallow , and he was on ivs . 
and so there were two brothers , a sister , and me and my mother , and we had to stand around and decide whether or not we were going to put in a stomach tube , a feeding tube . 
anybody who stands out here and says that is not an extraordinary process is absolutely wrong . 
it is no different than being on a ventilator , forcing air into someone 's lungs , than it is forcing food into them . 
that is exactly what it is . 
you are throwing all that up in the air and leaving families and doctors with nowhere to go because this is not setting precedent ; this is something to hide something else , some diversion of what is going on in this house . 
