One of the priests that went to visit Anastasia after we were notified by Guardian Labowitz they were going to withdraw Anastasia’s nutrition and hydration provided a statement in response to the guardians assertion that I summoned a succession of people identifying themselves as priests. His quoted statement below says it all.
The guardian’s statement is hyperbolic and rings of resentment about having visitors to their patients. He wrote: “Ms. Bell summoned a succession of people identifying themselves as priests who appeared at the care facility during Wednesday night, well beyond visiting hours, to attend Ms. Adams, who they said was expected to die overnight. . . . Needless to say, these visitors created chaos among the on-site staff at the facility and for their supervisors attempting to sleep at home.”
Two priests visited—validly ordained Roman Catholic priests. That doesn’t make “a procession of people identifying themselves as priests.”
I believe the first was around 7:00 p.m.; I arrived at 9:30 p.m. Envoy’s website says that they are open 24 hours, 7 days a week. So, no one arrived “well beyond visiting hours.”
I arrived after the doors were locked, and an employee let me in. A nurse asked me who I was going to visit. I anointed Anastasia and left; the whole event took about three minutes. I didn’t knock on any doors, and I didn’t turn any lights on, and I whispered the prayers to Anastasia. So, there was no chaos concerning my visit; I doubt there was any with the earlier priest’s visit. Why would there be? Why would it be “needless to say, these visitors created chaos among the on-site staff at the facility and for their supervisors attempting to sleep at home.” This is not a credible claim, but it does expose the guardian’s animus toward anyone visiting Anastasia, whom he pretends to care about—another claim that lacks credibility. Why were the supervisors called at home? And what time do they go to bed that they would be rudely roused at 7:00 and 9:30 p.m.?
I never said that Anastasia “was expected to die overnight,” and I didn’t expect that she would. The guardian distorts the facts in his impatience with the idea that clergy were visiting Anastasia.
The guardian also wrote: “Ms. Adams executed an advanced medical directive in 2010, specifying that she did not want heroic measures used to extend her life.” Today in the US, providing food and water to a patient is a heroic measure?! Wow. This guardian is trying to justify his killing of Anastasia by starvation—or really, worse, by thirst. This man should be imprisoned.
The Abduction of Anastasia Adams 