STOP
TERROR
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Monday, March 21, 2005

Anybody Ever Tell You You Look Dead?

Ah, the joy of our new, "moral" America. Especially regarding the Terry Schiavo case.

First things first: If you don't have a Living Will, now would be the time to get one. Here's a good generic form from the Michigan Bar Association.

Second: How dare our esteemed lawmakers do this.

How dare Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, Bill "HIV is transmitted through sweat" Frist, and the rest of Congress pull this shit. How dare George W. Bush sign this mockery of a "law".

On how many grounds is it completely wrong? Let's start the count, shall we?
A woman who should have died fifteen years ago has become a political football for the sanctimonious. The final fatuity is from Terry Schiavo's own mother, who actually said "Please don't use my daughter's suffering for your own personal agenda" in reference to her own efforts to get the United States Congress to pass legislation keeping in the feeding tube.

Lady, I truly am sorry, and I feel terrible for you and your family. But if your daughter is suffering, do you really believe she would like to be kept suffering?

Comments:
As a resident of the Hillsborough/Pinellas County, FL, area where this sick, sad drama has been unfolding, I cannot begin to express how emotionally charged this issue is. Seeing the footage on most media outlets does not begin to convey it.

And Terry's parents are not ashamed to impugn their son-in-law, accusing him of only wanting her to die so that he can claim part of a malpractice-suit award and live happily ever after with his girlfriend and their two children. This, of course, leads to all manner of moral judgments against him by half-informed folks (like those who brought you the 'Spongebob is Gay' fiasco).

Never mind that he has refused not only divorces, but $10 million ($9.25 million more than the settlement amount) to walk away from his wife, because he firmly believes he is trying to do her will.

For anyone who hasn't followed this case, there is an excellent non-biased chronology of the judgments entered in the Florida courts at Abstract Appeal. I, personally, cannot believe that a woman who had been so vibrant and active in life would truly want to be trussed up like some modern statuary project in order to be kept 'alive'. And vindictive as it may be of me, I hope she is at the Pearly Gates to meet her parents and tell them as much.
 
It boggles my mind that the legislature--both US Government and Florida's--have gotten involved over this issue. I am amazed that Michael Schiavo hasn't, on his own, undertaken some extreme measures. If it were me, I'd find a way to inject her with a large quantity of insulin or something.

Sure, nobody deserves to starve to death. But the poor girl has about as much mental capacity as a mollusk (maybe even less). I wonder if her parents are also vegetarians? Because, if not, they've killed animals with more on the ball than their daughter.

The one I relly feel bad for is the poor husband, who has already said his goodbyes, and yet has to keep on saying them, keep on living with a near-corpse. ANd hey, you never know; look at Karen Ann Quinlan, who survived quite a while after being "unplugged."
 
I have to point out this spectacular rant by Hunter at The Daily Kos. Yeah, that's a lot of it.
 
Tom, et al...
This whole case has me torn. I'm firmly with the camp that realizes that she's "not there" anymore, but the part of me that says "Yeah, but what if..." is firmly bothered by letting the woman starve to death. My mother-in-law died this way, and my wife is still upset over her dying this way.
The worst part is the "no evidence from Mrs. Schiavo" stating that she DIDN'T want to be kept alive by any means, and because of that, I have to say thank you regarding the living will information. I'm actually spending my lunch hour going over the information right after finishing this post.
We are society of such contradictions...we can euthanize pets to keep them from suffering, we can execute criminals as punishment, but we can't be saved from legal nightmares like this because we can't choose the right to die with dignity rather than our physical body suffering until it fails (wether we're aware of the suffering or not).
If I ever end up in a similar situation, I hope and pray that I can be euthanized. At least then I can "say" good-bye and move on with the next phase of life, and my family can get on with living in this one.
 
Never mind that he has refused not only divorces, but $10 million ($9.25 million more than the settlement amount) to walk away from his wife, because he firmly believes he is trying to do her will.

Wow! I didn't know that. If he can still do it, he should. Let the parents take over, especially, if the Supreme Court rules for putting the feeding tube back in.
 
It's an atrocity, to be sure.

Gee, Mr. Frist, I know you're a physician. Have you examined the patient, and her tests? Or have you seen the UNedited video that shows the actions you seem to think are conscious, repeated with no apparent purpose some number of times?

Mr. Bush, I have two words for you: Sun Hudson. Nuff said, Mr. Hypocrite-in-Chief

I recommend reading Rivka's posts on the medical and ethical aspects of the issue, and also the post at Obsidian Wings that includes side-by-side CAT scans of TS's brain (or, according to every qualified individual seeing these, lack thereof) and a normal brain.
 
For living wills, I draw to your attention to the excellent information provided by Nolo Press.
 
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