Dory at WittenbergGate has written an excellent article about the questions "Would you want to live like Terri?" and "Who would want to live like that?" [HT: JivenJehosaphat]. Here is an excerpt:
No one has suggested that Terri should be "allowed to die" because she is dying anyway. What is being suggested is that she should be caused to die because her life is not worth living. "I wouldn't want to live that way," people are fond of saying. Well, thanks for sharing, but that's not really the point, is it? What if I decided that I wouldn't want to live as a diabetic with all the challenges that disease presents. Does that then justify me killing a diabetic child or spouse? Dare I argue that to suggest otherwise is to interfere with "a personal family decision?"Terri Schiavo is a very disabled woman. As much as we wish to accurately reflect her condition and refute those who make it out to be worse than it seems to be, we must still acknowledge that hers is a life that many people might not want to live. As with many of life's trials we often think we could not endure them, until God thrusts them upon us and also gives the strength and endurance we need. I probably said or would have said at one time that I would rather die than to endure the death of one of my children. Yet two of my children are dead and I endure and live and thrive with a strength that is not my own, but God's.
Terri's situation is important, not only because of her precious life, but also because her case takes our country a step over an important line. That is the line between avoiding fruitless efforts to save a dying person and withdrawing efforts to sustain a person who is not dying, on the basis of our assessment of his or her "quality of life." The truth is, many people are killed because someone decides their life would not be worth living. It happens to disabled newborn babies all the time. It happens to disabled children and adults. The difference in Terri's case is that it is happening in full public view.
WELL SAID!!!
God bless you and all who stand for life.
You seem to miss that The Florida courts found, after a trial and hearing witnesses, that Terri would want to be removed from her feeding tube. No one is talking about taking her life away because society in general feels that it is "not worth living." It has been determined that Terri has in effect, said, "I do not want to live this way," and that really is the point, and you can certainly feel free to "thank her for sharing."
The death of your children is surely a great tragedy, but I think not fairly analagous to Terri's trial. I do not accept that losing one's children is an adequate basis for taking one's own life. But I am hesitant to accept the proposition that a person, in advance of falling into Terri's condition, may not give advance notice that she would rather not endure such a trial and be removed from a feeding tube.
MIKE SCHIAVO WORKS FOR THE ST.PETE POLICE DEPT AS A REGISTERED NURSE! THIS CASE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CRIMINAL CASE! HE IS PROTECTED BY THE POLICE AND 15YRS AGO SHOULD HAVE BEEN HELD AS A SUSPECT FOR HIS WIFES ATTEMPTED MURDER. JUST MY OPINION! WHO FALLS AND BRAKES A RIB IN A HALLWAY? WHY DOES SHE HAVE MYSTERIOUS SYRINGE MARKS? THERE ARE TOO MANY QUESTIONS AND NOT ENOUGH STRAIGHT ANSWERS! HE WANTS AN IMIDIATLY CREMATION AND WANTS NO AUTOPSY! WHY?
DOCTORS FOUND NO ELECTROLITES COMMON WITH STROKE OR HEARTATTACK VICTIMS...SO WHAT IS IT?
DEMOCRATICS ARE TRYING TO MAKE A POINT BUT ARE USING SOMEONES LIFE TO DO IT PLUS JUST OUTRIGHT DISRESPECT FOR PRES.BUSH. WITTEMAN APPOINTED BY CLINTON...SLEPPS OVER IT WHILE PRES.BUSH RUSHED AND SIGNED IT. GREERS OFFICE LOCATED NEXT TO MIKES EMPLOYMENT NEAR SCIENTOLOGY FILLED AREA! SO IN MY OPINION SHE HAS NOT HAD A FAIR TRAIL!!!!YET.
SHE IS ONLY RETARDED... SHE SHOULDNT DIE FOR THAT! FIND THE LAST MRI...OR CAT SCAN DATE? THEY CANNOT PERFORM ONE SINCE ELECTRODES WERE NEGLECTFULLY LEFT IN HER BRAIN BY HER HUSBAND.
FLORIDA COURTS WHETHER DEMOCRATS OR LIBERALIST SHOULD ACT LIKE THE LAW NOT ACT ABOVE IT!
UNULL THIS MARRIAGE BY RELIGION AND RETURN HER TO
HER GAURDIANS THAT CARE .....HER FAMILY.
I WOULDVE FED HER !
I PRAY FOR ALL YOU WHO ARE COMPASSIONLESS AND EGER TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS WITH NO INFORMATION...
ps DONT VISIT OR RESIDE IN FL AND GET BRAINDAMAGE THERE... YOU MIGHT END UP STARVED TO DEATH.
PEACE OUT.
DISCUSTED FORMER DEMOCRAT
Is removing the tube Hypocritical? That's the real question. I understand and appreciate the motivations and feelings of both sides of this issue. The parents want to hold on to hope, while the husband wants closure. This makes for a situation where no answer is necessarily right or wrong in the decision to prolong her life.
What I dont understand or agree with is the hypocrisy of pulling the tube to resolve this issue. They are essentially signing her death warrant by pulling the tube, yet they are doing it in a cruel and inhumane method. Starvation and dehydration seems to be a terrible way to die. If the "powers that be" really believe in their cause, then why prolong the agony and why not just issue an order to overdose Terri with drugs or some other equally efficient and less painful method?? Wouldn't this be a more preferable way to die if you were in her position? We wouldnt subject our dog or cat to such suffering, but we will silently turn our heads at the plight of this poor woman and the suffering she is facing.
In hearing the news coverage on this subject recently, I pondered the question on what would happen if someone took measures into their own hands to end her suffering by killing her outright. Wouldn't they most likely be arrested for murder or would the fact that the justice and medical system's who have already signed her death warrant negate this possibility? Unlikely! I am sure the murder charges would be filed before you can say who-dun-it (Please be assured that I am not encouraging someone to intervene in this manner). This is the hyprocrisy that really gets to me. Please keep in mind that I believe that life is precious, but I also believe that there comes a time when tough and humane decisions might need to be made. Unfortunately, people like Terri and others who are facing terrible deaths from terminal illnesses have no currently legal options other than to endure the suffering. This is an hypocrisy that should be remedied soon.
JB