Location: land of the Lilliputians, In the state of insanity
Posts: 24,186
Epiphany about the Shaivo case.
This will probably be endless rambling of a mad mind, but try to interpret you best.
I was doing some thinking, and put myself in the shoes of Shaivo. If I were in her condition, would I want to live like that? My answer was no. I can see why one would want to insist on letting her die. I would want my wife to insist I be allowed to die. To keep my wife from ever going through this, I have a living will. My thoughts about this case are;
Most people are upset about this case due to the barbaric nature of the death she is going to meet. Starvation is a horrible way to go. A question that comes to mind, Should euthanasia be legal for this purpose? If you were in Shaivos place, would you want to be "put to sleep", or allowed to starve ? I know this opens a new can of worms as to when is the point of no return? This will all probably lead right back to the original discrepancy. So I guess it is more of an open ended question. Any way, what do you think. .
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kaafir mushrik
Unintended consequences and God have one thing in common: Liberals don’t believe in either of them.
I posted some of the court documents on another thread there were quite a few people that testified that Terry had stated she would not want to live in this state.
It wasn't just her husbands word that the judgement was based on.
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Probably one of the bigger problems with her husband's credibility is the fact that he has a girlfriend and has kids by that girlfriend. No matter what Schiavo told her husband, that "husband" certainly has other motives now for wanting to let her die. This brings up another problem of living wills that has already been brought up. Without such an official document, how do you legally say the spouse (in this case husband) is speaking correctly about the spouse's true wishes? Neither you, nor I nor anybody else can say so with certainty.
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
If you're certain you know everything, there's little opportunity to learn anything.
I have followed this case since it became national news. Removing the feeding tube is starving her to death, a very slow process we would not do to a mangy dog. One concern is that Mr. Shaivo did not come forward with the claim that she would not want to live like this until 7 years after she had been in this condition. He has stopped all rehabilitation efforts for Terri, & has gone so far as to not allow the window to be opened so sunlight can come into her room. I have seen video (which he did not want made public) that shows her responding to her parents. Just today an audio recording shows a response from her. Not intelligible words, but a vocal response nonetheless. Perhaps she cannot be rehabilitated to a point where she will be dancing a jig, but she is alive & responsive.
It's easy to sit here, able to go to the kitchen to get a snack, & say I wouldn't want to live like that. I wouldn't want to live like that; however, if those cards are dealt to me, I certainly wouldn't want to be starved to death. Euthenasia? Who knows, perhaps she can be rehabilitated to a point where her wishes are known. Euthenasia is a very slippery slope, a practice being used in some countries to get rid of older people when they become needy. I hope to live in a country where this is not practiced, & where a woman is not starved to death.
It's already legal, in a manner of speaking. When someone is about to die, they, or the family member in charge of their care, can request hospice care (which she is on) and that the patient be put on "comfort measures" until they die. Comfort measures usually means morphine given "as needed" to control pain and allow the person to rest, and eventually die, peacefully. Doctors are given great latitude in dosages when a patient is on hospice care, allowing a higher dose than would likely be perscribed to a patient who was in pain but had a chance of recovery. And over time a persons body builds a tolerance to the morphine, requiring a greater and greater dose to be effective at controlling the pain. The (fortunate) consequence of this is that morphine depresses the bodies autonomic functions such as the heartrate and respiration until one or both stops. Essentially, in the effort to control the pain, the terminally ill patient's body is coaxed off to a peaceful death that perhaps occurs hours or maybe a couple days before natural death would occur.
I would certainly hope that Terri is on comfort measures to allow her to finally pass on as she was meant to years ago.
You don't know what her "state" is. Its almost impossible to say 'I wouldn't want to .........." without knowing if rehabilitation could help her regain some of what she's lost.
Take your what if a step further. Would you want to be retarded ? Invalid ? Quadriplegic ? Theres a lot of things I would NOT want to be ......... yet by and large people who find themselves "there" have a stronger fight for life, and a greater appreciation for it, than you and I living in perfect mind/body.
"No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed." US Constitution.
The 11th hour bill passed and signed last night to stop the Schiavo ruling from being carried out clearly violates this portion of the Constitution.
The Schaivo ruling had been made previously and was already being carried out. The Constitution specificly forbids retro-active laws like this Congressional bill to stop the previous Schaivo ruling.
Politics has taken precident over law once again in order to score political points. Its a grand and classic strategy "Tug on the heart strings and the people will forget themselves and the law." - and its working beautifully.
in this case: they did the right thing.... NOONE should be put to death for being incapacitated....the courts over stepped their bounds by ordering her off LS. What's next...Hitlers' remedies being adapted ??? The "Law" has infringed too much on personal liberties from I've seen over the past 48 years. Courts and Lawyers suck.
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Terri cried when they told her she was going to die.
I've read several reports from her lawyer stating she made aloud noise when she was told about the tube being removed.Can you supply the link to story you read about her crying?
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Epiphany about the Shaivo case.
