I’ve been avoiding posting about this because there is a chance it will cause controversy, but I no longer care. I’m too upset. I’m going to write about it.
Unless you live in a hole you’ve heard about Terri Schiavo. She is the woman in Florida who has been in a vegetative state for the past 15 years and her husband has been fighting to fulfill her wish to not be kept artificially alive. Her family, who has no legal say on the matter, is trying to keep a feeding tube installed, saying that she could recover.
Firstly, she is not going to recover. She has been this way for 15 years. For years her husband sought out therapy to try to help her, but it didn’t work. The parts of her brain that made her Terri are gone. She is now just a body with limited functions that is being kept alive by artificial means. All of the doctors who have reviewed the case have agreed. All of those except for the ones paid by the family, however. Terri is no longer around.
I can understand that the family is upset. But their daughter has been dead for 15 years, and it is time to accept that. The mother claims that she talks to Terri and that they laugh together. But this isn’t true. Sure, the family will show you videos of Terri seemingly responding. But those videos are editing down to several minutes out of over 4 hours of raw video. If you yell at a dog enough eventually it will do calculus, but only by complete chance.
Most importantly, though, Terri didn’t wish to be kept around in this sort of situation, and our judicial system has agreed with that assertion over 10 times in the last 15 years. It wasn’t her wish to be kept alive, wasting resources better spend on the living.
So now, when it finally appears that this fiasco is going to end, Congress steps in to try and save her life. This is blatant pandering to their religious base, and it is sick. They are filthy perverts who actually wanted to have this woman appear in front of them to ask questions. How sick and degrading is that? It is a freak show, and makes me embarrassed that these are the people representing me. Now they are going to try to pass a law to save her life. A law that, from what I have read, is going to be directed only at this one case. To me this seems like a violation of the Constitution. Does anyone remember what a bill of attainder is? It is a law passed against a specific person, and here in the US, they are not allowed.
I don’t understand why people can’t just realize that Terri is no longer here and let her body die like her mind did years ago. It is a fallacy to say that life is precious, because in the US we don’t actually think life is precious. We only say so when we want to appeal to people’s emotions, when, in fact, all of the evidence seems to say that life is something we are perfectly happy doing away with.
What personally disgusts me the most is the amount of time, energy, and money that has been wasted on this debacle. There are so many more important things out there, and so many people who deserve our attention more. And yet they are ignored, while this case is brought to the forefront of national and Smackie news.
Let this woman have her wish, and lets move on as a country to things that are more important.
30 Comments
Amen Brotha! This is one of those cases where I wish we allowed for assisted suicide. I suspect it would be much more humane that just leaving her to die without sustenance (not that I don’t believe it needed to be done).
At what point is it ok to force an unconscious person to starve to death?
Dear Anonymous,
Terri is not unconscious. She is dead and gone. Unfortunately she is just an empty shell.
Good for you, Nathan. What bothers me is not just the impropriety of what the Republicans are trying to do, but the lack of outrage against it.
I completely agree with you Nathan. You put it perfectly when you said “They are filthy perverts who actually wanted to have this woman appear in front of them to ask questions.” It was absolutely sickening to think that the religious right would even consider dragging Mrs. Schiavo (or rather what’s left of her) through the halls of Congress (if I may borrow that term from my mother, who wrote both of our Senator’s and our representative in regards to this issue). I can not imagine that that process would give her family satisfaction, or that it is anything that Terri would have even thought of occuring. I was relieved to hear that they wouldn’t actually be bringing her in to be “questioned”- that maybe there would be a peaceful end to this ridiculous process that has spanned longer than my life. But alas, I was wrong. And now I am starting to see that this is far from over. What I’m afraid of, is that there is no way that this will end without government intervention. I have been against the government getting involved from the start, and now it seems there is no way to avoid it. There was a reason the federal court refused to get involved to start with- it’s not their place. The only person who’s place it is, was Terri’s. And she made her choice clear. It’s is disrespectful to her memory for her family to ignore this and make her some sort of “anti-euthanasia” icon.
This has become a matter of hypocracy. The parents, and “right-to-life” advocates, are saying how it is wrong to let Terri die. Putting my beliefs (and as Nathan said, those of all the doctors who have viewed her case) that she is already dead aside- This is no way to live. You wouldn’t parade a child with cancer around the world to be viewed like some sort of political bargaining chip. This is absurd and must end soon.
I’ve never been more proud of you, Nathan. Thank you for saying all of this, and so well.
Terri isn’t the only one who is brain dead. There apparently is a lot of that going around. This is monsterously despicable. The “religious” right is willing to spend time and effort to keep a dead body on life support, while killing hundreds of thousands in an unnecessary war and cutting back health care for the poor. These people are dangerous and downright evil.
Dear The Spook,
What criteria do you use to determine that Terri is dead? She is breathing on her own. Her heart beats on its own. This is not the definition of dead. Should Terri be starved to death because she is not capable of feeding herself? Because she can not communicate with you or I, she deserves to be put to death?
Anon-
There are different parts of the brain. The stem controls all of the unconscious things that you do – breathing, heart beating and things like that. The frontal parts control thoughts. The front parts are gone. The stem is still there. She can’t feel anything. She doesn’t even know she is being starved to death. It is actually a humane way to go. You might want to research more.
Okay, so she is alive, but unconscious, and she isn’t in any pain. Why is it that you want her to die?
She died fifteen years ago.
And she isn’t unconscious. She’s brain dead. The two are not interchangeable, contrary to what you’ll hear from the right wingers on TV. They’re not interchangeable at all.
It isn’t that she is unconscious. It is that her brain isn’t even there anymore.
And I don’t want her to “die”. She didn’t want to be kept alive in this situation. She wants to “die”. And the courts have said that is true for the last 10 years.
There are a number of parts to the brain, and part of Terri’s brain is working, at minimum the brain stem. How many working parts of the brain does a person need to be considered alive? All of them? Or perhaps we should be mercy killing the senile and mentally ill as well?
That’s not how it works. Yes she can move her head and blink. But she can’t think or feel. She can’t taste or do anything. That is not living. She has been this way for fifteen years. That’s longer than my entire life. It’s absolutely afwul that had a heart attack that left her brain dead. It really is. But after this long, she no longer has anything that could remotely constitute as a life.
This is no longer even respectful of Terri- this has become an explotation of the life that she DID have, one that no longer exists. It’s time to let her go. This isn’t about the political players or you or me. This is about a woman and her desire to not be kept alive artificially and that not being granted. If you don’t believe that she would have wanted to have been let go, then look at the reason she ended up in this situation in the first place. She was bulimic. It’s a sad condition that affects those who care far too much of how people see them (in the most simplistic way of viewing bulimia of course). She ended up having a heart attack because of this. The same heart attack that left her brain dead. Do you think a woman so concious of how she looked would like the pictures of her in the hospital, hooked up to multitudes of machines, no longer fully alive paraded around the media as political propaganda? I think not.
The “right-for-life” people need to realize that they are not doing anything righteous here, but rather disrespecting a woman’s dying, and that’s what they were, wishes.
It is a tragic situation, and the worst part of it is that the government is willing to go against the constitution that they swore to protect over a single brain dead woman, while ignoring the needs of the poor and sending our youth to be killed while killing Iraqui people. This is a very twisted sort of morality.
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I would say let the parents have custody. They will then be satisfied that everything in their power to help Terri has been done. I see no harm in that course of action.
Pilot –
What if your wish for what happens after you die is different from your parents? Should they get to do whatever they want to you even if you don’t want that?
In the US, spouses have more legal say than parents. Its the way it is. But I think everything that is going to be said has been said. Lets move on.
Dear All (and especially Dear Anonymous),
I think you are an honest person and of course you want to defend Terri. Who wouldn’t? But only if there would still be someone there to defend.
Let’s not forget that Terri is in, what is called, a Permanent Vegetative State. If you don’t understand what are the consequences of that, please do some research on the Internet.
I have personally seen several cases of that and I was also able to talk to their loved ones and to listen to each of their stories. Seventeen years ago I was sitting in an academic hospital ward of what was called the department Neurological Chirurgic Intensive Care (the IC within the IC). I was waiting for a loved one to get cured and I mainly spent six months there sitting on a chair.
One day I was that depressed that I asked one of the doctors if things could ever get worse, and his answer was: yes, things can get worse. He took me to some separate rooms and he showed me some poor people who were in the same condition as poor Terri is in now. Believe me, I left crying. After that I had time enough to reflect about this Permanent Vegetative State and it was an experience that changed my life. The horrible thing is that what makes a person so unique is gone and what remains is the empty shell.
What’s happening now is really disgusting. What should be a highly emotional private matter is turned into a political farce, and some people even have the courage to bring God’s will into the discussion. If God’s will is important to you, please don’t forget that Terri has already been in her Father’s house for the last 15 years.
Also let’s not forget that there are hundreds more of these cases. What about them? Each case will imply an equally difficult decision to take, but do we really need several parliaments to issue legislation on each separate case? I fully agree with Nathan, let’s move on to the real problems of our society, after we have cried for the loss of our loved ones.
What Terri “wanted” isn’t really the issue. So Terri didn’t want to be in a “persistent vegetative state”. Neither do I. Just because life doesn’t turn out the way someone wants doesn’t give others the right to kill them. It’s really just a way for her husband to make himself feel better for letting his wife starve to death.
And starve to death is what would happen. Remember that Terri isn’t on any life support. Terri is only being fed.
Nathan, I agree that Terri should be allowed to go. It is sad that her parents are not strong enough to let go and that is what we are dealing with here today. It is a very difficult decision to let go and takes alot of faith and courage that the decision you are making is the right one to make. What is more sad is that Congress has spent so much valuable time dealing with an issue that never should have been before them and not dealing with the real problems this country is facing. I guess the members of Congress aren’t very strong either. It is easier for them to hide behind the issue of whether Terri’s feeding tube should be removed than look at the real problems.
Can we be strong enough to understand that even though someone’s quality of life may not be as good as ours, they still have a right to not be starved to death?
Anonymous-
It’s not a matter of her not wanting to be in a PVS. It’s a matter of her not wanting to be kept alive artificially. And being dead is no quality of life- it’s dead. I’m sorry. It really is terrible. But I doubt you know better than the doctors who have reviewed Terri’s case whether she is still living or not. A lack of brain waves means a person is brain dead. Uncapable of being alive.
And we can in fact be strong enough to let a person who is dead go. That requires strength, but is also the right thing to do. What is cowardly and wrong is to ignore Terri’s dying wishes and to treat her as propaganda.
Terri is alive. Even her husband says she is alive. A person must be alive to be in a persistent vegetative state. In fact, PVS is not “brain dead”. For more information, read here: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/coma/coma.htm
While I have no reason to disbelieve the medical opinions of Terri’s doctors, It would be unwise to imply that an MD makes someone an ethical authority.
Thank you for sending me a link that corresponds with everything that the rest of us have said… Here’s the direct quote from the website:
“A persistent vegetative state (commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as “brain-death”) sometimes follows a coma. Individuals in such a state have lost their thinking abilities and awareness of their surroundings, but retain non-cognitive function and normal sleep patterns. Even though those in a persistent vegetative state lose their higher brain functions, other key functions such as breathing and circulation remain relatively intact. Spontaneous movements may occur, and the eyes may open in response to external stimuli. They may even occasionally grimace, cry, or laugh. Although individuals in a persistent vegetative state may appear somewhat normal, they do not speak and they are unable to respond to commands.”
Sorry, but that’s not living. But thanks for the link. I’ll be sure to use that in the future as my citation for Terri not actually living.
Are you implying that Congress and the courts are “ethical authority”? That’s a laugh. And while the doctors may not be this forementioned “ethical authority”, they are the ones who know best about Terri’s situation. Far better than you or me. I just make the decision to listen to them.
And I’m sorry for having stated that Terri is brain dead when that’s the wrong term. I’m no doctor or scientist. When I found out that Terri is unable to think or function on a cognitive level, well, I basically quated that with brain dead. That was wrong of me. She just can’t function- at all…
Abby,
You may also want to quote the dictionary’s definiton of life:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=life
Since a person in PVS has these characteristics, they are alive.
Also, Terri’s doctors say she is alive. You seem to be alone in your assertion that Terri is dead. I agree with you on one point, let’s leave the medical analysis to the doctors.
You would say that killing someone by starving them to death is ethical?
I geuss I have to say that it’s hypocritical to argue over someone’s “life” and then dwindle it down to a definition in a dictionary.
I’m not going to continue to bicker with you anymore though. Neither one of us is going to convince the other to change their mind. In the end, what either one of us says doesn’t matter.
On the contrary, Abby, I think the definitions beg the question of what do we do with severely mentally retarded patients or other conditions, who are limited to infantile behaviors. I think Anon is asking for a non-emotional line, where personal opinions are not interjected into, say, the quality of her life or, say, whether she is alive at all. I think it is interesting that no further medical exams, such as an MRI, have been done. Surely that would tell us if the PVS diagnosis is correct, since it would be apparent as to whether the cognitive-processing portion of the brain were still functioning instead of diagnosing from symptoms.
I am posting a website, and I realize that it is extremely biased, but I thought the medical commentary was rather interesting: http://www.hospicepatients.org/terri-schindler-schiavo-docs-links-page.html
I’d have to agree with a lot said here that it’s a shame that congress is spending this much time and energy on this. There are a lot of things that need to be taken care of.
Courts and court appointed doctors have sided for 10 years saying that she is in a PVS. I don’t think I’m in a position to doubt them.
The real bias here is from the family who puts out videos of her seemingly responding without saying that she responded 11 times out of 160, which proves nothing.