Husband Takes Schiavo Fight Back to Politicians - New York Times
It's a shame that the authors of this otherwise good article still associate Terri Schiavo's death with the removal of the feeding tube. They write
Hence the creation last winter of TerriPAC, a federal political action committee aimed against politicians who tried to stop Ms. Schiavo's death, and the debut of Mr. Schiavo, a newly remarried, self-described normal guy, as a political weapon in this year'’s midterm elections.Emphasis mine.
The phrase "stop Ms. Schiavo'’s death" is incorrect. The thing that defines a living person is the person's brain activity. Terri Schiavo was long since dead. Only her body lingered. Writers should chose words that reflect this fact. I'd suggest something like "... against politicians who tried extreme measures to override state court outcomes, ...".
Again:
Ms. Schiavo'’s parents, who adamantly opposed her death and rejected Mr. Schiavo's claim that she would have wished it, had pleaded with Congress and President Bush to intervene.They weren't opposing her death. She was already dead.
Michael Schiavo is starting a political action committee, TerriPAC. Online donations are easy.
The Schindlers and their surviving children, Bobby and Suzanne, are raising money through the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics, a nonprofit group whose stated goal is to protect "the rights of disabled, elderly and vulnerable citizens against care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing."”Against health care rationing, eh? Might as well stand against the tide. One way or another, health care is rationed. What these people are against, I think, is rational health care rationing.
Euthanasia AND medical killing? I suppose they're also against suicide AND self-annihilation.
Again, they might as well stand against the tide. One way or another, euthanasia will occur, and its use will increase. It'll just remain hidden if the Schindler's foundation has its way.
4 comments:
I don't know if euthanasia, the term, even applies to someone in Terri Schiavo's condition. No killing was done because she was already dead. It was not done to relieve suffering because she was incapable of suffering -- mainly because she wasn't there. It was done for two reasons: 1) to honor her wishes regarding her body, 2) and to cut costs. The money used to animate a corpse can be better applied to just about anything.
Dr. Kevorkian was practicing euthanasia, albeit with the willing cooperation of his victims, and I have some respect for people who object to such a procedure. For Terri Schiavo's parents I have nothing but pity, and sadness for their self-delusion. Many evils flow from such persistent denial of the obvious.
I think there's a difference between assisting suicide and administering euthanasia. As I understand it, Kevorkian did the dirty deed only once, all other cases being assisted suicides.
I admire Dr. Kevorkian, but he should have stuck with assisting suicides and stopped short of euthanasia. Seems to me that even the fellow Kevorkian euthanized on video could have pushed a virtual button for himself, though setting up a suitable control for such a severely handicapped person may have been a technical challenge.
Setting up the conditions, assisting in a suicide, can be a respectable act, but Kevorkian overstepped the bounds deliberately in his efforts to change things and now he pays the price for his miscalculation. Too bad.
If you saw it, what did you think of Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby?
I saw all the previews but never watched it. I like Clint Eastwood. I'll give it a shot if you think it's worth it. Does it have anything about euthanasia, or shouldn't I ask?
It's a good flick. Highly recommended. It touches on end-of-desperate-life issues in a way that rankled some.
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