DeeCee said:
The only interesting thing about Terri is why she's become so popular.
Court battles for around 7 years can do that for you. She's become the new cornerstone in the Right to Life campaigns. She's become political fodder as the right battles with the left. She's become a quasi religious symbol as the Right to Life camp battle the evil husband to keep her alive because she is one of God's children. Pathetic really. Here is the shell of a woman who groans every once in a while, not because she is trying to communicate but her body just lets out sound here and there and all of a sudden that groan is a statement to her parents that she wants to live.
I was in hospital today for the obligatory tests and scans and as I was waiting for my ultrasound, there was a tearful woman around the same age as I sitting next to me in the waiting area, telling these two other women that her husband had been brought into the hospital last week with chest pains and was told this morning that at most, he had 6 weeks left and that he could in the meantime suffer severe brain damage and the scans he was currently undergoing would give a clearer degree of what to expect. Bad enough as that was, this woman then said that her husband had already contacted their lawyer to draw up power of attorney documents so that if he did become brain damaged and he could not communicate his wishes, that his wife was to tell them to turn off the machine because his wife said that he did not want to end up like that woman in the US if his parents tried to fight to keep him alive. I was thankfully called in at that point, but what struck me about what she'd said was that her husband at such a time was scared in case he was kept alive if his family fought to keep him alive in the courts. That stayed with me all day and instead of enjoying the scan to look at my own growing parasite kicking and moving, I just kept thinking of that woman and thought that it's a sad day when one's own wishes can be over-ruled by selfish family members, leaving one in pain and without any dignity whatsoever.
Withdrawing nutrition is nothing new.
No it's not. But it'd be a painful way to go if the pain receptors in the brain was still active. Personally I'd want a giant dose of morphine to send me on my way without pain. On that note:
Her father today made an emotional appeal for US authorities to reconnect a feeding tube to his severely brain-damaged daughter and said he feared doctors might try to hasten her death.
"I have a grave concern that they'll expedite the process to kill her with an overdose of morphine," Bob Schindlier told the press outside the Florida hospice where his 41-year old daughter is a patient.
"She's alive and she's fighting like hell to live," he added, remarking on his daughter's "amazing, amazing endurance".
Link
Hmmm... what a Dad!! Doesn't want his daughter's suffering to end too quickly. One would think he would want the doctors to give her the morphine to hasten her death, thereby ending her enduring suffering. Some should tell dear old dad that the human body will always try to survive, regardless of whether Terri is there or not, which she is not. Terri is dead, but her body is still alive. Hugging that body won't bring her back. In cases like these, parents really should respect their child's wishes instead of their own selfish needs and wants. Of course no parent wants to watch their child die, but one should not circumvent the child's wishes in such a situation. If Terri had said that she would not want to have the machine turned off or feeding tube removed and she wanted to be resuscitated against all costs, then the parents would be correct in upholding her wishes. But this is not the case and their daughter's wishes should be respected.
From that news article, I'm guessing that the next legal battle over Terri will be whether she be cremated or buried.
Internationalist said:
What kills about pro-lifers is that they had put out death threats against the husband and the judge...love religion.
The thing about the pro-lifers that one should always keep in mind is that they are willing to and have killed to ensure that a life is protected and that the life is not ended unless that death is the result of their God's doing. The irony would be delicious if it wasn't so damned pathetic.