Shall Terri Schiavo die?

There's nothing really significant about her life or death. Like Deepa Chopra mentioned a few minutes ago (on CNN) "40 000 children died of hunger today and another 40 000 will die tomorrow. How come you don't see any one of them on TV?".
So one group who loved her wanted her alive, another group who loved her wanted her dead. In both cases (and I guess in every conceivable case), love is selfish. Parents wanted to hold on to the physical-- Terri was physically alive and they wanted to hold on to whatever they had of her -- and maybe they had hope. You have to respect that. Her husband wanted to end her life because "that's what she would have wanted" and as a loving husband wanted to honor his wife's wishes. you have to respect that too. It never made one shit difference for Terri herself whether she's alive or dead. I mean what difference does it make to anyone whether or not they "get what they want" if they're in 100% vegetitive state? Morally, it could have gone either way. The husband won, his conscience is cleared, and he feels (or will feel) better knowing that he did "what she wanted". The parents could have won and kept hugging and touching and talking to her -- and it wouldn't had made any difference to Terri. When you think about it, "what she would have wanted" is also irrelevant. Would she have "wanted" her parents to suffer as they did and are? Maybe knowing what she would know today, she would have taken the position "sure, keep me alive. My parents want to hold on to me. keep me alive. I'm oblivious .. makes no difference to me."

Again, the real (and only) tragedy here is the fact that we (society) ended the life of human being by dehydrating her. We wouldn't dare do that to sick dog or horse but it was apparently legal to do that to a human being. That is scary and morally wrong.

 

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There seem to be a lot of people who do not trust the medical experts who claim that Teri did not suffer while dehydration caused her organs to cease to function.

Once the decision is made, it seems silly to allow the remains of a person to last almost two weeks instead of ending it quickly, but it is not cruel.

The talk about treating animals better is nonsense. When a dog or horse is put down, they are usually conscious and suffering. Starving or dehydrating an animal or person who is conscious is obviously cruel and depraved.

As mentioned by myself and others in previous posts: The people who wanted to keep the feeding tube in place just do not understand the implications of a flat EEG and a vegetative state lasting for years.

Do the religious types have some belief that there is a soul lingering and suffering as long as the heart is beating? Viewing the heart as more significant than a pump is an archaic belief.

 

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An emancipation of her to escape the misery of living in vegetative form.
God bless her.

 

I think her parents were fucking selfish. Keeping her alive like that for 15 years.
I wouldn't want to spend 3 days like that before dying.

 

Oooh but they wanted to keep her alive!! Why?
So they would have a "Terry Dolly" to look at and talk to.
How immature. Let the poor woman go and have her peace.

 

As my buddy told me, he said " If I was ever in that state, just keep shooting me with heroin until I die." He is a recovered junky.

Anyway, it is pretty inhumane to starve a person to death. Just give her a lethal injection and be done with it.

 

I totally agree.

As far as I'm concerned persistent vegetative state is precisely the same as death in this sense: nobody comes back and tells us "what it was like". I feel it is invidious of doctors to proclaim knowledge about what a person suffering a PVS may or may not be feeling and declaring that someone "didn't suffer" when they were starved and thirsted to death.

 

She looked just like the living dead on TV, what the hell were they talking about when they saw life in her? The pro-zombie people are just ghouls.

ghoul:
An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses.

 

That's another thing. Does anyone think that Terri would have wanted for her zombie face posted on every single tv in america (and the world) night after night?!! Man, give her life, death, anything but that! Both parties are equally to blame for that. If her parents or husband love for her was truely unselfish, they would not have allowed it to get this publicity. Shame on them both.

 

Here's another thing... why would Jesse Jackson want his zombie face posted on every single tv in America? Give me life, death, or ANYTHING but that again!!! Only one party is to blame for that perversion.

 

the real issue here is - how many mentally inept people will watch that movie of the week and think they understand the situation. Sad.

 

I feel bad for her. Her husband should be shot

I guess you must be a 'prolifer' Zero

BTW I hear the ex pope declined the offer of advanced life support and accepted a DNR request.

Go figure.
Dee Cee

 

She died, there's nothing to discuss,it was destined to be,let her rest in peace.

 

She died, there's nothing to discuss,it was destined to be,let her rest in peace.

 

Heck yeah she should.

 

Wow Clockwood, I'm surprised (and pleased) that you said that. I always thought that you were a fundamentalist Conservative?

Bells:

Usually I'd agree. But if I were Michael, I wouldn't give Terri's parents the satisfaction. Call me petty if you will, but I would oppose them in any way possible if they kept my wife alive in such a state 15 years. I can't believe how selfish they people were. I can understand why they were upset, but that doesn't give them the right to IGNORE their daughters final wishes (they clearly stated that even if Terri said she wanted the feeding withdrawn, they wouldn't do so.)

I'm not saying that Michael is doing this out of spite, but I'm rooting for him.

 

The difference is that those 40,000 children actually suffered. Terri did not. I think that is what's being noted by Mr. Chopra.

Do I think we should have starved/dehydrated her to death? No.

I think that euthanasia should be legal in the United States. All life should be able to die humanely, and without drawing it out for almost two weeks.

If this had happened in Europe, which it does hundreds of times a day, they wouldn't have thought twice about just giving the patient an overdose of morphine or another comfortable drug to ease and aid their passing.