Posted on 03/30/2005 2:14:34 PM PST by CHARLITE
"Please, Lord," I groused plaintively last week as I stood a few yards from where Terri Schiavo lay dying because a gaggle of public officials had decided her life was not worth living. "Please don't let one more person tell me how 'complex' this whole case has become."
If I heard the "complexity" response once, I think I heard it a hundred times. Worst of all, I probably even thought it a few times myself.
But the Terri Schiavo case is "complex" only in the sense that any of our sinful behavior is complicated. Sometimes, it is true, we weave such contorted patterns that solutions seem hard to find. That's precisely when we ought to look for God's simpler answers.
There is nothing complex about a situation like this: Party A is desperately needy. Party B, the normal provider of Party A's needs, says he doesn't want to do so. Party C, however, is more than ready to step in and provide what Party B says he doesn't want to give. Doesn't seem so hard, does it?
The situation gets complicated only when an extraneous Party D steps in to say that Party C can't, by law, extend such a merciful hand. And Party D in this case, of course, turns out to be those same activist judges who have stood half of American society on its head in recent years.
Just think how simple all this might have been if it had not become the American habit to try to remedy every inconvenience in life with a trip to the courthouse. Set aside the worst things you've heard about Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband for eight years before she suffered a terrible heart attack in 1990 that left her with clearly serious brain damage. Instead, think only the best of Michael and the distress he faced.
Here's how the situation might have unfolded then. The growing emotional and financial burden confronting Mr. Schiavo might understandably have escalated to more than he was able to bear. That happens to lots of people all the time. Some such folk struggle on even then, buoyed either by remarkable personal courage, a wonderful faith, or a combination of the two. Others, however, stumble and fall. "It's too much," they say as they walk away from their burdens. And when we see that, we may be disappointed—but we temper our disappointment with understanding. Most of us haven't walked in those same shoes.
So Michael Schiavo could have done that, as thousands of people do every year, and we would never have known his name. He could have walked out on Terri, turned her care over to her willing parents, and there would have been no national debate last week. Michael Schiavo certainly wouldn't have been a hero, but neither would he have become known worldwide as a cad.
Only the American courts could have made it so complicated. It's not just the content of their decisions in all of this that have been so boneheaded. It's been the very thought that they had to make any decision at all. Why couldn't the very first judge to be involved with the Schiavos' sad tale not have had the wisdom to say to Michael, "Mr. Schiavo, why don't you simply divorce your wife, take the criticism that will come from such action, and get on with your life?"
That would have been too simple. I looked down the street from the Woodside Hospice last Saturday at the long lineup of TV trucks with their gigantic dishes and telescoping transmitting towers. I glimpsed the small city of high-priced reporters and network personnel who had moved in for a two- or three-day encampment. I tried—and failed—to estimate what legal fees and court costs and law enforcement bills might have been. The next day, Congress met in special session and President Bush and Air Force One made an unscheduled flight back to Washington to sign a special bill.
All this says nothing of the high spiritual, moral, and cultural bills from such folly. When the history of euthanasia in America is reviewed a generation or two from now, the story of Terri Schiavo will provide details for one of the earliest and most critical chapters.
It could all have been so simple. All it would have taken was a Solomonic decision by any of a dozen judges—all of whom in this case overcomplicated the case before them. One profound difference, of course, was that in Solomon's case, the court saw to it that the baby lived. —•
I'm proposing that nutrients be offered by nasal spray, as drugs are; how much moisture intake is possible via nasal linings?
Oh I DO want to be fair to Sindely!
In pro-death fiction (The Shadow Box, Whose Life is it Anyway?, Million Dollar Baby) the imaginary people reinforce our healthy vanity, so we can nod our heads and say, "You see, they don't want to live like that".
In real life, as opposed to fiction, the sick want to live, not to die.
"...not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities......"
Be careful.
The case that Terri should not be killed MUST NOT rest on the notion that she is wrongly diagnosed, or that she would improve. Neither of those propositions is even slightly likely to be true.
And what if they were true? Does that mean that all "PVS" patients who are correctly diagnosed and have a valid bad prognosis should be killed?
Terri Schiavo should not be killed precisely because she has severe brain damage and a bad prognosis. Killing her will set an horrific precedent, and hundreds or thousands of lives will be snuffed out in the next several years as that precedent plays out.
You're a Doctor, right? I thought I remember a post of yours which stated that you had several patients who initially wanted no extraordinary means applied to them should they become critical, but that when they became critical they changed their minds.
Also, are you the gentleman married to a Catholic woman who posts from time to time on the religion threads? Finally, how do you view the application of Florida law in Terri's situation? Are you suprised that her death could be ordered as it was?
Also check this stupendous article for more which supports your point of view:
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/292005jj.asp
Meanwhile, I just received this in an email from my Catholic friend (and author), Barb Kralis. Many friends emailed her asking about Father Pavone, after his stirring speech on behalf of Terri, which was just carried less than an hour ago on CNN. Here is what Barb wrote:
"Father Pavone is a priest from the archdiocese of NYC, and he is the President and founder of "Priests for Life."
Last week he announced he is started a new order of religious priests (not diocesan priests) who will do nothing but preach, teach and spread the truths re Right to Life.
He has a regular program on EWTN television on cable and satellite TV that is very popular. He has 'women' who've had abortions come on the air and tell their horrific stories and then talk about their conversion and new pro-life work.
Fr. Pavone started PFL about 10 years ago and even though he's young, only ordained perhaps 11 years, he's got tons of experience fighting the evil of abortion, euthanasia, cloning, contracepting, etc.
Last week he issued a call that all faithful partake in 'civil disobedience' if they want to make any impact on the death mentality. Back in the 80's and early 90's, we used to partake in civil disobedience to stop 'women' murdering their unborn babies. We would blockade the doors to the abortion mills with our limp bodies, not resisting the police when they came and carried us away to the paddy wagons; walking into an abortion mill, passing out literature to the 'women'(gives new meaning to the word 'woman') waiting their turn to have their child's arms and legs pulled apart, and their skulls crushed.
We're all waiting to hear further what exactly he means in this era re 'civil disobedience.' "
barb
"The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions." --Daniel Webster
"Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power." --Lucius Annaeus Seneca
"To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying 'Amen' to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive." --Robert Louis Stevenson
"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow." --Aesop
"How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct." --Benjamin Disraeli
I have practiced for almost thirty years, and I have seen one person only follow through on a previously expressed desire to die if incapacitated.
It's a common fantasy of young and healthy people, "I wouldn't want to live like that"-but Million Dollar Baby, Whose Life is it Anyway, and The Shadow Box aside, it's made up.
Yes, I'm married to a Catholic, I don't post much on religion anymore because I annoy a lot of good people to no constructive purpose.
I don't believe Florida law really says that your guardian can directly kill you, I had a vanity thread a few days ago titled "Could Judge Greer Order Terri Schiavo Shot?" pointing out the absurdity of what is happening.
On the early medical threads, I took the view that the Terri "supporters" were being very unrealistic about her diagnosis and prognosis, but I got sick of being called a Nazi doctor and a death cultist, so I gave it up.
The Constitution Party is looking better and better.
*heavy hearted sigh*
Yes, I'm married to a Catholic, I don't post much on religion anymore because I annoy a lot of good people to no constructive purpose.
That's too bad, I don't remember your posts being anything but civil. A while back someone posted that it looks as if Holy Communion will be offered in the future to spouses of Catholics, and I was at first very offended by the idea because of all the preaching against it that has gone before. But while I was contemplating the offense, I remembered you and thought how good it would be if you could receive, as you seemed so much to want to. So, good Doctor, Godspeed to you and yours.
Thanks for your kind wishes, and God bless you.
She should not be killed, especially if she is severely brain damaged and unlikely to recover.
Is there any way to determine from a biopsy of Terri's brain tissue, how it was injured?
Probably not.
The brain tissue is going to be very disorganized with lots of microinfarcts, the probable etiology will be listed as anoxia, but whether the cause is cardiac arrest or strangulation, for example, will not be revealed by brain histology.
That represents exactly how the people who want Terri not to be sentenced to death should think and feel, as they contemplate the millions upon millions of fellow American citizens who think Greer sentencing Terri to death represents nothing more or nothing less than States' Rights.
Would induced hypoglycemia, say from insulin injection, result in a different pattern of brain damage than anoxia would?
Not after 15 years.
Myocardial infarction with acute insulin poisoning--a case report.
Myocardial infarction with acute insulin poisoning--a case report.
Kamijo Y, Soma K, Aoyama N, Fukuda M, Ohwada T.
Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
A 36-year-old woman without overt coronary risk factors was admitted to hospital with coma about 9 hours after mass self-injection of insulin (1,500 units). Laboratory investigation revealed severe hypoglycemia and hyperinsulinemia. During the treatment of her hypoglycemia, circulatory collapse occurred. The ECG, echocardiogram, and elevation in troponin T suggested a diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Although the patient became apallic and developed systemic spasticity due to hypoglycemic brain damage, her hemodynamics improved with supportive care alone. Coronary angiography and myocardial scintigraphy performed later demonstrated a broad area of myocardial damage despite intact coronary artery circulation. The authors hypothesize that temporary coronary arterial narrowing or coronary arterial vasospasm induced by severe hyperinsulinemia contributed to the pathogenesis of the myocardial infarction. The possibility of myocardial infarction should be considered in patients with acute insulin poisoning.
PMID: 10959521 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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