Posted on 06/18/2005 5:52:16 AM PDT by veronica
No, not impeachment.
Even on this forum, many people think Terri wanted to die. This would have been weeks of nothing but Terri news. WRT Dubya, everything bad about his judgement.
A major distraction from the few items a president can get done. If a president wants to be all to everyone, you get Bill Clinton, a do nothing president.
RWR had about 4 main items on his agenda. Defeating Communism was his big item. He has focused on that for decades.
Dubya is not a great communicator, but people do know what he believes. Getting excoriated in the press for weeks actually detracts from his Iraq war agenda, his Social Security agenda, his tax reform agenda...etc.
If you like, each of those agendas are about people dying. The Iraq war being the easiest to see. SocSec is forcing people into bad decisions on their post retirement years. Tax reform...again takes money from people that they would use for health or well being. Each of those issues determine life or death of thousands or tens of thousands every year.
Terri was one life. But I would have shed a tear seeing Marine One touch down in front of that hospice to escort Terri to congress.
It didn't happen.
DK
I'm glad it didn;t happen. POTUS did all he could and did Jeb too.
This one was tough for several reasons. Frist off, they're Cathlolics as I am. We beieve in life. Secondly, I do believe the autopy reports that she was brain damaged to the extent that only a miracle could have restored her.
Modern medicine can save lives and it can also measure the degree of life. i.e. PVS and the other awful term: brain dead. Now, I cannot and would not make that decision on anyone, be it a stranger or a family member. I truly believed Mrs Shiavo was PVS and I was right. That is not to say I was in favor of removing her feeding tube. My solution was to give her to her parents. in exchange for the parents agreement to leave Michael alone and free him from all obligations.
But, my scenario tramps on the rights of marriage. This was ugly all the way around. Laws must be changed and written clearly, not ambiguously.
In ten years, medicine will think of our previous century as barbarism. PVS is voodoo science executed by Right To Die advocates like Dr. Cranford, Attorney Felos and Judge Greer. PVS, Lockdown State, and Minimal Consciousness are almost indestinguisable.
They are not synonymous with brain death.
If you like an intellectual argument I prefer on Terri:
If you believe she is brain dead and not experiencing anything, there is no harm in keeping her alive (except monetary).
If you believe that you don't know if she is brain dead and not experiencing anything, there is great harm in killing her, and NO downside for keeping her alive (except monetary).
We're growing neurons in petrie dishes today.
Five years from now, who knows?
Terri is gone, and no future cures apply. The money was there. Our will was not.
DK
There's the rub. If you are in a vegetative state, it does not matter, you don't "think". Remaining in that state or dying does not matter.
In a vegetative state there are no preferences. So keeping someone alive waiting for a cure, petrie dish neurons, is okay. It is not a bother to them. If you believe PVS. I don't, it is crappy science.
But go to sleep tonight, and sleep well. I don't think we disagree that much and I am sure your MD husband would not give up on a patient, unless he really thought there was no hope. And it would not be a monetary decision.
All the best.
DK
You're right about him. He;s never lost one patient.
G'Nite.
"I truly believed Mrs Shiavo was PVS and I was right. That is not to say I was in favor of removing her feeding tube. My solution was to give her to her parents. in exchange for the parents agreement to leave Michael alone and free him from all obligations"
The hatred, spite and bitterness among the family would surely have destroyed that woman, if there was ever a chance for recovery. I believe that was the husband's primary driver in this entire nightmare. Then, he was bolstered and his ego fed by the attention and support of the Hemlock nuts, and it was too late to turn back, even if he had grown a heart.
"But, my scenario tramps on the rights of marriage"
Yes, I've been told that too, by people who also tell me that "Michael made a promise not to make her live that way." Mr. Schiavo certainly was picky about which promises he'd keep. As I recall the first one went something like "In sickness and in health, forsaking all others..." but that isn't the one he kept.
"Laws must be changed and written clearly, not ambiguously."
Exactly. Oh, that people spending so much energy on fighting each other over a lost issue, on which no one side will ever convince the other, would spend that energy on what we DO agree on, and what we CAN do something about--changing bad law.
"If it's not in writing, err on the side of life."
My argument number one.
Number two being, let's stop kidding ourselves about "the sanctity of marriage." It's supposed to be more than a piece of paper. Mr. Schaivo met no other such customs of sanctity. Pants around your ankles in another woman's bedroom is not the appropriate way to say "I love my wife."
Because of his insightful, detailed and investigative book about the Moxlie murder by Michael Skakel (a Kennedy relative) ....Michael is now residing in prison ....
..justice served.
I would...will...buy Fuhrman's book...
Jodi and Michael tramped on the rights of marriage in Terri's case, NOT your scenario.
I'm surprised to hear you have that view, O.
I can't imagine why you're surprised. There's no clean hands in any of this, save for Terri herself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.