Posted on 03/10/2005 2:04:12 PM PST by CHARLITE
If ever a case has proven that American society has gone mad, it is the case of Terry Schiavo.
Ultimately a court will decide if Terry Schiavo's feeding tube will be removed and she will endure a lingering, painful and inhumane death. If Terry Schiavo were a young child being starved by her parents, an elderly woman neglected by her family, a prisoner at Guantanamo being denied food or even a horse that was being starved by its owner, there would be outrage from all corners.
In this case, however, that of an otherwise healthy, but brain-damaged woman, many seem to think that it is OK to let her waste away until her organs fail.
According to a FOX News poll [1], 59% of those polled would remove Schiavo's feeding tube. This is absolutely shocking when one considers that this case is not a right-to-die case, at least in the classic sense. Terry Schiavo is not on any sort of life support other than required to provide food and water, the basic necessities of life.
Would those same 59% starve their grandmothers to death if it were no longer convenient to keep her around? Would they starve a sick child or an unwanted dog? Maybe they would.
There is more to this case than the simple (if such a thing were simple) decision to let a brain-damaged woman die in peace.
Terry's husband, Michael Schiavo, insists that Terry wouldn't want to live in her present condition, but can produce no documentation to prove that Terry agrees.
If Michael Schiavo were truly a loving husband, only concerned with questions about his wife's quality of life, he wouldn't have fathered two children with another woman in the years since Terry mysteriously fell into a so-called persistent vegetative state.
If Michael Schiavo were truly a loving husband, he would never consider torturing his wife by starvation.
If Michael Schiavo simply wanted to move on with his life, he would divorce Terry and turn her care over to her parents, who are desperately trying to keep their daughter from meeting a gruesome end.
There is more to this case than meets the eye. Just why does Michael Shaivo want Terry dead? Could it be that Michael had a hand in the events that put Terry in her current state? I don't know, but like they say, if it walks like a duck ... . Maybe Michael Schiavo is just an inept Scott Peterson.
No matter how Terry Schiavo came to be in her present state and no matter why Michael Schiavo may want her dead, how is it possible in this day and age, that our society would ever, ever allow someone, brain-damaged or not, to die this way?
Terry's parents insist that she responds to their presence, smiles when they enter her room, cries and sometimes tries to speak. Some "experts" dismiss these actions as reflexive and that Terry is not interacting with her surroundings. Other experts disagree.
Murderers must be convicted "beyond a reasonable doubt" before the death penalty is imposed, and are entitled to years of appeals. Despite plenty of doubt about Terry Schiavo's condition, Michael Schiavo is ready to strap Terry into the figurative electric chair and throw the switch, although her death would not be quite so humane.
With the recent awakening of a Kansas woman from a 20-year coma, who is to say what medical science may be able to do for Terry Schiavo in months or years to come? No one killed Christopher Reeve when he no longer had use of his limbs. With no evidence that Terry would want to end her life, her parents willing to assume responsibility for her care and let Michael Schiavo walk away, why must she die?
The more important question is why our government and our society would ever let it happen.
Bump to that. This, in my humble opinion, is the result of the "new" marxism...the "cultural marxism", now a mainstay in our government.
Hi Char...
FMCDH(BITS)
"If Terry Schiavo were a young child being starved by her parents, an elderly woman neglected by her family, a prisoner at Guantanamo being denied food or even a horse that was being starved by its owner, there would be outrage from all corners."
Wheels within wheels. The euthanasia advocate attorney for Michael Shiavo might have a primary reason for pushing this case. The outcry regarding inhumane treatment will ultimately lead to a more "humane" form of murder. We might even see lethal doses of morphine and other drugs administered so as not to offend the sensibilities of those who decry starvation and dehydration, but approve of a less messy, less visible, and certainly more fastidious way of death for the unfortunates who are deemed useless to society.
At least nobody starved Christopher Reeve to death.
bump
Judge Greer would be removed from the Florida Judiciary instantly, if he treated a prisoner, a young child, or a dog the way he has treated Terri to date, much less the horrific murder he plans for her.
A society that lets Terri be murdered HAS INDEED gone mad and requires intervention...
What is wrong with people? This is NOT the country I grew up in. I feel like an alien life form in a parallel universe, like the whole world is insane and only a small number of us with any sense and ability to reason remain. If this man with the assistance of the courts in FL is permitted to murder his wife in this manner despite her loving families' pleas, I'm afraid that there is no amount of intervention that will help our society unless it is divine intervention.
I pray for Terri and her family because it seems that is all that is left for us to do.
No one is forced to just stand by while she's murdered...
Very simple, we don't value innocent human life. I give you 40 million abortions, many of those after viability, as stark evidence of my assertion.
If Terri was my daughter she would no longer be in Florida. I don't say that as a knock on the Schindlers, I am younger and possessed of a pig headed temperament.
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.
