D-Day for Terri Schiavo
Today is the day that Terri Schiavo's so-called "husband" finally gets his chance to do what he has been waiting for over 10 years to do....starve his wife to death.
Unless the Florida or Federal legislators pass the bills that have been submitted to prevent it, a person innocent of any crime except to be unwanted by one person, will be executed by the "cruel and unusual" method of starvation.
Without food and water Terri will live nine days, perhaps ten, before withering away to a lifeless corpse. I wonder if someone will be allowed to place ice chips in her mouth to relieve the pain of cracked lips and swollen tongue. Probably not. After all, that might delay the humane act of putting her out of her misery. I'm sure that, when her husband claims she asked not to be kept alive by artificial means, she was hoping and praying for this.
As I have written of Terri before. (here, here, here and here) I have also stated that feeding tubes are not considered either "artificial" or "life support" on medical or ethical grounds. This not a removal of life support. It is not mercy killing. It is simply killing.
This will be the third time that a judge has allowed her feeding tube to be removed. Twice before that ruling has been recinded by some other legal action.
The hardest part of this for me is the uncertainty of knowing whether or not she is in a "permanent vegetative state" or not. Scores of the top neurologists in the country have stated that Terri has never been given even any of the most credible diagnostic tests to determine her true condition. Both her husband and the judge have refused to allow them. A recent article summarizing the tragic and incomprehensible extent of Terri's medical neglect can be found here. Other information is available at "terrisfight" the site maintained by Terri's own family.
I don't know whether Terri will be glad to finally die. I don't know whether the medical diagnoses endorsed by the judge are correct or not. I don't know whether Terri said to her husband what he says she told him. I don't know for sure. And nobody else knows either.
No one on trial for a crime would be convicted on the basis of such conflicted and unverifiable evidence. Certainly, no one would be sentenced to the death penalty under the cloud of such "reasonable doubt."
That is what is so chilling. That our society and our legal system is so willing and eager to choose death over life. And for no real, tangeable reason except that her husband very, very much wants her to die.
Apparently, in the future, no one will need to murder someone they consider to be an inconvenience. They will simply be able to have the government do it for them.
As a Christian pastor I must remember the example of my Lord, Jesus, who never killed anyone or caused anyone to die. His touch brought only healing and life. He is never once recorded as having said, "Let them die."
It is God who says, "You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died..." (Ezekiel 13:19)
It is God who declares, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
For Terri's sake. For our sake. For my sake. For God's sake. Let us choose life.
Unless the Florida or Federal legislators pass the bills that have been submitted to prevent it, a person innocent of any crime except to be unwanted by one person, will be executed by the "cruel and unusual" method of starvation.
Without food and water Terri will live nine days, perhaps ten, before withering away to a lifeless corpse. I wonder if someone will be allowed to place ice chips in her mouth to relieve the pain of cracked lips and swollen tongue. Probably not. After all, that might delay the humane act of putting her out of her misery. I'm sure that, when her husband claims she asked not to be kept alive by artificial means, she was hoping and praying for this.
As I have written of Terri before. (here, here, here and here) I have also stated that feeding tubes are not considered either "artificial" or "life support" on medical or ethical grounds. This not a removal of life support. It is not mercy killing. It is simply killing.
This will be the third time that a judge has allowed her feeding tube to be removed. Twice before that ruling has been recinded by some other legal action.
The hardest part of this for me is the uncertainty of knowing whether or not she is in a "permanent vegetative state" or not. Scores of the top neurologists in the country have stated that Terri has never been given even any of the most credible diagnostic tests to determine her true condition. Both her husband and the judge have refused to allow them. A recent article summarizing the tragic and incomprehensible extent of Terri's medical neglect can be found here. Other information is available at "terrisfight" the site maintained by Terri's own family.
I don't know whether Terri will be glad to finally die. I don't know whether the medical diagnoses endorsed by the judge are correct or not. I don't know whether Terri said to her husband what he says she told him. I don't know for sure. And nobody else knows either.
No one on trial for a crime would be convicted on the basis of such conflicted and unverifiable evidence. Certainly, no one would be sentenced to the death penalty under the cloud of such "reasonable doubt."
That is what is so chilling. That our society and our legal system is so willing and eager to choose death over life. And for no real, tangeable reason except that her husband very, very much wants her to die.
Apparently, in the future, no one will need to murder someone they consider to be an inconvenience. They will simply be able to have the government do it for them.
As a Christian pastor I must remember the example of my Lord, Jesus, who never killed anyone or caused anyone to die. His touch brought only healing and life. He is never once recorded as having said, "Let them die."
It is God who says, "You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died..." (Ezekiel 13:19)
It is God who declares, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
For Terri's sake. For our sake. For my sake. For God's sake. Let us choose life.
posted by Bird of Paradise at 7:50 AM
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