Terri Schiavo
Mar. 21st, 2005 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
electriclandI hear that requests for living wills are up. No wonder.
For the record, if I'm ever in a persistent vegetative state, with no hope of ever regaining consciousness or looking after myself... please, pull the plug. No artificial respiration or feeding for me. If my cerebral cortex is gone, I want to go with it.
Bottom line, though: Terri Schiavo's case is not about what I would want for me, or what anyone else would want for themselves. It's about what Terri Schiavo would want for herself. The Florida courts have repeatedly agreed with her husband that she would not want to be kept alive in this state. Her parents have attempted to show that she would. Many court decisions have found their evidence is not credible. It's really very simple, and I find the way the case has been hijacked by the religious right to be absolutely nauseating.
It's a sad, sad case. I really feel for her parents, who desperately want to believe that their daughter can have some quality of life, that she recognizes them and will eventually get even a little bit better. But they are clinging to a false hope. Terri Schiavo is not going to wake up. There is no therapy that can replace her missing brain tissue. She isn't in there any more.
For more information and far more informed and eloquent commentary than I can give you, go read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rivka's assessment of the medical and ethical aspects of the case and Abstract Appeal's timeline and legal commentary. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
majikthise also has a few things to say about the publicity campaign that has surrounded the case.
[Edit: read this post too -- it's an excellent summary of the case to date and covers the ethical issues in detail. Read the comments too.]
For the record, if I'm ever in a persistent vegetative state, with no hope of ever regaining consciousness or looking after myself... please, pull the plug. No artificial respiration or feeding for me. If my cerebral cortex is gone, I want to go with it.
Bottom line, though: Terri Schiavo's case is not about what I would want for me, or what anyone else would want for themselves. It's about what Terri Schiavo would want for herself. The Florida courts have repeatedly agreed with her husband that she would not want to be kept alive in this state. Her parents have attempted to show that she would. Many court decisions have found their evidence is not credible. It's really very simple, and I find the way the case has been hijacked by the religious right to be absolutely nauseating.
It's a sad, sad case. I really feel for her parents, who desperately want to believe that their daughter can have some quality of life, that she recognizes them and will eventually get even a little bit better. But they are clinging to a false hope. Terri Schiavo is not going to wake up. There is no therapy that can replace her missing brain tissue. She isn't in there any more.
For more information and far more informed and eloquent commentary than I can give you, go read
rivka's assessment of the medical and ethical aspects of the case and Abstract Appeal's timeline and legal commentary. majikthise also has a few things to say about the publicity campaign that has surrounded the case.[Edit: read this post too -- it's an excellent summary of the case to date and covers the ethical issues in detail. Read the comments too.]
