Terri Schiavo is dead.
I wish I could say something hopefull or inspirational right now. All I can say is that nothing will be the same.
Today the most fundamental right that we have, our right to live and to exist, has been challenged and discredited. Terri Schiavo's case was just the beginning. I have great fears of where we will be heading next.
There were many people that saw this as a "quality of life" issue. To those people this day won't be remembered. To those people this day will only be an after thought. But to those of us that know that Terri was alive, and that she could feel pain, this was the beginning.
I hope and pray that I'm sincerely wrong. I hope that it goes no farther than here. Something tells me it will go farther, and many people on both sides of the debate won't like where we are heading.
Jason, if I may offer a thought, remember that Terri's mind died twenty years ago. The tests have shown no trace of cerebral activity, and the "responses" Terri has shown to stimulation (sound, motion, pain) are not unusual in instances where the brainstem is uninjured.
ReplyDeleteThe person who was Terri was contained in her forebrain, yet that was the part that was damaged. It was there that the memories and personality, the animate part of Terri, lived. With the loss of that capacity Terri died, not with the cessation of her heartbeat.
For the same reason that you won't die from forgetting to breathe, Terri's body lingered on without anyone at the controls. That her body survived so long as it had was due only to direct medical maintenance.
Will any good come of this? Not likely, unless some people choose to make known their wishes by means of a living will or similar document. The will states the icapacitated patient's wishes regarding which medical treatments may be used, and which may not be used; to die naturally or to have the patient’s life artificially prolonged by various medical procedures.
If you don't choose you condemn your family to make those choices for you, something I would not wish upon anyone.
We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Terri's brain a Nobel Nominated Neurogolist disagrees if you read my previous posts. I've read his whole report, and it is lenghty, but after reading it I have to agree with him: Terry was and is conscious. Also her CAT Scans have been analyzed by other sources and have lead many to question court appointed doctors opinions.
Also I find it interesting that you seem to know where a person's true consciousness is contained in. Actually from what I've heard it's believed that a person's consciousness or "the person who was Terri" was and is contained in the primitive brain at the top of the spinal coord. This is the area of the brain that some believe dreaming originates. But again it's an area of contention as far as I know. I don't mean to offend you but I wonder how you can be so sure of something that most scientists don't seem so sure about.
I didn't jump into this debate haphazardly I can assure you. Also I was wondering if you knew that Terri had been given pain killers for years? If her brain was unable to sense pain why were pain killers given at all?
I respect your opinions but I don't believe this was a right-to-die case at all.
I believe that there is reasonable doubt in these cases, we should always favour the side of life. It's the minimum we give murderers, and it's the very least Terri deserved.
I THINK ONLY HER PARENTS SHOULD HAVE DECIDED TERRI'S FATE.
ReplyDeleteNOT HER HUSBAND!
MY DAUGHTER SAID IF SHE ENDED UP IN THAT CONDITION, SHE WOULD WANT TO WAIT A YEAR AND IF NOTHING COULD BE DONE TO MAKE HER BETTER, SHE WOULD WANT TO DIE.