The Schiavo issue

[Nephythys]

On the flip side GD- there are many people who feel that is exactly what the court is doing- carrying out an execution.

This mess is so subjective and emotional-

My last wish on it- that she dies faster than they predict so it can end. Then maybe people can find peace.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Nephythys

On the flip side GD- there are many people who feel that is exactly what the court is doing- carrying out an execution.

If the government had stayed out of it to begin with; if her parents had reconized her husbands rights as next-of-kin to begin with the courts would have never gotten involved and everyone who feels this is a court ordered execution couldn't have possiblay felt that way, since it was a private decision made by her legal next of kin. The way it should have been all along.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Nephythys

On the flip side GD- there are many people who feel that is exactly what the court is doing- carrying out an execution.

Sorry, but those people are wrong. The courts are not ordering her death. The ruling isn't, "Kill her." The ruling is, "Allow Michael Schiavo, the legal guardian, to make whatever decission he feels." There's a huge difference. The courts have upheld personal freedom to decide the fate of a loved one in an extraordinary medical condition. Any other decission would have been the courts and government intevening in a private matter.

[Ghoulish Delight]

To illustrate the difference...if today, Michael Shiavo had a sudden change of heart and said he wanted the feeding tube reinserted...it would be reinserted. Why? Because the court didn't order the tube removed because they want her to die. They ordered it removed because that's the decission that Michael made.

[Nephythys]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

If the government had stayed out of it to begin with; if her parents had reconized her husbands rights as next-of-kin to begin with the courts would have never gotten involved and everyone who feels this is a court ordered execution couldn't have possiblay felt that way, since it was a private decision made by her legal next of kin. The way it should have been all along.

And if that was the case- then maybe it should have been done a long time ago. Then there would not be an issue would there- if Michael had been so intent on carrying out her wishes-

All I said was some people felt that way- my previous post continues to be taken out of context.

[Nephythys]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Sorry, but those people are wrong. The courts are not ordering her death. The ruling isn't, "Kill her." The ruling is, "Allow Michael Schiavo, the legal guardian, to make whatever decission he feels." There's a huge difference. The courts have upheld personal freedom to decide the fate of a loved one in an extraordinary medical condition. Any other decission would have been the courts and government intevening in a private matter.

Of course you would say that-

It doesn't change the fact that some people feel exactly that way- including the Pope.

[scaeagles]

I have to say that if I honestly felt he (the husband) had the best interests of Terri at heart, I'd be more OK with it. I would again go back to my major point, being someone just needs to go do the deed rather than letting her die of dehydration.

I cannot speak to his motives, but he seems.....slimey to me. I don't trust him. Gut feeling. No evidence other than various testimony I've read.

[Nephythys]

I was just pondering- if someone went in there and smothered her- would they charge them with murder?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Nephythys

Of course you would say that-

It doesn't change the fact that some people feel exactly that way- including the Pope.

And that doesn't change the fact that they are wrong. The decission is Michael's, not the courts'. Now, a whole other argument is whether he should be allowed to make that decission, but as the law stands now, he is.

[Nephythys]

and YET- when they try to change the law all hell breaks loose.

How much complaining will there be if they try to change the law after she is dead.

(btw- off topic...kudos for the Bucky quote (I have one myself you see)- although you have his name spelled wrong )

More Rachel-

Dear Terri Schiavo,

Die already, vegetable.

Love,
The Supreme Court of the United States

Meanwhile, the young woman's skin is cracking, her lips are peeling away, her nose is bleeding, her eyes are sunken in. Her brother says she looks like a concentration camp prisoner.

Because apparently we live in a GODDAMNED BARBARIC society that allows innocent people to be starved to death - because the machines say there is no brain activity - although at the same time, because we are demonstrably bat**** insane, we would collectively freak out if it were announced that from now on, death row inmates were to be killed in a way that caused any pain whatsoever beyond the prick of an IV needle. Because that would be "cruel".

It is absolutely ****ing confounding.

You know, I would not want to live in a vegetative state like Terri has for the last 15 years. Yep, that would suck and if I were given a choice, I would rather be dead.

But as I have now repeatedly and loudly told my husband (and have written down): for the love of anything that ever was good or decent on this planet, DON'T ****ING STARVE ME TO DEATH. Mmkay? How about a nice big syringe full of morphine and then something to make my heart stop. Thanks, that'd be super. Even if I look like a giant blue-eyed slab of vegetable matter, am drooling, and the scans show that all I have is a brain stem while the rest of my gray matter has evaporated. DON'T ****ING STARVE ME TO DEATH.

Not too much to ask.

Meanwhile, I'll try to go about my life with the knowledge that at least half of my fellow Americans are barbaric, heartless, selfish assholes who couldn't care less about a woman starving slowly to death in a hospice bed in Florida. The fact that she is dying is really not the problem - she "died" long ago, according to pretty much everybody. Who has custody of her is not the problem - I read the Wolfson report and it turns out her parents are kinda nuts and Michael is not necessarily an evil asshole.

The problem, and it is a very very big ****ing problem, is that no one seems to give a rat's ass that it is acceptable to kill a human being, one who just might have some shred of conscious awareness, by withholding water and food.

It's absolutely disgusting. It's like she's a forsaken fern or something - just stop watering her until she dies. Sure, it'll look ugly for a while but it's just a fern/brain-dead woman. It can't feel anything. Dry up and die.

God bless America, the most civilized and humane society ever to exist. ****.