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Schiavo case

2005-03-22 22:48:45.609319+00 by Dan Lyke 11 comments

I've been watching with horror as the Terri Schiavo case unfolds. I'm not sure I can add anything to this, most of you know that I consider the state taking away the right of a citizen to die of their own choosing to be precedent towards the state taking all decisions away from that citizen, and the courts have found convincingly that Terri Schiavo did not want to be kept alive in this state.

But here are some resources to add to the debate.

[Edit: Changed "Terry" to "Terri"]

[ related topics: Politics Health moron Law ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-23 01:02:27.677414+00 by: mvandewettering

I find myself in an position which has not been clearly expressed in the media. I think that it is positively cruel that people in such a condition have to shuffle off this mortal coil by being starved to death. Holy crap people, we would never consider such a course of action for a pet which was suffering from an incurable disease: why does the law not provide for a kinder exit for our friends and love ones?

Reading the court records which Dan linked above, one is left with one certainty: that the reality of this tragedy is much more complex than any simple 30 second blurb you are hearing on the news.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-23 02:24:59.629483+00 by: Pete

I was under the distinct impression that it was illegal, perhaps even unconstitutional, to make law for the benefit of one person. Is this not so? Do some definitions of graft work that way?

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-23 04:32:46.811342+00 by: jeff

I couldn't agree more with you Dan, and totally agree with the comments made so far. Utterly disgusting! I often wonder if my abhorrence of Bush can sink any lower, but he keeps drilling.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-23 04:47:47.116985+00 by: BC [edit history]

Regardless of how one feels personally, this is a states' rights issue. The decision should reside with the state. Secondly, the point made above that this is cruel and unusual, something most of us would not do to our pet, obviously did not read the court findings posted above by Dan. The conclusion was that Terri Schiavo would feel no pain. Her brain has essentially been replaced with spinal fluid.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-23 13:10:52.615178+00 by: petronius

Laws for the benfit of one person take place all the time. You will find the Congressional Record stuffed with what are called "private bills", small laws passed to fix some individual problem. An example might be granting citizenship to some deserving person who has run afoul of the immigration laws, or ordering the Veterans Administration to add somebody to the pension rolls. Winston Churchill and Rauol Wallenburg were granted US citizenship by such private bills.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-23 17:26:26.078787+00 by: TheSHAD0W

I remember that there was some pork bill that provided several tens of millions of dollars in funding for "all universities with campuses in such-and-such city with a name starting with a W" or something similar. Well, turned out there was a tiny little university in that city that also met the qualifications, and when someone pointed it out, they wound up having a huge amount of cash dropped on them...

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-23 21:41:35.321224+00 by: mvandewettering

Even if it isn't cruel to the Terri herself, it's an ugly way to die. I'm glad that I don't have to watch.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-24 01:04:00.237509+00 by: baylink

Yeah, be glad you don't live 3 miles down the street.

Like I do.

The delicious irony of the whole thing, for me, was that she had the precipitating heart attack, reportedly (though not often enough) due to an *eating disorder*.

*Of course* she wouldn't want to be forced to eat!

(After watching last week's House MD, I suspect it was ipecac abuse, but don't have enough detail...)

The other thing I love is that Bush flew back from vacation (which he's never done before, even for the tsunami) to sign the bill Congress passed about her... and the federal judiciary has shut him down at every step.

I was very happy to see, though, that the public a) sees through the legislative grandstanding (70%) and thinks Terri ought to be allowed to go her own way (60ish%).

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-24 01:16:44.589912+00 by: baylink

And, um, is anyone watching the 'American Dreams' that's on right now?

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-24 14:30:17.399752+00 by: BC

Yeah, we ought not be giving this political football any more attention. Here we have a person with a mental state roughly the equivalent of an eggplant and the nation is entranced, pouring their collective hearts out, while serial rapists, child molesters and murdereres are being psychoanalyzed to determine what went wrong in their upbringing. "Get a grip" is what needs to be communicated to most of these bleeding heart conservatives, in this case. In a few more decades, when our population reaches unmanageable levels, we will handle these cases like China does today - pragmatically, not emotionally. Chairman Mao's buddies would pull the plug and "disappear" some of these miscreants. We ought to do the same - today.

#Comment Re: made: 2005-03-29 17:39:59.430504+00 by: Dan Lyke

If the court proceedings didn't make it clear that this whole thing is mostly a money grab attempt by the parents, then the fact that the Schindlers have sold the mailing list of people who donated (thanks to SE) kind of drives it home. Best comment from that SE thread, based on Terri's maiden name:

"And, of course, it's going to be called Schindler's List."