Terri Schiavo Case, When Compassion Is Cruel & Usual

A few things about this case bother me.

The covenant between a husband and wife, a marriage, is the beginning of a new family. Both partners become a family of their own, where their respective families before marriage no longer have any legal claim or responsibility over their adult children. When Terri's father gave her up for marriage, as the saying goes, legally, contractually, he's giving her up to begin a new family of her own. Terri's husband has control and neither her parents, Jeb Bush nor the legislature should try to usurp that responsibility.

Then there's the matter of removing the feeding tube, which will literally starve her to death. This is common practice in hospitals and has been for I don't know how many years. For the media to act as though this doesn't normally happen is simply rediculous, and typical of them.  It's one of those things that, to a brain dead human, will hurt the survivors more than the patient. Terri has no conscious feeling or emotion; she's brain dead except for respiratory & digestive functions, a vegetative state.

It think the thing that has everyone's shorts in a bind is the method of termination of her life.

Why do we use a lethal injection in death penalty cases and starvation in hospital wards?

In this case and others like it, a lethal injection should be used. Starvation is inhumane. Does the vet starve your pet if it needs to be put down? Why is it that your spouse is treated worse than an animal or a death row prisoner?

In Terri's case, keeping her in a vegetative state for years is just as inhumane as starving her to death.

© Copyright 2006 Ross Calloway. Last update: 8/30/2006; 1:04:57 AM.