I have been informed by Bloggers of America that everyone in the US who keeps a relatively up-to-date blog is required to have a post about the Terri Schiavo case. Okay, not really. But I kinda feel like posting about all this anyway since everyone else in the universe is in these peoples’ business. So here it goes:
- This case has been reviewed by like two dozen different courts and has been turned down by the Supreme Court twice, and the reason why all these courts have said that the plug ought to be pulled on Schiavo is because all the evidence says that her husband is right: her brain is liquid, she is no more conscious than a plant, and she wouldn’t have wanted to live this way. Further, I’ve heard a couple of different physicians explain that removing the feeding tube from Schiavo won’t cause her any pain because she doesn’t have a brain capable of feeling pain.
And yet, all of a sudden, all these knucklehead protesters and congressional grandstanders who want to somehow turn this into a case about pro-life versus pro-choice, all of a sudden, all of these right-wing commentators and protesters and politicians (including the freakin’ PRESIDENT) know better than all kinds of doctors and all kinds of judges who have actually reviewed the facts of the case. Just stupid, and another example of how images and medical descriptions can confuse people who don’t know anything about this stuff.
- Right and left wingers alike agree though that this is an example of why everyone (including me and the Mrs.) need a living will.
While I don’t think this blog entry is enough to make it legal, I’ll write it here anyway: if the doctors say that I am in a “persistent vegetative state,” please pull the plug and let me die in peace.
Update:
This is funny, and it ties into what my friend Mary is saying about the power of images in this case. Apparently, US Senate majority leader Bill Frist (who is a heart surgeon, btw) said he can tell just by looking at the pictures of Schiavo that she isn’t in a “persistent vegetative state.” Anyway, so this post suggests that people tag photos as flickr with “frist” and to submit them to the good senator/doctor for diagnosis. Here are the results.