Right to live/die

[andyc]

I’m sure many of you have been keeping up with the case of Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged woman who has basically been a ‘vegetable’ for about ten years. Her husbands wants her taken off her food and water supply (a tube), in order to let her die. Her parents, on the other hand, want her to be kept alive. The matter has gone back and forth in court, with congress even getting involved. What do you think?

Personally, I believe her husband, the legal guardian, is right in wanting her to pass away, as, in my opinion, her life right now is nothing. Apparently, while a grandparent was being kept alive by a machine, she said that she didn’t want to be kept alive like that.

[Langeveldt]

Her husband is spot on tbh, I've heard that her parents are very religious, so that probably explains their attitude.. Its a lose lose situation, but surely its got to the stage where the money is better off being spent on someone who can be saved..

[barmyarmy]

I think it's despicable to keep someone alive just because we can when they have no hope of recovery. Her parents religious belief has blinded them to the point where they believe a miracle will occur and she will be 'cured'.
Obviously in cases like these it's important to have the strongest possible measures in place to prevent abuse but euthanasia is definitely a choice for the individual and the individual's family for me and not a area for government to interfere in.

[Son Of Coco]

I agree, it should be up to someone to turn the machine off anyway...I really can't understand why you'd want to see someone in that state for 10 years, but then it would be very hard to let go for the parents I suppose.

What really annoys me about the whole thing is the people picketing and waving signs etc like it's any of their business in the first place. Presuming you have a 'moral responsibility' to become involved in an issue like this in someone else's life is overestimating your importance to the nth degree.

[shankar]

If it can be proved that the wife wanted to be killed if such a situation arose, then and only then should she be put to rest IMO.

[barmyarmy]

Well on a visit to her grandmother several years ago who was in a simular state she apparantly said to her husband, 'I never want to be like that.'

[Langeveldt]

Apparently the tube was taken out on the 18th

[barmyarmy]

Yeah but it'll still take her two weeks to starve to death. Hence imo we should be hastening her along with a large syringe full of something.

[FaaipDeOiad]

There's no possible justification for keeping her alive any longer. She has no hope of recovery and her legal guardian does not wish to keeper her on life support.

[Son Of Coco]

As Ali G once said "If someone's very ill and it looks like they won't be getting better is it ok to say ' We'll give you two weeks, and if you're not better we're using that plug for the telly'.

Ali did say that by the way, I'm not just using his name to make poor remarks! haha It is very insensitive from the big man though, shame on you Ali G.

[andyc]

Yeah but it'll still take her two weeks to starve to death. Hence imo we should be hastening her along with a large syringe full of something.

true. to me, thatd be the most humane thing to do. get it over with quickly

[andyc]

As Ali G once said "If someone's very ill and it looks like they won't be getting better is it ok to say ' We'll give you two weeks, and if you're not better we're using that plug for the telly'.

Ali did say that by the way, I'm not just using his name to make poor remarks! haha It is very insensitive from the big man though, shame on you Ali G.

lol. you tell him, son of coco!
but yeah, if something like this ever happened to me, id like to be kept alive for a while, maybe say a month, and then just be allowed to die.

[Son Of Coco]

true. to me, thatd be the most humane thing to do. get it over with quickly

Yeah, I think starving her to death is a bit harsh, but I guess it depends on how aware she is of what's happening right now.

[Slow Love™]

Much of the evidence presented in favor of keeping Schiavo alive by the parents is quite misleading, and the courts have seen it as so. There is apparently about four minutes of footage that it's claimed "proves" that she is responsive to what happens around her - unfortunately it's an edit out of about five hours of videotape, the rest of which strongly implies that her movements are acccidental and not deliberate. Also, these reactions can't seem to be re-created with any kind of predictiveness that might suggest something other than random movement.

There's been an incredible smear job done on her husband, who really has no motive discernable to insist that she be allowed to die, outside of respecting her wishes. Any monies involved have already been paid, and it would be relatively easy for him to just walk away and get on with his life, which I'm sure he wants to do. He spent 8 years caring for her before he started campaigning for life support (intravenous feeding) to be ceased. Apparently her cerebral cortex has turned to liquid.

There's something that really bothers me generally about the idea of artificially sustaining somebody who's in a persistent vegetative state. When DO you cease treatment? Given that you are keeping somebody alive artificially (and they'd otherwise die), you will at some stage come to an age that it's plausible someone could die of natural causes. Strange idea of a life...

Oh, and also, I'm troubled by the idea that she must be basically starved to death. In these situations, you would expect that this could be handled more humanely - except that legislation against euthanasia in the States, expressly prevents the hospital from using a more humane means of dealing with the situation. So, while the Republicans are making hay with the outrageousness that she be starved to death, it is they that make sure this must be so if she is to be granted her right to die (and from what I've read, it's not her husband in isolation that has declared her opinion on this subject).

[Slow Love™]

There's a fairly neutral site that gives an excellent run-down of the case (including dealing with rumors circulated by anti-euthanasia conservatives that Michael Schiavo caused his wife's injuries by beating her) here:

http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/infopage.html