Big Dogs Weblog

Terri Schiavo, 1 Year Ago

by Big Dog on Mar 31, 2006 at 22:57 Political

One year ago the country was divided over the fate of a terribly brain damaged young woman named Terri Schiavo. Terri suffered brain damage under suspicious circumstances and left no living will. Her estranged husband, who had taken up with another woman with whom he sired children, decided after many years that Terri told him she did not want to live in a vegetative state. He was the only person who would benefit from her death yet the courts saw fit, on a number of occasions, to put her to death. Terri’s parents were more than willing to care for their daughter no matter how long she would have lived in that state. Because of a vile husband and a court system that is out of control, the Schiavo’s were forced to lose their daughter for a second time.

At the time there was a great deal of politics going on and the Republicans in Congress flew back for a special session to draft legislation to save Terri. The left went nuts and said this would come back to haunt the Republicans. I can not say I totally agree with the method they used, but I understand the intent. We live in a society so obsessed with death that thousands of people will stand up and demand that Congress do everything it can at whatever expense, to guarantee a woman’s right to kill an unborn child and, not satisfied with the death of the babies, stand up and chastise the Congress for trying to intervene to save a life.

Today marks one year since America saw the ugliness within and allowed an estranged husband, with the support of the judicial system, to terminate the life of a living breathing person who might not have had the same brain function as she did before the accident but was living all the same. I hope that if any good comes from this abuse of life it is that people were inspired to have written instructions detailing exactly what care they are to receive should they be unable to take those decisions on their own.

One other thing I recommend is keeping a copy with you attorney, your health care provider and in a safe place. It is also a good idea to appoint someone you trust to carry out your wishes in accordance with what you have written. If not, you stand a chance of suffering the same fate as Terri, a fate worse than death and that is the loss of dignity in death.

[tags]Terri Schiavo, Living Will, Judicial System[/tags]

Tags: Commentary