THIS IS A MUST READ BOOK. The author was Terri Schiavo�s attorney in
the last months of her life. I found his comments about
the �Persistent Vegetative State� to be most informative and
enlightening. He is saying that diagnosis is NOT some carved in
stone, infallible judgment by the doctor. In the back of the book he
recounts cases of supposedly �hopeless� cases of people who made some
recovery. One such person, later went on to compete in triathlons.
The author pointed out that Michael Schiavo restricted the flow of
information. He restricted the visitors and would not allow cameras.
It is interesting that these crusading journalists who boast of their
bravery somehow meekly complied with Michael Schiavo�s orders. I
guess the journalists only want to use the cameras when it comes to
attacking George Bush. When it comes to the starvation of an innocent
women, too bad. The lack of cameras made me think �Michael, what are
you hiding.� George Felos stated how beautiful Terri Schiavo looked
as she was dying. Then why not bring in the cameras?
In this case it looks as if two basic elements were overlooked: money
and another woman Good grief there are numbers of men who killed
their wives or girlfriends for on or the other. In this case Michael
Schiavo got both money and the other woman as his new wife. Spare me
the rhetoric of Michael Schiavo as the loving husband. How about
sadistic bastard? To me the act which says it all was his initial
refusal of communion. I suppose the author does not come from a
sacramental background. So he probalby did not realize the
significance of Michael�s refusal.
I wish President Bush and Governor Bush had been more forceful about
the matter. But apparently they felt they had to honor the judge�s
decision. But there is historical precedence where the president
ignored the judges order. Lincoln ignored the pro Confederate rulings
of the Supreme Court during the Civil War. Congress makes the laws,
the judiciary is supposed to correctly interpret the law, and the
executive branch is supposed to enforce the law.
If one were to read what the Nazi�s were really about, one would see
that Howard Dean and the pro euthanasia crowd were closer to the
Nazi�s than George Bush. The Nazi�s did not say �look at us evil
Nazis committing evil deeds.� Like the euthanasia crowd of today the
Nazi thought they were being �humane� by eliminating sick and disabled
people. I believe a chilling parallel to the Terri Schiavo case can
be found in the essay �Geranium in the window� in Frederic Werthan�s
book A SIGN FOR CAIN. The essay provides a disturbing look at how
children were mistreated and starved to death. The book is out of
print. But I think it can be found in university libraries. Anyway I
will give George and Jeb Bush credit for trying to save Terri�s life.
I should point out Terri Schiavo was not simply a �tool of the
Christian right.� Ralph Nader and Jesse Jackson also favored sparing
Terri�s life. Nat Hentoff, an atheistic member of the ACLU also spoke
out in favor of Terri. So people from opposite sides of the
political spectrum did speak out in favor of Terri, not just members
of the �Christian right.� This was not a matter of imposing morality,
but saving an innocent woman�s life.
# posted by GuyTak @ 9:05 PM
