Terri Schiavo Myths
Kevin Drum links to a post on another blog, Majikthise, that describes several myths about the Terri Schiavo case, with links to other sources. It turns out that I was mistaken about Schaivo being brain dead:
Terri is neither comatose, nor brain dead. She is in a vegetative state because her higher brain centers have been destroyed and replaced by fluid.
She links to a blog by a medical doctor, which quotes still another blogger quoting the June 2003 (!) opinion of the Second District Court of the State of Florida:
Over the span of this last decade, Theresa’s brain has deteriorated because of the lack of oxygen it suffered at the time of the heart attack. By mid 1996, the CAT scans of her brain showed a severely abnormal structure. At this point, much of her cerebral cortex is simply gone and has been replaced by cerebral spinal fluid. Medicine cannot cure this condition. Unless an act of God, a true miracle, were to recreate her brain, Theresa will always remain in an unconscious, reflexive state, totally dependent upon others to feed her and care for her most private needs (emphasis added).
Majikthise also responds to attempts to discredit Schiavo’s character, including charges that Michael wants Terri to die so he can inherit a large sum of money (less than $50K of a million dollar fund to care for Terri remains) and charges of Michael abusing Terri.
The fact that Schiavo also turned down a million dollar offer to go away should make it clear that this is not about money.
Go read Majikthise’s entire post.
March 19th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
Hasn’t it always been an ethical medical practice to remove tubes following a reasonable period, and then leave the matter of life and death up to God? It’s not our part to play God regarding Terri Schiavo. Come on attorney Gibbs, Gov. Bush and other politicians, quit playing God. Five years is enough. Yes, I am an evangelical fundamentalist former BJU student (with degrees from other schools) who greatly appreciates life.
March 19th, 2005 at 4:53 pm
Unless the doctor is directedly involved in the case, I wouldn’t trust that he really knows what’s going on.:smile:
I don’t know the technicalities of when someone is actually “dead,” but I know I have seen video footage of her, and she is awake, alert, sitting up, responding. She looks like someone who is severely retarded. To me that is a different thing than someone who has been unconscious on life support for years.
People can live with less than a whole brain.
Unless someone can produce a document that she signed saying what she would’ve wanted done in such a case, and since her parents [i]want[/i] to take care of her, I see no reason to in effect sentence her to death.
How far does one go with “letting nature take its course?” If we took that to extremes, diabetics wouldn’t get insulin, patients needing transplants would die without receiving one, people needing heart bypass surgery would die with their next heart attack.
Playing God? How is is playing God to give a patient food??? If He wanted to take her, there would be plenty of ways He could do that without someone sentencing her to starve.
A really good book on this whole subject is [i]When Is It Right To Die[/i] by Joni Eareckson Tada.
March 19th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
Thank you, I’ll give serious consideration to your comments. I think we need to define the meaning of doing all we can to keep someone alive.
March 20th, 2005 at 12:40 pm
Go to terrisfight.org. She is not comatose or braindead.
March 24th, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Go to terrisfight.org. She is not comatose or braindead.
Terri’s Fight, unfortunately, is about the most biased site you could go to - well-intended as it might be.
It ture though: Terri is neither comatose nor brain dead (which actually just means dead); she’s in a permanent vegetative state, which is far, far worse than being in a coma, and much, much closer to being completely dead.
Terri, the person is not there. Only Terry, the body remains.
I wouldn’t discourage anyone from visiting Terri’s Fight out of interest, but I would certainy encourage you not to assume that site presents the entire truth.