My only comments on Terri Schiavo

[drewan]

Vatican Denounces Terri Schiavo's Death
 ROME Mar 31, 2005 — The Vatican denounced the "arbitrarily hastened" death of Terri Schiavo on Thursday as a violation of principles of Christianity and civilization, and a cardinal described her end as a "death sentence executed through a cruel method." [Link to full article]

Oh please! Terri Schiavo's life was "arbitrarily extended!" She truly died 15 years ago when her heart stopped and her brain was irreversibly damaged. Does this mean that the Vatican wants every human to be connected to life support until they can no longer squeeze an ounce of life out of their dying bodies?

Is this what's going to happen to Pope John Paul II? Already the poor guy can't retire from his job. Now he can't retire from life.

Is every end of life decision similar to Schiavo's going to be brought in front of the world, to be argued in Washington DC and the 6 o'clock news?

Remember kids, living wills are your friend. Get yours prepared so you can give a big "fuck off" to those other people who will anguish for you in their living rooms, and give quotes to the media such as  "This is not only a death, with all the sadness that brings, but this is a killing, and for that we not only grieve that Terri has passed but we grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this and we pray that it will never happen again," said the Rev. Frank Pavone, one of the family's supporters.

I hope now that Michael Schiavo can now find comfort with his new family, that the Schindler family will let him live in peace, and that Terri is in a better place.

Comments

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

Remember kids, living wills are your friend. Get yours prepared so you can give a big "fuck off" to those other people who will anguish for you in their living rooms, and give quotes to the media...

Sadly, horrifically, this is not true. A living will would not have helped at all here -- the legal determination of Terri Schiavo's wishes in court held every bit as much legal sway as a living will would have. The difference it might have made is that the hypocrisy of the people you speak of would have been made more evident had there been a living will (that is, that they were not speaking from a place of concern for this long-gone woman despite their false claims to the contrary), but that hypocrisy was completely and blatantly evident as it was. They would have found some other framing of their delusional self-involvement than the "no written wishes" mantra, but the picture in the frame would have been identical given the sickening way the news media handled this from the beginning (by covering it in a manner and to an extent that it at created the very story that fed on itself).

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

One of the things that kept pissin' me off about the Schiavo news coverage is that it pretty much seemed to be on the line of "Terri Schiavo's family fights to prevent her death", when it was actually just some of her family - or don't husbands count as family?

[esprix.livejournal.com]

This is why I'm seeing a lawyer in 2 weeks - Quincy and I have discussed all this, and he's the one I want making decisions for me. (Not that I don't trust my mother or my family, but I'm sure Terri did, too.)

Irony

[prock.livejournal.com]

Aparently, the Vatican may be in a similar boat soon, as it looks far too likely that the Pope is fading fast. He's already got a feeding tube, can't really communicate anymore, and could slip into an infection induced coma.

[yarram.livejournal.com]

Is this what's going to happen to Pope John Paul II? Already the poor guy can't retire from his job. Now he can't retire from life.

Actually, according to canon law (http://www.catholicherald.com/saunders/05ws/ws050303.htm), it is possible for the Pope to resign. It's happened before. However, John Paul II has made it very clear that he has no intentions of doing so.

As for retiring from life, the Pope's religious beliefs wouldn't allow for any such thing, as Catholic doctrine has a very clear stance against euthanasia.

Granted, the way things look, the Pope seems about ready to check out sometime in the next few days, ready for it or not...

But it kept them busy!

[jaidit.livejournal.com]

As appalling as I found the spectacle of those who claimed they knew Ms. Schiavo's wishes despite having never met her (here, I'm exempting the Schindlers, but including several members of Congress and various activists from the religous wrong right), it did keep those folks busy.

After all, now they'll have free time to tell voters that Terri, uh God, uh someone thinks that same-sex marriage is wrong. They'll be back to the usual targets, including us.

And, alas, in an act that really showed their true colors, the Schindlers sold their mailing list to right-wing organizations, as part of a deal in which a company run by Lou Sheldon's son helped them collect names, addresses, and e-mails of supporters.

[doubleedge.livejournal.com]

A distinction to be made is that she was not on life support; her heart and lungs worked on her own. However, she did not have the mental capacity to feed herself and thus was on the feeding tube.

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

That's a distinction without a difference and is counter to what I have read about legal and medical-ethical definitions. To claim that "she is not on life support" is somewhere between a matter of conscience and a personal definition. You're welcome to that conscience and definition, but please consider that it is yours and not necessarily shared.