Starving To Death
Here are the three words that should be the crux of the matter re Terry Schiavo: starving to death.
I understand the arguments of both sides, and I suspect that most of us, no matter what we say about the sanctity of life or the “right” to die, are thinking that if we were Terry, we’d prefer death to our current situation. I suspect that most of us intuit that in fact Terry would, if she could, say enough already, time for me to go.
We cannot know those things, but I suspect that’s the way we think. But please God, give her that tube back. Because one thing we don’t know is how she feels about starving to death. There is a chance, apparently a fairly good chance, that Terry Schiavo is aware, on some level, of what’s going on around her. Imagine the horror of knowing that, even though you may prefer to die, your death was going to be accomplished, via judicial fiat, through the removal of your only source of sustenance. There was nothing you could do to express your opinion on the matter. And nothing you could do to prevent it.
You might wish to beg for an overdose of morphine, but you couldn’t. All you could do would be to wait for the tube to be removed so that your death by starvation and dehydration could commence. And, from what I understand, that could take a couple of weeks and untold agony.
It is simply not possible to take any principled stance on Terry Schiavo’s plight unless you consider all of the implications contained in the phrase starving to death.
UPDATE: Please read this insightful piece by Andrew McCarthy for more on the issue of slowly starving to death
I understand the arguments of both sides, and I suspect that most of us, no matter what we say about the sanctity of life or the “right” to die, are thinking that if we were Terry, we’d prefer death to our current situation. I suspect that most of us intuit that in fact Terry would, if she could, say enough already, time for me to go.
We cannot know those things, but I suspect that’s the way we think. But please God, give her that tube back. Because one thing we don’t know is how she feels about starving to death. There is a chance, apparently a fairly good chance, that Terry Schiavo is aware, on some level, of what’s going on around her. Imagine the horror of knowing that, even though you may prefer to die, your death was going to be accomplished, via judicial fiat, through the removal of your only source of sustenance. There was nothing you could do to express your opinion on the matter. And nothing you could do to prevent it.
You might wish to beg for an overdose of morphine, but you couldn’t. All you could do would be to wait for the tube to be removed so that your death by starvation and dehydration could commence. And, from what I understand, that could take a couple of weeks and untold agony.
It is simply not possible to take any principled stance on Terry Schiavo’s plight unless you consider all of the implications contained in the phrase starving to death.
UPDATE: Please read this insightful piece by Andrew McCarthy for more on the issue of slowly starving to death
posted by Steve @ 3/19/2005 12:44:00 PM
1 Comments:
At 10:36 AM,
Anonymous said…
Thank you for your to-the-point insight. I just hadn't thought of it that way. Starving to death. Yes, like you, I'd also choose death over a long heartbreaking coma-like life with brain damage. But starving to death? Please, no. And as for the wisdom of Congress to protect me from death? I'm not too happy about that either. God bless Terry and her family. Let us pray.
SandieBee
Post a Comment
<< Home