God Have Mercy

It strikes me as extremely suspicious that Michael Schiavo has been working so hard and so long to make sure that his wife, Terri, has her wishes carried out and that she be allowed to die.

He claims that she said she would never want to live in a vegetative state and yet he can produce no documentation or witnesses to support that. He also has denied therapies and treatments that may have improved her quality of life. He has refused to turn over her care to her parents and family members who have begged for that very thing.

What devotion. What love. What concern for Terri. Please, Michael, you could not come off more insincere if you tried. Instead of having the integrity to divorce your wife, you instead set up house with a new woman and have had two children with her. That sir, makes you guilty of bigamy which I believe is still a crime.

Let's consider just for a second the possibility that Terri really did express a desire to not be kept alive artificially. Did she mean on a ventilator? Did she mean by a feeding tube alone? Because those are two very different situations.

In situations like this one, I think it would be better for the decision to err on the side of life. If Terri's quality of life is what shocks some people, they should consider people like Christopher Reeve, Stephen Hawking, Joni Eareckson, Jill Kinmont, and others, who have gone on to live productive lives with severely debilitating injuries or diseases. Maybe all of those people would have made us less uncomfortable if they had been allowed to die?

There is much to consider, but I still think that we should try to err on the side of life whenever possible.