Sick of it…
This has been something I have been mulling over for a few days now and I needed to express my hate. Terry Shiavo went under the autopsy knife last week. Her family is still yelling and screaming and pointing fingers. If you haven’t kept up with the news, please read about it here. My outrage is that they are still bitching about it. It makes me really mad that they put her and her husband through this for 15 years. And now that she is dead, they are not letting the issue rest. They whole family is signing “keep me alive” clauses. This just makes me want to go out and put one of them in the same boat Terry was in. It makes no sense to me why you would want to keep someone alive who can’t eat, see, move, or even relieve themselves on their own. I would want to be taken out way before that stage hit. To me, that is no longer living. Masses of money were being pumped into her care. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but that money could have been used to save someone who had a chance. Feed a hungry kid on the streets or something. Now the family is setting up a foundation that will fight for cases like this all over the country. So now people can send money into a foundation that will keep people who are basically lifeless alive in beds across the country. I’m am just so frustrated with the whole thing.
I have talked about this with a few friends and most of them agree with me, but those who don’t, REALLY don’t. I wanted to open the floor for discussion. I want to know what you guys think about it. I know it can be a touchy subject, but I want to know that I’m not the only one that feels this way. Or, I want to know if I should keep my yap shut and go about business in peace. Tell me what you think…
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Nate, I agree completely with your viewpoint. I wouldn’t want to “live” in a condition like Terri did. In this case, our legal system had to step in and declare one side right, which it did. Because Terri didn’t make her desires known (living will) her guardian has the right to make the decision.
However, I’m not sure I can agree with your digust for what her family is doing now. It is within their right in this country to organize and raise awareness for people to have a living will. If someone wants to be kept alive in such a condition they absolutely have the right.
I think marriage law should be strengthened so that married couples have absolute say over these instances.
I completely trust my wife to pull the plug or not, and I would hope all marriages work like that. Hopefully that would make folks think twice before getting hitched, thus lowering the divorce rate and strengthening the overall perception and value of marriage.
I believe the Schiavo family wanted to keep Terri alive not because it is what Terri wanted, but because they couldn’t accept she was lost to them. Perhaps keeping her body alive long after her brain liquefied helped them feel like she was still with them. Grief is powerful, and it clearly makes people do bizarre things.
Now, I don’t agree with all the things the Schiavo family has done (like selling the names of people who donated to their cause to marketing companies), but in this case I don’t begrudge them their efforts to organize. In fact, I would love it if like-minded individuals were paying for the care of those in persistant vegetative states, rather than my tax dollars.
What I will be cautious of, however, is any efforts their organization may take to influence the introduction of legislation which limits my right to determine what happens to my body and what choices I can make in my own medical care.
As for strengthening marriage: In theory, I’d agree with Greg… but I’m also glad my ex husband never was in a situation to determine whether I lived or died. I don’t think he would have done what I wanted.
As far as I know, the family’s fund is to raise money to fight legal battles similar to the one they had. They are hoping to change legislation as well. They are inadvertantly raising awareness I think, but they are on the platform that NO ONE should have their plug pulled because of their religious beliefs. I have a problem when they are trying to legislate something that is based in religion. Too many things these days are going that route…
A lot of people talk about Terri’s family as if they didn’t suffer at all (ex: “It makes me really mad that they put her and her husband through this for 15 years.”). They DID suffer, maybe moreso than Terri’s husband, and that’s why they’re doing this. Personally, I distrusted Michael Shiavo from the beginning. We do not know what Terri wanted; her husband may have had the right to choose for her, but that doesn’t mean he chose what she would have wanted.
I’m with the others in that I think it’s a positive thing that her family is trying to enact change, and is taking up a cause. The fact that religion plays into it shouldn’t negate it. After all, MOST people in this nation (and the world) are religious people. Religion plays a huge part in many people’s lives, and helps guide their decisions. Why tell them that they cannot use religion as a guide? Might as well require that they have their memories erased before making any decisions whatsoever.
The problem I have is they are trying to organize a fund to pay for legal battles to fight against people who are pulling the plug. Obviously, if they had a living will, they can’t fight it. Some people have to rely on their spouse of parent or whatever to make the descision for them. I think if the spouse or family say they have had they discussion with the person, they should be allowed to pull the plug and not have to deal with a legal battle. Why would they stick their nose into someone else’s business? That’s when their religion is crossing boundries that it shoudn’t.