I didn’t want today to pass without mentioning Terri Schiavo. Today is the fourth anniversary of her passing.
I remember it clearly because it was right around the time Pope John Paul II passed away as well. I was really dumb because even right up until the end I expected something to happen to save her. I couldn’t believe an entire nation was just letting this woman be starved to death. She wasn’t terminally ill. She wasn’t on a life support machine. She was being starved to death.
I kept expecting someone to do something. Some did but it wasn’t enough in the end.
And I thought at the time that at least the nation would wake up after they realized what they’d done and be horrified by their own actions. But incredibly the moral of Terri’s story to the culture seems to be a cautionary tale for right wing overreach. In short, the nation watched a slow-motion execution and came away unaffected.
Even President Obama said he regretted voting for congressional involvement in the case: ‘I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better.”
Wesley J. Smith writes:
I wish that Terri’s death had convinced people that dehydration is wrong–at least when it has not been explicitly and knowingly requested in writing by the patient ahead of time. Alas, it does not appear to be so. But we can say this: Nobody can ever say again about the dehydration deaths that are happening in all fifty states and around the world as you read these words, “I didn’t know.” I believe we are all morally accountable for the positions we take on this important ethical issue.
So today, many remember Terri. And we pray for Terri, her family, and America.
April 1, 2009 at 2:19 am
It seemed to me at the time impossible that they would stop this. The reason is that we have a guilty conscience about it. It is very common practice. They starved my wife’s mother to death – when? – about 1990, I think. We didn’t find out about it until she was dead.
I think that it’s now the same with abortion. There are too many people who for one reason or another have been involved, either directly or with family, etc. A genuine moral awakening is needed.
Pray.
April 1, 2009 at 3:27 am
I remember this day. I bawled because I realized I was too was naive and kept thinking someone would stop the madness. God bless her parents.
April 1, 2009 at 12:23 pm
May God forgive us for becoming a Babylon.
April 1, 2009 at 3:01 pm
The reality was worse than is described here. What happened to Terri was a violation of both Florida state law (765.309, prohibiting euthanasia) and Federal law (Title 28 35.130(e)(2) prohibiting refusal of food and water).
The governor of Florida was Jeb Bush, a “pro-life Catholic.” You just know a bunch of Catholic neo-cons are going to trot him out as an acceptable choice for President in 2012, so everybody please make a note of the real deal.
Otherwise you’re just as bad as the rest of them.
April 1, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Be prepared to see the same thinking that permitted this moral tragedy govern the upcoming health care reform. You can read more about that here.
April 1, 2009 at 4:02 pm
David
If I remember correctly, Jeb was trying to fight for Terri. His hands were tied legally from what I understand. Judge Greer kept ruling in favor of Michael, who has since remarried – IN A CATHOLIC CHURCH of all places. What happened was heinous. We prayed, fasted and hoped that something would happen to stop the insanity. What happened was heartbreaking and I feel so horrible for her family. The Schindler family is incredible for fighting as they did and continuing to work in this area to help raise awareness and hopefully save lives.
April 1, 2009 at 4:15 pm
“If I remember correctly, Jeb was trying to fight for Terri. His hands were tied legally from what I understand…”
He was wrong, along with everyone else. His hands were not tied. He was like every other poor dumb sap who looked to a judge for an opinion, when the law had the answer the whole time. There was nothing stopping the governor from using his executive authority to send the state police into the facility to stop whatever was happening, judge or no judge. And that remarriage was most likely invalid, given the obvious defective intentions.
Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this. Before today, did you even KNOW there was such a law?
April 1, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Remember that lion for life Bishop down there fighting for Terri?
I sure don’t.