For fifteen years Terri Schiavo has been dying. And these politicians, who don't know Terri, who don't know her family, are clamoring to claim that she not be allowed to die? And our government overall wants to tell us that - all of us - when we are in a similar situation that involves us laying in a hospital in pain, in agony, inches away from death, our families tortured by their constant bedside vigil, our eyes unfocused, our brain not functioning, our limbs not moving on their own, our children watching us die a slow, terrible death, that our loved ones cannot gently put a needle into our arms and end it for us, even though that's what we would desire, that we have no right to honor the wishes of someone who knows that enough is enough, that doesn't want their family to go through this, that doesn't want to go through this themselves, they - our lawmakers, our leaders, have the audacity to determine that there should be no such thing as mercy killing, that we must suffer until some mysterious man in the sky lets our suffering ends, or until our bodies run out of steam and finally shut down, no matter how long it takes - I find that all abhorrent. I would hope that should I ever find myself in a situation like this, one of my family members would have enough guts and enough sense to come into my hospital room in the middle of the night and put a pillow over my face.
Make a living will, people. Today.
Part II
One of my greatest fears is of being buried alive. The dark side of my imagination has created a scenario in which this happens and it appears in my dreams every once in while: Imagine being held down, underneath layers of dirt or stone or maybe in a wooden box. You see a pinpoint of light above. Just out of reach. You can hear muted voices above you; there are people out there. Living, breathing people who are going about their daily lives while you are trying to claw your way out of your trap, while you are trying to shout to them. But no one hears you. No one knows you are in there.
When people tell me that Terri Schiavo is aware, that's what I imagine. That's how I envision her every cognizant moment to be. I don’t know that this is true. I’m no medical expert. But no one knows what’s going on inside Terri’s mind, do they? If anything is going on in there. The fact that she has no working cerebral vortex makes me inclined to believe that she isn’t aware of anything. But I try to put myself in that place. Is that a way I would want to exist for fifteen years? Hell, I wouldn't want to live that life for fifteen days.
Article comments
1 - jadester
i couldn't have put it better myself.
I either want to be cremated when i die, or have my body donated to science. And i'd much rather go into the unknown 15 years early than hang on to "life" in a vegetative state.
2 - Tom Johnson
Imagine being held down, underneath layers of dirt or stone or maybe in a wooden box. You see a pinpoint of light above. Just out of reach. You can hear muted voices above you; there are people out there. Living, breathing people who are going about their daily lives while you are trying to claw your way out of your trap, while you are trying to shout to them. But no one hears you. No one knows you are in there.
Beautifully put. This is exactly my feelings on this - if you're laying there for 15 years, and you happen to actually be somehow able to grasp what's going on, those 15 years are pure torture.
However, in Terry's case, she doesn't even have cerebral cortex - it deteriorated to nothing long ago and its space has been filled up with spinal fluid. All that's left is the most basic of "animal brain" components - the very basic control over some body functions like the heart and lungs. She's experiencing and knowing nothing because she has no ability to do so anymore. There's no coming back for Terry, outside of an absolute, confirmed miracle that somehow not only replaces the majority of her brain, but also brings back all her memories. Let this poor woman die. Or at least let her body die - she, her "self," died long ago.
3 - Joel Caris
Meant to comment on your blog, Michele, but here will work just as well. Just wanted to say that I agree with most everything you say here and thought you did a great job of summing up your thoughts on this case.
Oh, and I really hate it when people take personal thoughts like this and then extrapolate them out to completely unrelated situations and make judgements in regards to those situations. Sometimes people are really stupid.
4 - e
Terri should be allowed to die!
5 - Eric Olsen
do you mean she should be allowed to stay dead?
6 - Mark Saleski
only with her parents' consent.