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.
My post yesterday was not one based on expert witness testimony or facts and figures and data. It was based on emotion and I assumed it obvious that it was a personal view of what I would want if I were in that situation as well as an admonition to make a living will so this never happens to you.
To say - as some other bloggers as well as emailers did - that it would stand to reason then that I would advocate the killing of the retarded, the meek and the disabled is absolutely ridiculous. You may call my desire to see Terri die peacefully a slippery slope, but you’re creating that slope out of fallacies. When I advocate mercy killings, I don’t mean that people should just run rampant through hospitals jabbing all the sick and elderly with needles full of morphine. I would expect that if euthanasia was ever made legal, it would be used only on people who have expressly and legally made provisions for such a thing to be done to them, in specific situations.
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.