Ridiculous

I, too, am watching with interest the Terri Shiavo fiasco. Like many people, it has touched a part of my heart I don't really like to acknowledge. Yes, the court system and her "loving" husband are starving her to death but more accurately they are forcing her death to occur through dehydration.

What kind of moronic mentality can justify this? Have these people never studied the workings of the human body on even so much as an elementary level? It is, according to my teachers and human physiology text books a long cruel and painful process to endure. Plus, I have a personal knowledge of a remotely similar experience, and let me tell ya, it just plain sucked. It was one of those moments in time that tend to forge you in a particular fashion, never to change after that.

Someone whom I loved as my mother died in basically this same fashion, however, she was terminal and would never have a quality of life. She was dying anyway and the end for her was simply an inability to nourish her ravaged body or even swallow in the end. It was excruciating to witness. I remember like it was yesterday, wiping her lips with the little pink spongy thing the hospice brought in and she would literally bite the sponge to get water. They told us it was a physiological reaction. Who knows if they were right. Who actually cares. It personally made me feel like I was being the most heartless person in the world even though I could not do a damn thing for her.

Yes, I know the cancer killed her in the end. But after personally witnessing someone being unable to take in nourishment or water, what they are doing to this Florida woman has gone beyond cruel and unusual. Come on people! Wake up! Animals in the pound get better consideration when it comes to life support or removing it.

I spoke at length with my sister regarding this just last night. She feels they are totally justified in doing what they are doing. Her view of "quality of life" is different than mine. She is all about "pulling the plug if I can't take care of myself". Ok. Fine. Terri's family does not share the same view, and just who the hell is the American Court System to tell them differently? I can't imagine the agony they are experiencing not being able to provide care for their daughter. If that was one of my children lying in that bed, I would be in prison before they kept me from giving her something as simple as water or nourishment. Keep in mind, Terri is not terminally ill. She is not being ravaged by some incurable horror. She simply has a "husband" who wants to move on with life and his new family, thereby negating his current responsibilities. Fine! Give her custody back to her parents and let them deal with it. That seems to be all they ever wanted in the first place, ten long years ago.