Teri Schiavo

With all the recent press concerning Teri Schiavo, I would like share something that really bothers me about this case. I’m not going to talk about the morality of keeping her alive, via a feeding tube, or the rights of individuals or family members to make such choices. I want to talk about starving someone to death, when there are other, much more humane, choices. If Ms. Schiavo is going to die, than why starvation (actually it would be dehydration, click here for some medical details)? If she is “in there” somehow, than why make her suffer through such a grueling death. I know there are laws, but the laws are meant to help people, not hurt them. Why not just inject a double dose of morphine and let her quietly slip away. Another idea, one I would prefer if I were in her situation, would be experimental surgery. Test out radical theories; even if they don’t work, maybe the doctors can learn something that can save someone else in the future. The only reason I would consider what they are doing now ethical would be if there were other cases in which people facing starvation somehow “forced’ themselves out of their coma. However, I haven’t found any evidence of that. So today, my heart in not with her family or with Congress, but it is with Teri. I’m so sorry that your death may more painful than it has to be.

Although Teri Schiavo’s situation is tragic on many levels, I find it amazing that Congress and the President have given her so much attention. Congress has cut billions from our heath system, forcing families to choose between keeping familiy member alive (which they would want) or the overwhelming financial burden of paying for life-saving (or at least life-maintaining) heathcare. The United States has many wonderful qualities, but we lag behind many other countries in term of providing healthcare to our people. I implore the government to either raise taxes or cut back on military spending (i.e., billionaire dollor submarines and bombers, nuclear weapons research, etc.) and create a government funded heath care system. The 50,000,000 Americans currently without any heathcare deserve it.

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