Saving Terri

I posted this on Lone Star Times and thought I would post it here too:


I know a lot of you have heard enough about this subject, but a really big deadline, literally, is looming on Friday.

Teri Schiavo will have her feeding tube disconnected on Friday at the direction of her husband and the courts. No matter how you feel about the whole situation, whether she should live or die, if her feeding tube stays disconnected, she will die a really hideous death from starvation and dehydration eventually. We don’t allow our death row inmates, guilty of abominable crimes, to die like that since it would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. We prosecute people for starving their pets.

There are two pieces of legislation that are in play to try and help Terri. First of all, the Florida Legislature is trying to pass a bill, similar to the one that passed and was signed into law last year by Gov. Jeb Bush, but was struck down by the courts. This bill is an effort to take care of the issues the court had with the law so that it can stand and Terri will not be disconnected from her food.

The Federal bill in play would allow an Advocate for the disabled person, to step forward and represent the person that can’t “speak” for themselves. I posted an article about it last week here.(Note: passed in the House last night)

I wanted to address some concerns and comments that I have received on this issue of literally life and death.

How can someone, a stranger, speak for someone that can’t speak for themselves? This already occurs daily in child abuse cases. Prior to this life I lead of marriage, children and jobs, I was a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). (I was an unpaid volunteer, and was happy to help.) My job was to determine what was in the best interest of the child ONLY. I was not supposed to make a judgment based on mom or dad or grandma or what the Social Worker wanted. They had their own agendas. My Agenda was to make sure the child was safe and had the best care possible in the situation and I did so by examining the child’s circumstances. I actually had a case where the child could not talk because the child was 2 weeks old. But my responsibility was to make sure that child came to no further harm. I didn’t make a lot of people happy with my “call” on the situation, but I sleep well at night. Terri Schiavo deserves at least that. One person in this whole mess that can fight for her wishes: not mom, dad or husband.

I have also heard from people that believe Terri should be “let go” because they would “never want to live that way”. I understand that because I would never want to live that way either. But you have to be careful about definitive statements like that because you may fall under its’ judgment. Sunday, I watched a fantastic movie, Saving Millie. It was about Mort Kondracke and his wife Millie, and her valiant fight against a very aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease. One exchange really caught my ear. Millie was close to hysteria because a doctor suspected she had the dreaded disease. Millie tells Mort that she has had patients (she was a psychologist) that had Parkinson’s and she knew how horrible their physical health degenerates. She told him that she could never live that way. But in the end, she does.

I have a cousin who was born with cerebral palsy. She is my mother’s age. Looking at her, you can’t help but feel sorry for her. She can’t talk, walk or feed herself. I asked her one day if she was glad she was here, alive. She told me “yes”, in her way of communicating. (I admit that was rather rude of me, but I was in college at the time and thought I knew everything, including that she hated living.) For her, while she can’t do what WE do, she is HERE. The alternative would be, not here. She has a wonderful life full of family and friends and pets that care for her and she cares about them. She has days she is depressed, but doesn’t everyone.
Things happen, plans are smashed, and life carries on in directions you never plan for or would ever wish upon anyone. But, there is good that can be derived from these unfortunate events. It’s a matter of looking for it.

My point is this: if you don’t want to live a certain way, make sure you have a Living Will executed and on file with your doctor and the rest of your family.

As for Terri Schiavo, she should have someone that represents HER and only HER. There are too many unresolved and unexplored issues, let alone unexplored medical tests and diagnosis. She should not have someone that is invested in the fight with a certain Agenda representing her (such as her husband who is her Legal Guardian). The Federal law would allow the independant representation.

By the way, I couldn’t help but think about Terri during the movie on Sunday. Mort promised Millie that if she really wanted to die, he would not allow a feeding tube to be put in, he would bring her to hospice, and make sure she was in no pain. Then he broke down and cried and begged her not to do it because he loved her so much……. A very far cry from Michael Schiavo.

Millie opted for the feeding tube until she died this past year.

P.S.: If Terri Schiavo is to die and die she must in accordance with the courts and her husband, then give her the same lethal injection we give death row inmates instead of starving her to death. (I am not advocating for her death, far from it. I just don’t want her to endure the brutality of what her husband and courts are ordering her to endure. Make the death humane if she MUST die.)