Terry Schiavo fiasco

[A Black Falcon]

4. I think starvation is an awful way to kill someone, I don't care what the circumstances are. You don't starve a convicted serial killer, why treat an innocent woman like that, drag it out for almost two weeks? A lethal injection or an intentional drug overdose could have done the job much quicker and with much greater dignity. I read that by the last few days, she was so dehydrated that her skin was cracking apart.

Illegal anywhere but Oregon, I'm pretty sure.

Schiavo had a right to die, a right she'd been cruelly denied for the last fifteen years. Now she's finally found peace, and ironically, it's now going to start a giant legal war, and why? Because a woman with less than half of her brain functioning died? Because the selfish parents couldn't bear to part with their child, even keeping her suffering for so very, very long? This case is absurd no matter which angle you look at it.

I'd be very surprised if any lawsuits the Schindlers try to raise will go anywhere...

4. I think starvation is an awful way to kill someone, I don't care what the circumstances are. You don't starve a convicted serial killer, why treat an innocent woman like that, drag it out for almost two weeks? A lethal injection or an intentional drug overdose could have done the job much quicker and with much greater dignity. I read that by the last few days, she was so dehydrated that her skin was cracking apart.

That would only be true if there was anyone inside her to feel the starvation. There wasn't, it seems pretty clear...


What do I think? I'm not sure. First, it's despicable for right-wingers to blame this on "activist judges" "defying the will of congress". Over 30 judges in 20-plus suits over seven or eight years heard this case. Every single one, conservative and liberal, sided with Michael Schiavo. That says something, and it's not in the House Republicans' favor.

Second... without a living will, it is up to whover the court says has custody, and the husband had custody. Given that it's pretty much a certainty that she would never recover, I can see why he'd want to do what he did... what do I think? It's really hard to know without experiencing the situation closer. You can say one thing now but if your family had that situation, and for fifteen years with no change to hope for... who knows. My immediate reaction is to say I wouldn't do what he did, but since she really was brain dead, is there much of a difference...