Via Bloomberg: Senate Committee Asks That Schiavo Appear at Hearing
A U.S. Senate committee has asked that Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman, and her husband appear at a hearing later this month in the hopes of preventing the removal of the feeding tubes keeping her alive.[…]
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Mike Enzi sent a letter to Schiavo and her husband Michael, her legal guardian, asking them to appear at a March 28 hearing to “review health-care policies and practices.'’
You have got to be kidding me. They are going to make a woman, who while not technically brain dead is, for all practical purposes mentally absent and her husband appear before Congress?!?! And I thought the baseball steroids hearings were a farce…
What are they going to do, determine for themsevles that she can’t speak? Grill the husband who lost his wife and life partner to a terrible accident?
Utterly, totally, insanely remarkable.
The issue to me here is what the patient would have wanted and the husband insists that she wouldn’t want to be kept alive in this state (a contention her parents dispute). However, unless the man is lying, it would seem to me more likely that the husband would know his wife’s mind more on this (and any number of topics) than would parents.
Redstate.org explains why he did it. It basicly affords her protections from having the tubes removed.
Comment by Dean Walde — Friday, March 18, 2024 @ 11:52 am
That had occurred to me. Still, I find the whole concept ridiculous.
Comment by Steven Taylor — Friday, March 18, 2024 @ 12:07 pm
Some people claim that Terri is in a coma. She isn’t, because she is awake.
Some people claim that Terri is brain dead. Impossible, because she isn’t on any machines. The only “machine” she has is a feeding tube in her abdomen since she can’t eat. She is brain damaged, not brain dead.
Some people claim that Terri will not be starved to death; she will just be “allowed to die” by being “denied nutrition". Yep, it’s just like the euphemisms used for abortion. Make no mistake: TERRI IS BEING STARVED TO DEATH.
Some people claim that this is a family decision to be made between husband and wife. That may be so in a termination of treatment case, but food and water is not medical treatment. This is EUTHANASIA, pure and simple. Terri is being actively killed by being denied basic nutrition.
Some people claim that Michael Schiavo should have the decision to make, euthanasia or no, because he is Terri’s loving husband. Loving, huh? Would a loving husband have put Terri’s beloved pet cats to sleep after her brain injury? Would a loving husband date other women, become engaged to another woman, and father two children with this other woman, an act of adultery by any standard? Would a loving husband MELT DOWN TERRI’S WEDDING RING to make it into another piece of jewelry? Would a loving husband deny Terri the right to see ANYONE, including her parents, her brother, and even her priest to give her the Eucharist, an extremely important Holy Sacrament to Catholics like Terri? Would a loving husband refuse to allow Terri to have any rehabilitation? Would a loving husband refuse to allow Terri any chance to try eating food, instead opting to starve her to death when it’s possible that she could swallow food if they tried to feed her? Would a loving husband refuse to allow Terri to receive even the most basic of care - the brushing of her teeth - resulting in some of her teeth becoming rotten? NO.
Comment by JWL — Friday, March 18, 2024 @ 6:14 pm
I don’t think the Senate and Congressional strategies are all that ridiculous. Peggy Noonan hit the nail on the head on this one.
In fact, I think it is amazing that Senators – who freak out over Social Security Reform – are actually laying down stakes in a major definitional battle. (Yea, I realize that the correlation between Soc Sec chickens and Schiavo supporters is not a perfect correlation.)
Comment by John Lemon — Saturday, March 19, 2024 @ 12:58 am