Terri Schiavo
Professor Bainbridge has an excellent post on the ideological tug-of-war facing Catholics who are also small-government conservatives presented by the Terri Schiavo situation. The culture of life versus non-interference by the government.
Like the good professor concludes, I think the scales should tip in favor of the life of the innocent individual. One issue I can't seem to get my arms around is the "dying with dignity" aspect that proponents of killing Terri (by starvation and dehydration) tout as "humane." This argument might hold some weight if Terri was dying already and in severe pain. What is misleading about the "dying with dignity" argument is, well, she isn't dying. Ms. Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state (PSV) wherein her brain is lacking in major functions, such as the ability to control voluntary functions or exercise awareness of her surroundings (and some say, even her existence). Regardless of the symptoms, Ms. Schiavo is still a living, breathing, not-dying human being. She's getting along quite well, actually. In fact, she could live for many more years and conceivably die of old age. This being the case, how could removing her from feeding and hydration be anything but an unlawful killing of a human being? Oh...the law is sanctioning it!
One other thing, why is that convicts on death row have their execution stayed when they're appealing their conviction, but the courts have ordered the blameless Ms. Schiavo's starvation and dehydration continued while her emergency appeals are prepared and argued? Again, this is "dying with dignity"?!
Finally, whatever happened to the Great Chain of Being, where an onion now ranks higher than a person?
Like the good professor concludes, I think the scales should tip in favor of the life of the innocent individual. One issue I can't seem to get my arms around is the "dying with dignity" aspect that proponents of killing Terri (by starvation and dehydration) tout as "humane." This argument might hold some weight if Terri was dying already and in severe pain. What is misleading about the "dying with dignity" argument is, well, she isn't dying. Ms. Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state (PSV) wherein her brain is lacking in major functions, such as the ability to control voluntary functions or exercise awareness of her surroundings (and some say, even her existence). Regardless of the symptoms, Ms. Schiavo is still a living, breathing, not-dying human being. She's getting along quite well, actually. In fact, she could live for many more years and conceivably die of old age. This being the case, how could removing her from feeding and hydration be anything but an unlawful killing of a human being? Oh...the law is sanctioning it!
One other thing, why is that convicts on death row have their execution stayed when they're appealing their conviction, but the courts have ordered the blameless Ms. Schiavo's starvation and dehydration continued while her emergency appeals are prepared and argued? Again, this is "dying with dignity"?!
Finally, whatever happened to the Great Chain of Being, where an onion now ranks higher than a person?
posted by Mike C | 8:44 PM
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