Friday March 25, 2005
I am relieved to have found some additional perspectives concerning the Terri Schiavo case online today. The New England Journal of Medicine has posted Terri Schiavo -- A Tragedy Compounded (pdf) in their words: to inform the current debate about decisions at the end of life...
If you've been as disturbed as I was by the news snippets it's worth a read. The article is both illuminating and comforting due to the authority with which the author speaks and the human perspective he brings to the upsetting subject manner. If the media had presented a balanced perspective and the special political interests had not exploited Terri's story, there probably wouldn't be more than a short mention in the legal news now and then.
Along with his recap of the medical events and evidence available he reminds everyone that the legal issue to be decided is not what Terri's husband and other family members would like for themselves but what Terri would want were she in a position to express her own wishes.
My offended sensibilities calmed themselves somewhat after I read this:
If and when her feeding tube is permanently removed, her family may be reassured that dying in this way can be a natural, humane process (humans died in this way for thousands of years before the advent of feeding tubes).
[ end note: 25 more days to fusion ]