"Private Schiavo"? Well, okay, it's an inept attempt at a bad pun. Privacy is long gone. Terri Schiavo's scheduled demise will be very public.
But, to paraphrase a line from Saving Private Ryan: In this media circus, in all this madness and this argumentation over her alledged wishes and this very public, private, judicial and congressional debate, perhaps saving Terri Schiavo's life might be the one the only good thing that can come of it.
Let's think ahead for a moment.
If nothing changes then over the next week or two Terri's condition will deteriorate. She will dehydrate. She will become more and more irritated. She will moan. She will wail. Her lips will crack. Her pangs will consume her making her writhe in extreme discomfort. The vigils will become more and more solemn as her death becomes near and her dying becomes nearly unwatchable.
All of this will happen in public. Even if her room is quarantined, with no access by a camera or her family allowed, her last days will be public. Her last waking moment will be announced. Her last breaths will be counted. Her time of death will be noted.
How will those who allowed this to happen, those who refused to obstruct this horror, those who claimed that this was what Terri wanted all along, defend their judgement?
If Terri Schiavo wants to die (which she doesn't), and the courts can't find any reason to keep Michael Schiavo from killing her (which they can), then, for chrisakes, call Doctor Kevorkian and let him set up his little chemical apparatus. He knows how to put someone to sleep properly; the way a right-to-die excercizer would want it. Pulling out her feeding and tube letting die like this is absolutely monsterous.
Yes, she'd still end up dead. But, at least it wont be the horrifying and agonizingly public death-by-torture that we appear to be about to witness. We wouldn't do this to a fucking mouse (pardon my freedom).
Michael Schiavo and Judge Greer are using the Law to accomplish what the Law designed to prevent.
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