MaxedOutMama
Saturday, March 26, 2005
No Special Case
According to BlogsforTerri, Florida Law Enforcement police were on the way to Pinellas Park to take Terri Schiavo to be rehydrated, but Pinellas Park police told them they would resist her removal. This agrees with statements I have seen by bloggers who are there - they reported the police reinforcing and special vans being positioned.
I also would like to direct your attention to this Slate article by Harriet McBryde Johnson, who is a lawyer from South Carolina. She lays out ten points about the case that have not been generally reported in the MSM and defends Congress's action. She too believes that to prevent many such deaths Congress will have to pass a law allowing federal review for those who can't speak for themselves. This, btw, has nothing to do with the fate of individuals who have declined treatment for themselves or done so by way of advance directive. This only affects the rights of those who presumably don't wish to suffer this fate. Harriet McBryde Johnson also has a neuro-muscular disease and may end up on a feeding tube herself. That she herself has a disability is clearly evident in point number 5:
I read in a comment in another blog about an earlier post of mine that I was a "special case", which was a most disconcerting experience. No, I am not. I'm very grateful that as a side effect of my experiences in life that I now know that I am not a special case, but more typical than not. I will continue to try to open some doors for you that were opened for me.
I also would like to direct your attention to this Slate article by Harriet McBryde Johnson, who is a lawyer from South Carolina. She lays out ten points about the case that have not been generally reported in the MSM and defends Congress's action. She too believes that to prevent many such deaths Congress will have to pass a law allowing federal review for those who can't speak for themselves. This, btw, has nothing to do with the fate of individuals who have declined treatment for themselves or done so by way of advance directive. This only affects the rights of those who presumably don't wish to suffer this fate. Harriet McBryde Johnson also has a neuro-muscular disease and may end up on a feeding tube herself. That she herself has a disability is clearly evident in point number 5:
5. There is a genuine dispute as to what Ms. Schiavo believed and expressed about life with severe disability before she herself became incapacitated; certainly, she never stated her preferences in an advance directive like a living will. If we assume that Ms. Schiavo is aware and conscious, it is possible that, like most people who live with severe disability for as long as she has, she has abandoned her preconceived fears of the life she is now living. We have no idea whether she wishes to be bound by things she might have said when she was living a very different life. If we assume she is unaware and unconscious, we can't justify her death as her preference. She has no preference.I urge all of you who fear that Congress is infringing on the rights of people to make these decisions for themselves to sit back and reflect that there is another side to this issue.
I read in a comment in another blog about an earlier post of mine that I was a "special case", which was a most disconcerting experience. No, I am not. I'm very grateful that as a side effect of my experiences in life that I now know that I am not a special case, but more typical than not. I will continue to try to open some doors for you that were opened for me.
