Choices in Death
Terry Schiavo is opening a Pandora's Box.
Here on one side we have the family of the dearly vegetative- the husband who is so keen to pull the plug that some are speculating he has burned through his malpractice cash and wants to get at the life insurance in Terry's name. This of course- is all conjecture.
Then we have the other family. The family who somehow believes that even though she's a vegetable (a large squash)- she still is showing signs that she wants to live- and that she's trying to speak.
Motivation for their interests aside- I think that people deserve the right to die with dignity. Not that her death has any dignity at all! Fading away slowly starving to death over a course of weeks is not dignified in the least. After all- we treat our prisoners on death row better.
That seems to be a common argument for people when faced with the imploration that we set a death with dignity precedence. They say "This death has no dignity! We treat our criminals on death row better!!!" There is a simple solution to this- all we have to do is start to starve our criminals. Soon enough the phrase "I'd kill for a Big Mac" takes on entirely new meaning and new fear attached.
I've never found much weight in the religious argument that G-d find life to be sacred- ergo- no assisted suicides, please. Along those arguments- From my understanding of G-d's greatest gift was even greater than life. G-d gave life to all flora and faunae but gave sentience and free choice to only one creature. G-d wants us to exercise our free choice and make decisions that make sense to us using that free will. I think it's a Simcha to the highest degree to exercise that choice and make decisions for ourselves.
Dignified deaths are a long time coming- as is Terry Schiavo's death. I don't know if she feels any pain- but I hope that the pain she's experiencing stops soon, and I hope that with it- the pain of her parents and her husband also finds a way to rest in peace.
Here on one side we have the family of the dearly vegetative- the husband who is so keen to pull the plug that some are speculating he has burned through his malpractice cash and wants to get at the life insurance in Terry's name. This of course- is all conjecture.
Then we have the other family. The family who somehow believes that even though she's a vegetable (a large squash)- she still is showing signs that she wants to live- and that she's trying to speak.
Motivation for their interests aside- I think that people deserve the right to die with dignity. Not that her death has any dignity at all! Fading away slowly starving to death over a course of weeks is not dignified in the least. After all- we treat our prisoners on death row better.
That seems to be a common argument for people when faced with the imploration that we set a death with dignity precedence. They say "This death has no dignity! We treat our criminals on death row better!!!" There is a simple solution to this- all we have to do is start to starve our criminals. Soon enough the phrase "I'd kill for a Big Mac" takes on entirely new meaning and new fear attached.
I've never found much weight in the religious argument that G-d find life to be sacred- ergo- no assisted suicides, please. Along those arguments- From my understanding of G-d's greatest gift was even greater than life. G-d gave life to all flora and faunae but gave sentience and free choice to only one creature. G-d wants us to exercise our free choice and make decisions that make sense to us using that free will. I think it's a Simcha to the highest degree to exercise that choice and make decisions for ourselves.
Dignified deaths are a long time coming- as is Terry Schiavo's death. I don't know if she feels any pain- but I hope that the pain she's experiencing stops soon, and I hope that with it- the pain of her parents and her husband also finds a way to rest in peace.
posted by Mike at 3/31/2005 02:02:00 a.m.
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