T. Schiavo Revisited

For anyone mildly interested in the news, you cannot watch, read or listen for more than 5 minutes without commentary or a minute-by-minute update. The joys of being a reader is you can escape the consistent updates by choosing not to read them or by just reading slowly. The facts seem to indicate that over a decade ago, board certified neurologists supported by scientific testing concluded she was in a persistent vegetative state and there was not hope of improvement. Now, it seems, that everyone is jumping on this bandwagon or the one that says that the proper testing was not done and that she is not in a persistent vegetative state. It is almost impossible for a layman and one not intimately familiar with all the facts in the case to come to any conclusion. Are the pictures we see , as have been explained by some typical of someone in a PVS, or are we seeing the responses of a person with some cognition? What ever we are seeing, the video footage paints a haunting picture of someone who now is being killed by thirst and starvation. However, some experts say this is not painful. Who knows? It is almost as puzzling as why the husband simply does not divorce T. Schiavo and relinquish all decisions to her parents. Only a cynic would observe that there might be other motives behind this refusal.

Exclude for a minute the fact, that if the experts are wrong or performed incorrect medical analysis and testing, a defensless person is being killed in a terrible way. What does the flap around this mean for someone who has prepared in writing a statement indicating that they have no desire to continue living under the circumstances of disease or injury that totally incapacitates then and leaves them in either an excruciatingly painful state with no hope of return or in a coma, supported only by advanced life support. Will they be prevented from ending their unwanted existance because of a right-to-life cause or by congressional intervention? Will a living will remain a valid document? The furor aroused by media coverage of this may well have unintended (or intended) consequences for those of us who have prepared, in writing, their wishes.

A cynic might also observe that the furor is based on media ratings and income as well as the thought of political gain. All this and little real consideration for a woman who has had a terrible, tragic existance for 15 years.