Killing Her Softly

This piece started off as a response to Dave Justus on his great blog site Justus For All, but turned into a full-on rant by yours truly.

Those of you who have read my words in the past know that I am all for freedom. One freedom I support is the right someone has to have a living will that says in a situation where they are brain-dead, or a vegetable, that they give their approval to “pull-the-plug”.

In the case of Terri Schiavo, this is not what has happened, but this is what the husband and judge want everyone to believe has occurred.

The argument that the law states that the husband, being her legal guardian, has the right to essentially kill his wife medically is outrageous.

Laws are man-made, which means they are far from perfect. As such, laws do not cover every single facet of every possibility that can occur. This case just smells wrong. You cannot argue that we should kill people just because their caretaker wants it that way.

The huge fact in this case, which you just mentioned, is that people should have a living will if they choose to be “unplugged” in cases such as this, but Terri had no such will. This case is being argued on what the husband thinks she might have said one day.

Regardless of that, Terri is far from being completely brain-dead or in a total vegetative state. The family was awarded a large sum of money because it would cost a lot to have her go through therapy to even attempt to see if she would be able to respond and become better in some form or another. The husband did not use the money for her, he used it for himself, and actually refused additional medical opinions and has banned her family from helping her.

What caring spouse would not only do this, but date and have two children with another woman while his wife still lives and all of this is going on. Sure I can understand his situation, but it further shows the devotion to his wife and her needs is even weaker still.

I agree that sometime lawmakers and the government overstep their bounds, but when there is an extreme injustice about to occur, I think it is heroic that the government has stepped in to slap this so-called judge and loving husband. If a law will put an innocent person to death, when they have people who are willing to care for them, then that law needs to be closely looked at.

I can’t stand idiots at work who claim that a regulation, or rule must be adhered to like it was written by Zeus himself, rather then using common sense to follow the intent of the rule, or in this case the law.

The intent of this law was not to allow someone a legal way to off an innocent person who is still loved and supported. Furthermore, this is not a case of us versus them like some right-to-life argument. Simply put, this is legally sanctioned murder, and it’s disgusting that there is even a legal loophole that allows it to happen.

For once I’m glad the government has stepped in and prevented this from happening, and I hope it embarrasses the hell out of the judge who made the ruling, and the rights for her husband are yanked and given over to her parents. If nothing else based on his infidelity to his wife their marriage should be annulled removing any burden on this poor slob from having to make such a difficult decision.

Terri Schiavo is not a vegetable, nor is she clinically brain-dead. She responds to certain stimuli, and seemingly knows when her family is there with her. On top of all of this she did not have a living will, which would be the foundation on which her husband could legally make this move.

As Americans we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Notice the first right? LIFE! Terri has the right to live, and no court, or pretend husband, should be able to remove that right from her.

You can also read my previous article, A Matter of Life and Death from June of 2004 when they tried this once before.