God Bless Terri Schiavo
March 31st, 2005
Truly sad.
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of an epic legal and political battle that launched a national debate on the right to die, has died.The 41-year-old woman died Thursday morning, nearly 14 days after doctors removed the feeding tube that had kept her alive for 15 years.
“Terri Schiavo has passed and stepped into eternity at 9:05 a.m.,” said David Gibbs, lead lawyer for Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler
This has been such an emotional issue on all sides and I don’t think we will ever know what Terri Schiavo’s true wishes were. I still believe that forcing her to die was mornally wrong in the absence of a clear directive from her.
I respect a persons right to choice in the manner of their death. The libertarian in me even goes so far as being fine with someone willingly taking their own life. We are the masters of our own destiny after all…. However, there was nothing written/documented about her wishes. It was all hearsay. Legally, hearsay is not even allowed in something as small as a court hearing for a traffic offense. Yet, it was the basis for a case that cost a human being her life. Forcing her to die in this manner was sick. I wouldn’t let my worst enemy die like this.
Sadly, it seems the new legal paradigm in America for the severely brain damaged is dead until proven living.