Schiavo Appeal

I really expected we would see a court jump to intervene in the Schiavo case and order her feeding tube reinserted even though all the recent appeals - all overturned - say they raise "new" issues and instead only present specious claims (the lawyer who says Terri spoke to her and said "I want to live", allegations that keeping the feeding tube out will increase Terri's length of sentence in Purgatory [now there's an ususual argument in a 21st century court], and that a doctor who has not examined her records and who is not a specialist in the field thinks she can be cured). In fact, I suspect if their actual appeal (the current motion granted the right to ASK for yet another appeal rather than a real stay itself) is rejected, the next appeal request will read, "Because Terri's civil rights will be violated if we can't sell tickets to the bedside." That's how loony some of the court documents have become. Read them yourself.

But this is just my long way of saying that I'm pleased the court has not - at least, not yet - intervened more than this. But I also don't think this is over. Even when she dies, we face a battle in this country to ensure that Americans cannot decide their own method of care, both from the Bushies who put the law in to allow hospitals to disconnect based on inability to pay and from the hardly-ever-righters who insist that Tom DeLay knows best for everyone.

For Terri the person, however, I just hope the end comes quickly. The family says the fact that she's still alive indicates "she's in there and wants to live." Sadly, though, probably not. Medical studies suggest that when the brain is severely damaged and no longer able to have an effect on the body (hope, determination, etc.), our bodies may hang on longer because we don't face the emotional back-and-forth of battling against pain vs. battling to live. The body as an organism tries to fight.