[PLUG-TALK] Shiavo case...

[Paul Johnson]

On Monday 28 March 2005 07:35 pm, plug_0 at robinson-west.com wrote:
> Florida should enact a law that requires
> food and water to be provided in cases
> where there are no written instructions.
> It's barbaric the way Terry's husband is
> trying to come out and say, "she's not
> in pain."  Just because she's in a coma,
> that doesn't mean she isn't feeling pain.

1) Even the family has said, "There's nothing more we can do, thanks 
for your support, go home and leave us alone."

2) We're talking about a routine procedure typically done not long 
after things look hopeless for the patient, not 15 years later.  I'm 
no doctor, but I *did* know a lot about what was going on in the 
hospital I worked in, particularly deaths during my shift.  Hospitals 
avoid letting people linger half-dead if they can't do anything more, 
there's no compelling medical or ethical reason to do so.

3) It's barbaric to argue someone who has been half-dead on life 
support for nearly half their life should continue to do so.

> For those who say, write a will.  What
> gurantee is there that any will is going
> to be followed?

Umm, laws already on the books in most states, as if human decency 
wasn't enough.
 
> I for one hope there's a moral backlash
> against these court decisions.

Let's hope not!  People have a right to die when it's their time.  
It's not cheating death when you're being fed through an 
uncomfortable tube through the side of your abdomen.  Granted, it's a 
hard choice to make when it's time to remove a feeding tube, and I 
don't envy those who have to make that decision.  But ultimately, the 
decision needs to be made in the patient's best interest.

If nothing else could be done but let you wither away to nothing for 
the rest of your life, wouldn't you rather just cut to the chase?  
Wouldn't you rather spend your last days in relative comfort instead 
of being force fed through a tube?  And if that doesn't work, how 
about an argument that appeals to good old fashioned conservative 
moral relativism, since that seemst to be where you're coming from:  
What good is someone who is guaranteed to never be a productive 
member of society again?

-- 
Paul Johnson
Email and Instant Messenger (Jabber): baloo at ursine.ca
http://ursine.ca/~baloo/
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