🚀 go-pugleaf

On 24 Mar 2005 21:17:18 -0800, "Tom Barrister"
<tombarrister@yahoo.com> wrote:

>The following represents my views. It may or may not represent those of
>other people.
>
>Mark Schiavo: what's the hurry in killing your wife Terri?
>
>And please don't feed us the "She didn't want to live like this,"
>baloney.  For one, I seriously doubt that she ever said that to you or
>to anybody else.  You never brought that up in the first seven-plus
>years after she collapsed.  Why not?  If that was her wish, you should
>have had the figurative plug pulled back in 1990 when it happened.
>Certainly no later than 1992.  Why did it take you seven years to
>remember that?
>
>I'll tell you why. Because she never said it, Mark.  It's your cop out.
>You couldn't take it anymore.  You couldn't handle the stress of the
>situation any longer.  So you decided to get rid of the inconvenience.
>You claim to love her.  You have a weird way of showing it---starving
>her literally to death.  And I understand that there's another woman in
>your life.  Terri's being alive isn't convenient for that situation, is
>it?  Better off killing the old girl off and getting it out of the way,
>right?
>
>But it wasn't that simple, was it?  Many others were opposed to it,
>most notably her parents.  So why didn't you turn Terri's custody over
>to them and be done with it?   Then you could do as you please with the
>other woman.  Would your conscience bother you then?
>
>Let's assume that you're doing this because you simply can't stand to
>see her in this state anymore and that there isn't any ulterior motive
>involved with the other woman (or women).  Don't you understand that
>there are still people who love your wife and want to see her continue
>to live?  Why can't you turn her over to them?  They'd take care of
>her.  Assign guardianship to them.
>
>Instead, you've gotten stubborn about it.  You're bound and determined
>to have her killed off----and make no bones about it, that's exactly
>what you're doing.  This isn't a case of a person who has no brain wave
>activity, who will die within seconds or minutes of a heart-lung
>machine being disconnected, and who won't even know that it happened
>because his/her brain is already dead.  We're talking about a person
>whose body is still functioning with the aid of feeding.  True, she has
>to be cared for, but so do millions of other people.  Many elderly
>people are that way.  Most infants are that way. Should we kill all of
>them, too?
>
>Please don't feed me the "She's in a persistent vegetative state."  If
>that doesn't matter to her parents, and if the state and/or private
>sectors are willing to take care of her and relieve you of all
>responsibility, why would it matter to you?
>
>I see that some experts think that she might be in a minimally
>conscious state.  Shouldn't that be looked into?  Why are you so
>insistent about killing Terri off?  You've waited fifteen years.  Why
>would another few months matter?
>
>I understand the the courts have ruled that you're her guardian and can
>decide matters such as removing her feeding tube.  But just who
>appointed you God here to decide whether she lives or dies?  What's she
>guilty of?  Not being able to function normally on her own account?  If
>so, how about killing off all the learning-challenged people?  How
>about killing off all the elderly who need care?  Why not end the lives
>of all infants under the age of two?  Most of those can't care for
>themselves, either.
>
>What's the hurry, Mark?
>
>I've read that you haven't left her bedside since the feeding tube was
>removed.  Is that supposed to be a final gesture of love?  Or are you
>staying nearby to make sure nobody sneaks her food or water until she
>dies of a lack of both?
>
>Whether you realize it or not, her death won't bring you peace.  Far
>from it.  It will make things worse.  You won't understand that until
>after she's gone though.  But trust me on this, Mark: I've been through
>your situation twice with loved ones who were (in each case) in
>supposedly irreversible states.  I wanted to take the easy out like
>you're doing.  But I stuck it out both times.  Once it worked out well
>and the person came back to us and lived a reasonable life for a few
>more years.  The other time it didn't and the person passed on.  It's
>tough, but in retrospect, I realize that I made the right decision both
>times.  You haven't----yet.  You seem so obsesed with ending this that
>you won't listen to anybody who has an opposing view.  You won't just
>turn your wife over to your parents and be done with it.  They'll love
>her.  They'll care for her. If they pass on while Terri's still alive,
>others will gladly continue her care.
>
>In other words, Mark, you're not going to be out anything or
>inconvenienced in any way by turning Terri over to your parents.  By
>not doing so and forcing her death, you're alienating not only Mr. and
>Mrs. Schindler, but literally millions of others.  I doubt anybody
>would be majorly angry at you if you let Terri's feeding tube be
>reconnected.  But I shudder to think of all the people who will be very
>unhappy with you if she dies from your imposed starvation.  Or what
>those people might do.
>
>If none of the above makes any sense to you, remember your marriage
>vows that stated:
>
>"....to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse,
>for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to
>cherish, till death do us part"
>
>"Better or worse", Mark. Not just "better".  "Sickness and health".
>Not just good health.  In other words, you were supposed to stick it
>out, even though times are bad.  Not get rid of what you probably
>perceive to be a problem and/or inconvenience because things aren't all
>that rosy.
>
>Oh, and "till death do us part," doesn't mean that you're supposed to
>hasten her death.  Because you're essentially her executioner here.
>And it just doesn't make sense to me no matter how its sugar
>coated----it's still murder.
>
>Tom Barrister.
>
>(apologies if this appears more than once in any newsgroup)

Who the hell is *Mark* Schiavo?


-- 
"Every one of the innocents who died on Sept. 11 was the most important person on earth to somebody. 
Every death extinguished a world." -- President George W. Bush, 12/11/2001

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