"Terri Schindler-Schiavo has won a temporary stay from execution by a method too cruel to be used for convicted criminals. And yet her husband's attorney is trying to spin it into a 'death with dignity issue' with his comments on Tuesday.
"He says it's cruel to begin rehydration. The opposite is true -- dehydration is a cruel, painful death. It is unconscionable that the state ordered removal of her feeding tube in the first place -- it's nothing less than state-sponsored euthanasia.
"She is not dependent on advanced medical interventions. Nothing is mechanically pumping her blood, or forcing oxygen into her lungs. She is simply being fed through a gastrostomy tube. Would we allow a retarded child to be starved to death?
"Some physicians believe that Terri could be rehabilitated to some extent, at least so that she could swallow oral feedings and eliminate the need for the tube. She should be allowed to try, but so far her husband has blocked every attempt to see whether she can swallow. Doctors have offered pro bono treatment, if money is the barrier for her husband.
"Although severely disabled, some believe that she does have the capacity to communicate a desire to live. The husband has obstructed efforts at rehabilitation or independent assessments of his wife's true state.
"Where are the 'compassionate end-of-life' groups such as the Robert Wood Johnson 'Last Acts' initiative, and why aren't they weighing in on this?
"The ethical question for her nurses and physicians is whether they will cooperate in carrying out a death warrant.
"And the ethical question for all of us is whether we will allow the state to obstruct the efforts of people who want to provide medical care to a patient who wants to receive it.
"If we go down that path, who's to say what treatment the state will prevent you from getting?"
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=125-10222003
Wow! More voices being heard now. This is great!