Posted on 03/16/2005 1:12:50 PM PST by pkp1184
"Love Hurts," said the Everly Brothers. And Life Costs, say I. Florida lawmakers should bear that in mind as they conjure up a bill to keep Terry Schiavo forever alive (as opposed to productively alive). Yes, in that persistent vegetative state known as Florida, lawmakers seem to believe they have no poverty to eradicate, no children to educate, no affordable houses to build and no health care to provide to walking, talking people. So they've decided to spend their time passing a law that would make it a crime to unhitch Terry Schiavo's feeding tube.
Lost in this debate over Schiavo's future is the question: Who pays when life-worshippers, a/k/a religious zealots, cite religious mores while insisting on prolonging a barren existence? In Schiavo's case, there's no one answer to the question, who pays. Rather, her family relies on a melange of sources - a scenario as follows.
Michael Schiavo's lawyer, George Felos, told reporters there once was a trust fund containing almost $800,000 (won in a malpractice case) to support Terry Schiavo's abundant medical expenses. That has been whittled down to near extinction. Felos says Schiavo's costs during the past few years have been borne by a confusing and twisted agglomeration of Social Security disability benefits, Medicaid and a corporate hospice fund for indigent patients. Meanwhile, her parents' legal bills have been subsidized by church groups passing the collection plate.
Whatever Schiavo's medical costs are and however much may have been sustained by private funds, there's still the inevitability we find in many religiously driven fights for life: Taxpayers and other individuals not similarly motivated are still drawn in, willing or not, to help subsidize someone else's "moral" choice. Praise the Lord and the, er, hat.
Bob Schindler, Terry Schiavo's father, sponsored as his legal fight is by church groups, has contorted his daughter's fate into his own personal Schindler's list. But the original Schindler did not force his fellow Germans to pay for the Jews he saved during World War II (and, of course, the people he saved were still very much alive). If Bob Schindler wants to keep his daughter alive without forcing others to chip in (via taxpayer-funded programs such as Social Security and Medicaid), that's one thing. It's his private right and he's free to do so. When he starts asking me to contribute, that's quite another.
Oh, I can just hear the choir of outrage now: How dare you put a price on human life? Well, honey, I'm not alone. Capitalism, modern medicine and society have all decided that insurance, medicine, surgery and hospitals cost money.
Consider this: Our collective obsession with end-of-life augmentation costs billions each year. The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released a report in 2003 showing that last-year-of-life expenses ate up 22 percent of all medical costs, 26 percent of Medicare expenses, 25 percent of the tab for Medicaid and 18 percent of all non-Medicare health-care costs. If only we could let go of our obsession with end-of-life medical heroics, think how much we could save not only in medical costs, but also in insurance and in heartache. But no, the godly among us will have none of that.
That's not to say we should not try to save lives, or even use heroic measures when necessary.
But when the patient is medically dead, when the doctors give up hope, it is no longer about saving a life. At that point, it's all about saving a principle. With public money. It's easy to stand on principle when the bill goes elsewhere.
Fine, then. Let those whose mores dictate preservation of life at all costs, pay those costs. We would see feeding tubes and respirators across America not pulled but ripped out at lightning speed.
Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service.
Gosh, Erbe is being moderate here. When she's talking about unborn children, she goes into "Kill! Stomp! Squish!" mode.
Already posted.
"Lost in the Schiavo debate is this question: Who pays?"
Why do I get the feeling that this woman probably supports taxpayer subsidies for junkies, thieves, hookers and unmarried baby factories?
Not related to your article, but I could swear that ~15 years ago Bonnie Erbe had a gig on that PBS Motorweek show...
Spoken like a true Marxist. And they always told you capitalists were heartless.
"as opposed to productively alive"
I guess the writer is in favor of euthanasia for homeless people and the unemployed.
Haha..."productively alive"...that's interesting. I think most people would agree with me in saying that Bonnie Erbe isn't productively alive. Let's ask a judge to kill her too while they're at it.
Hey, I'll pony up myself if it'll p*ss Bonnie off.
Lib journalists could be considered not productively alive. And Kerry. And Byrd. The list could go on and on.
I also liked the term she used "barren existence." Terry Schiavo contributes 1000 times more to society than this feminazi pinko creep. Bonnie Erbe's is a barren existence.
Great research Bonnie. Maybe the $1.7 Million the husband is sitting on could foot the bill? I also checked Florida assisted suicide laws. If Mr. Schiavo is going along with his wife's alleged wish not to live under these conditions then he and Judge Greer have violated state law by granting an illegal assisted suicide.
RIght who pays for keeping multiple murderers and rapists aliive in jail? Who makes it cost 100 times what it should to reach a final verdict on execution? Just guessing these questions never seem relevant but don't know her well enough to say for sure
Isn't it true that Terri's existence is barren because her 'loving husband who is only trying to fulfill her wishes' forbids her flowers in her room, forbids her being taken out for fresh air and sunshine, forbids her more than one radio station, forbids her having dental care....That's just a few things I can recall off the top of my head ; a glance at the Terri thread would no doubt reveal a whole list of deprivations caused by MS's rules-deprivations being used to justify Terri's days-long death by dehydration and starvation.
Isn't it true that Terri's existence is barren because her 'loving husband who is only trying to fulfill her wishes' forbids her flowers in her room, forbids her being taken out for fresh air and sunshine, forbids her more than one radio station, forbids her having dental care....That's just a few things I can recall off the top of my head ; a glance at the Terri thread would no doubt reveal a whole list of deprivations caused by MS's rules-deprivations being used to justify Terri's days-long death by dehydration and starvation.
WOW! What about quadraplegics? And the mentally insane? And the homeless???
This is breathtaking.
Pandora's Box. No one will listen.
He's also forbid her from receiving Holy Communion! A speck of wafer is all it takes, and HE FORBIDS IT! He's not even remotely interested in her soul...
Don't worry... even if this barbaric execution takes place, Judge Greer, Michael Schiavo, and all others involved will receive due punishment. May they be eternally haunted by their vile selfishness and atrocities.
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