Posted on 03/22/2005 9:45:11 PM PST by Former Military Chick
If I were in Terri Schiavo's condition, I would not want a feeding tube. But Schiavo does not have the means to make her intentions known. We do not know what she would have wanted. We have nothing to go on. No living will, no advance directives, no durable power of attorney.
What do you do when you have nothing to go on? You try to intuit her will, using loved ones as surrogates.
In this case, the loved ones disagree. The husband wants Terri to die; the parents do not. The Florida court gave the surrogacy to her husband, under the generally useful rule that your spouse is the most reliable diviner of your wishes: You pick your spouse and not your parents, and you have spent most of your recent years with your spouse and not your parents.
The problem is that although your spouse probably knows you best, there is no guarantee that he will not confuse his wishes with yours. Terri's spouse presents complications. He has a girlfriend, and has two kids with her. He clearly wants to marry again. And a living Terri stands in the way.
Now, all of this may be irrelevant in his mind. He may actually be acting entirely based on his understanding of his wife's wishes. And as she left nothing behind, the courts have been forced to conclude, on the basis of his testimony, that she would prefer to be dead.
That is why this is a terrible case. The general rule of spousal supremacy leads you here to a thoroughly repulsive conclusion. Repulsive because in a case where there is no consensus among the loved ones, one's natural human sympathies suggest giving custody to the party committed to her staying alive and pledging to carry the burden themselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Michael Schaivo's lawyer keeps saying Terri said, "no tubes for me". Well, that doesn't mean to keep food out of her mouth. If her parents want to feed her pudding, jello, etc. and it works, then to deprive her of that is beyond her wishes. The judge is ordering something she never requested. No tubes, not no food!!!
He WON'T simply divorce her. America, wake the &%$# UP!
Bumping that, JennysCool.
Wrong. Unless you're the Amazing Kreskin, you don't try to "intuit" anyone's will. When there's a doubt, LIFE wins out.
Period.
End.
Of.
Story.
One would think so, but I've seen otherwise.
As the writer stated, then it needs to be codified in law. Teri's unfortunate situation will, hopefully, lead to some legal clarification of future situations such as this one.
I think that it was okay to name Michael Schiavo guardian in the beginning, but when he started the adultereous relationship with another woman, he had a conflict of interest, which is very clear here, and he should have long ago been removed. He has not had Terri's interest at heart for years. The courts have failed Terri.
That's a good article!! Thank you for posting it.
I should add for those on this thread who may not know, Charles Krauthammer is a Medical Doctor who is confined to a wheelchair.
I have come to the conclusion that you must not ever do anything that would bring you to the attention of our courts. NEVER! You must live in total fear of being put at the mercy of these cold hearted, immoral people in black robes. They are to be feared more than anything, they are inconsistant, they are not judges, they are gamesmen playing with words while peoples lives are in the balance.
Don't bother to tell me how much better our system is than any other, frankly I can't see it. It may not be worse, but it is certainly no better. You can not count on it, it's worthless.
I thought he was a psychiatrist. Is that still an MD? I'm not positive of his specialty however.
He's also a Psychiatrist. A brilliant man.
Hey FF! Actually,we are both correct.He is an MD and a Psychiatrist.
He is psychiatrist but you have to complete medical residency before you can start study psychiatry so yes he is MD. Psychologists are not MDs.
It is difficult to disagree with Charles on this point. Perhaps this will be the best outcome.
You make a good point and one of the reasons that the law is silent is that, IMO, such situations have been rare, if not non existant despite claims that it happens tens of thousands of times a day.
Rather than the travesty that Krauthammer suggests, I think that the Congress took a necessary first step to protect life when such a conflict arises.
The states SHOULD do this themselves, but that doesn't mean that Congress was wrong to pick up the ball when Florida dropped it.
The travesty, if there is one, is that Congress took so long to take this issue up. By waiting, Terri is now 5 days closer to death than she should be.
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