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To help live or let die (Terri & Michael Schiavo's marriage)
Townhall.com ^ | March 23, 2005 | Kathleen Parker

Posted on 03/23/2005 9:54:43 AM PST by OESY

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To: Smarti Pants
Know what? I respect 100% how you're thinking.

Presuming that the husband IS doing everything that his wife wanted, presuming that he IS acting in her best interest - geez, he's being the best possible kind of husband that we women could ever hope to find/have.

I would think so also.

The problem here, is that this husband seems to be the only person who "knew" what his wife wanted.

A fair concern, but legally it doesn't matter.

If your beautiful wife had some kind of chance to rehab, despite being brain-damaged, would you fight so hard to have her die?

I can only answer that by using Terry as the yard stick in answering. My wife would want me to do exactly as Michael has done. There is no question. I would move hell and high water before I let others State, Feds, "Right to Lifers" whatever, from standing between my wifes wishes and I.

seeking to put her to a "painless" death by starvation?

I'll admit that I have a problem with the death by starvation. Its chickensh&t. If it were my wife I would find the means to do it quickly and at my own hands if need be. Consequences be dammed.

the slightest chance that I could be a viable person again, I want the chance. ALL the chances.

I think the standard then is "viable person" I don't mean medically either. A viable person that my wife would want to live as. Different for everyone.

Terri has been denied all chances here by her husband. He refused to allow her any chance to be more than the state she's in. This is why we're all on edge about it. It could be you. Or me. Our daughters, our sons.

Again, maybe thats what she wanted. I don't know. Her husband is definitely someone that should know. A&&hole or not.

81 posted on 03/23/2005 11:56:51 AM PST by vikzilla (I don't want to be a part of your life)
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To: Smarti Pants
Sorry, Not yelling at you - just yelling at the whole world *sigh*. This is maddening.

I know how you feel. It is maddening. What is happening to Terri right now is wrong on just SO MANY moral and legal levels. This is an extremely low point in our nation, where someone (even a parent) can be barred from giving a helpless person water (!!!), and be arrested for trying. I've talked to my husband about this. If he were in such a situation, I would NEVER consider letting him starve to death. If he were on life support and I felt it was hopeless, but his parents wanted to keep him on life support and pay for the expenses, there is just NO QUESTION that the right thing to do would be to leave the decision to his parents. It would just be insult on top of injury to make such a decision to let him go against his parent's wishes. And I can't even image what it would be like if something like this happened to my son and I wasn't allowed to care for him when he was at his most helpless.

82 posted on 03/23/2005 12:01:46 PM PST by Sally II
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To: Smarti Pants
"Does Michael get "Hubby of the Year" award for being a great man in the face of all this controversy? Or does he get "Scumbag of the Year" for killing his wife?

Could go either way, in my opinion...and we will never know for sure. Absolutes only work for fanatics in this case.

83 posted on 03/23/2005 12:02:26 PM PST by Mr_Peter
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To: Texas Deb
BTW, her "loving" husband had a girlfriend a little over a year after Terri's incident that left her in the state she is in. So much for the long-suffering, devoted, caring, compassionate husband myth. Seems Michael loves to control Terri with his marital contract, but feels no obligation to honor the vows made in that contract.

So he should have remained celibate for the 14(?) years that his wifes cerebral cortex has been destroyed?

Would you have felt better if he had stopped by every couple days and just ....(I'll just stop there)

84 posted on 03/23/2005 12:12:21 PM PST by vikzilla (I don't want to be a part of your life)
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To: vikzilla
"I think the standard then is "viable person" I don't mean medically either. A viable person that my wife would want to live as. Different for everyone"

I married a man who is a quadraplegic. Where many saw him as a "crip", a "quad", a "disabled person", I saw him as a man. He wasn't like Christopher Reeve, he was able to do more things than Reeve could do.

If, on the day of his injury, someone had let him die due to not wanting to be in a "vegetative state" rather than allow him the chance to live, he would have been denied the chance to rehab and be as independent as he is today. When I met him, he drove, he could get & cook his own food. he could go pretty much anywhere the wheelchair could get him into. And he could breathe just fine on his own.

Ok,so he wasn't like he was before the injury - but he was - and still is - alive and is capable of being a relatively "normal" alive person! Does that take away any of the "viability" because he can't run & jump? Is he less of a person because he's confined & dependent on others for care?

We don't know if Terri would have similar results after rehab - the point is, she never got that chance to find out.

"I'll admit that I have a problem with the death by starvation. Its chickensh&t. If it were my wife I would find the means to do it quickly and at my own hands if need be. Consequences be dammed."

Yeah, I think I'd feel the same way. That's what makes this all so hard, I think. Thanks, by the way, for your candor.
85 posted on 03/23/2005 12:12:46 PM PST by Smarti Pants (~This American Patriot will never forget !!!~)
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To: Mr_Peter

Yes - you're right. I can't argue with you on that point. This is all so emotionally charged.


86 posted on 03/23/2005 12:14:57 PM PST by Smarti Pants (~This American Patriot will never forget !!!~)
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To: vikzilla

No, he should have divorced her and gone on with his life - I would have no problem with that.

But to stayed married simply to control her while not abiding by his marital vows makes a mockery of the marriage. He wants all the rights that come with being a spouse, but he doesn't feel enough respect and love for her to abide by the marital vows. And I am not just talking about adultery, as he has not allowed Terri to have the rehabilitation that might could help her.

I wish he would divorce her and go on with his life and let Terri remain in the care of those who really have loved and cared for her from the beginning.


87 posted on 03/23/2005 12:19:53 PM PST by Texas Deb
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To: Nachum
There is sure a good Law & Order plot contained in this story... particularly if you think her condition came about under suspicious circumstances.
88 posted on 03/23/2005 12:23:03 PM PST by RedEyeJack
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To: vikzilla
Wrong, Michael, her husband made the decision

No he didn't. In the trial court there was a dispute about guardianship and M.S. petitioned the court to allow the judge to act as the surrogate decision-maker, and the Judge appointed himself as the proxy. The judge made the decision to remove all nutrition and hydration, not M.S. Look at the court record.

Cordially,

89 posted on 03/23/2005 12:30:54 PM PST by Diamond
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To: Smarti Pants

What I don't understand if they were Catholic, why did they not marry in the church or was one of them divorced and they did not want to follow the teachings of their church? In that case, why would they want their children to?


90 posted on 03/23/2005 1:05:48 PM PST by lolhelp
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To: vikzilla
Ok. Let's say that you are a paraplegic. Let's say you are paralyzed from your chest down. You aren't any good to your wife, sexually.

Would you still say:

"I apologize to you for putting you in this predicament but you know me better than anyone else and you know what I want.

Go find happiness my love. Find another that loves you as much as I have."

91 posted on 03/23/2005 1:38:55 PM PST by It's me
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To: OESY

After Michael Schiavo sat down and calmly declared on national TV that Terri wasn't being starved to death when that is precisely what is happening to her, he lost all credibility. IMHO, when he received the settlement, $700,000 of which was for her care, he decided he wanted the $700,000 and concocted the story about her saying she preferred to be killed rather than live as a disabled person.


92 posted on 03/23/2005 1:45:40 PM PST by libstripper
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To: Smarti Pants

Michale's childred are bastards under Florida law because he's married to Terri, not his current paramour.


93 posted on 03/23/2005 1:47:10 PM PST by libstripper
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To: It's me
Ok. Let's say that you are a paraplegic. Let's say you are paralyzed from your chest down

First of all there is a big difference between being a paraplegic and not having a cerebral cortex. At least try for an analogy that makes sense.

As to your question, again hell yes. I want her there because she wants to be. Pity sex might be your thing but not mine.

If I'm paralyzed from the chest down though I can assure you she won't be going anywhere... If ya know what I mean. BWHAHA.

94 posted on 03/23/2005 4:27:00 PM PST by vikzilla (I don't want to be a part of your life)
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