Looks like the bishop there has done more than take the "other " side. He has sought to counsel Emilio's mother who has so far shunned the offer. May she be very wary...
The bishop noted that some have compared Emilio's situation to that of Terri Schindler Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman who became the center of a highly publicized debate on end-of-life issues and who died in March 2005 after a court ordered her feeding tube be removed.
But he said the two cases "are very different; in the Schiavo case ordinary means – food and water – were withdrawn, which caused her death."
Bishop Aymond said he has offered to meet with Catarina Gonzales, a 23-year-old Catholic from Lockhart, "to offer my support and to explain the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding end-of-life issues." As of late April 16, Gonzales had not responded to the offer, said Helen Osman, diocesan spokeswoman.
Bishop weighs in on debate over care of dying Texas boy
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As a mother whose child has been on life support since she was 18-months-old, (she's now 20,) I'm appalled that the Austin, Texas hospital's ethics committees are violating a families rights -- planning to take 17-month-old Emilio Gonzales off life support despite his family's decision to keep him alive.
My daughter, who is still on life support, leads a very happy and healthy life. The Texas hospital we were in - in the eighties, would have gladly ended Laura's life if they'd had the power to do so, when Laura was originally hurt in a violent car crash. We, her family said "No!" to their efforts to pull her plug.
Thank God the ethics committee had no power. Laura has grown up to be a happy, young adult; though disabled.
But times have changed -- prejudice against the disabled is growing. Today, my family is afraid Laura will be denied emergency care at some of our local hospitals. In fact, we've already had to come against ER doctors who've tried to do just that, deny care, simply because they didn't understand the value of my daughter's life. I stood up to them and my daughter received the help she needed. The doctor who had tried to deny antibiotics, later apologized when he saw her amazing joy and personality -- as she was recovering from a simple but severe bladder infection. With tears in his eyes, this same doctor said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
But my question is, where will this lack of respect for the lives of the disabled stop?
We know where it stopped in Nazi Germany -- in specially designed vans -- used to euthanize disabled children. That is, until a local pastor stood up to the killers and said, "No more!"
Public pressure turned the tide and the killing of disabled children stopped.
It's not too late to take a stand. It's not too late to participate in a public outcry that says, "No more!"
If Emilio were an endangered species like an owl, a fish or even a worm, the public outcry would be heard all the way to Washington. But he's a Hispanic baby boy.
This is prejudice of the worst kind. If we don't cry out, how many other children, elderly, and disabled people will die at the hands of hospital ethics committees, committees who have taken both God and the value of human life out of their death-decision calculations? Their formulas will become more blood-thirsty, to the point that any American with a sudden disability, stroke or aging issue will be at risk for execution.
Linda Evans Shepherd is a best selling novelist (The Potluck Club Series), and a nationally recognized speaker and radio and television personality in the Denver area.
Speaking out on Texas life support controversy
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Michael Schiavo's score is his mother, father, wife, and her two cats. The bishop has almost caught up! All he needs to do to overtake Michael is to drown a few kittens.
I'm surprised he got this much right! But one wishes he had also observed that Terri wasn't an "end-of-life issue" -- as the death peddlers like to call their killings. Terri was not dying. She was not at the end of life. She was not comatose. Terri was not "allowed to die." She was murdered. Fr. Pavone said so repeatedly and refuses to back down.