Any reports on what Marlise’s parents/siblings would like to see happen to mother and child? Just curious, as all I’ve read is her husbands wishes to see his flesh and blood - and his older child’s flesh and blood - killed.
Her parents have also been fighting in court to let her go. She and her husband both signed living wills never desiring to be in this position, and her parents have been traumatized (according to their lawyer) by the fact that they couldn't grant her clear wishes.
This isn't a case of a husband trying to bump off his wife, screwing up the job, and then removing life support to finish the job. She likely (according to reports) had a pregnancy complication (blood clots) that killed her. My mother-in-law has a disorder that causes blood clotting, and had several miscarriages as a result. My husband inherited the major form of that disorder, and almost died from blood clots in his lungs on his 30th birthday. Our daughter has the minor form of that disorder, and she will always be at risk of death from pregnancy (progesterone aggravates the disorder) without knowledge of the disorder and special treatment.
In the days of the Israelites, she would have died and her baby would have died -- both souls would have had some rest and "gone home". But the fact that we can keep a dead body warm enough to incubate another body somehow makes this murder? I'm pro-life, I'm anti-abortion. But I have told my husband, family, and friends publicly that if I were to ever end up in this state to please let me go and let my baby go. I have no doubt that the Lord would welcome myself and my child with open arms, without either of us having to suffer further.
What is so wrong about letting the Lord welcome this little one, who has already suffered so much, too? If we believe that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, then why can't we allow some compassion into the discussion? If her husband hadn't found her until she had already developed rigor mortis, we wouldn't even be discussing it right now.
So we're going to take a grieving husband, who already has the responsibility of raising a child on his own, and saddle him with millions of dollars of medical bills -- because a hospital said "we are going to ignore the patients wishes because we don't want to be sued"? When we put that decision in the hands of the hospital, then it's also in the hands of the government. Do you really think the government (in light of ObamaCare) won't abuse that to decide to pull the plug on people who actually are alive, because of cost concerns?
What happened to dignity, and individual rights / responsibility? Why can't I tell my family what I want and then fully expect that my wishes will be carried out?