family jewels

[threeplusfire]

What Congress and Bush did last night was absolutely disgusting. The fact that one family's grief and the most difficult moment of their lives has become a political flag to be hauled from one end of the news media to another... ugh. I don't even have words to discuss my abhorrence of these actions.

There's not an easy answer to this. But one thing is certain- this shouldn't be the President's decision or anyone else in Washington. The only people who should be involved in this are the family and doctors.

There's something grimly ironic about Bush touting his devastating social security project and taking a break to deal with the Schiavo case. The Republican right doesn't give a damn about the sanctity of life and the dignity of the elderly and disabled. If you believe that, I have some nice bridges to sell you.

I think perhaps I should make my own living will. Until I get that all settled, I'll write this entry. I've made my wishes crystal clear to Alan and expect everyone to abide by them. If you quibble, I'll haunt you in a most annoying manner.

For the record:

Should I get hurt, make every effort to save me. That part should be easy.

Should I become incapacitated in such a matter that I become brain dead or locked into a permanent vegetative state- do not keep me plugged into machines. Do not keep my body breathing when my mind is gone. Inject me with lots of painkillers and give me a dignified death. Don't let me starve and waste away. Just make it end quickly.

Take me and send my body to Life Gems. Make me into a beautiful diamond. I am personally very fond of the radiant cut. Take me out into the sun and rain sometimes, and keep me somewhere that I won't get lost.

If there are ashes leftover from the Life Gems process, throw them from the Charles Bridge into the Vltava early on a Sunday morning when the streets are empty and the bright sunlight shines through the towers. Make it is a beautiful morning.

Don't put me in one of those scary caskets, or in the ground. Don't hold my corpse up for everyone to see. Don't give me a grim funeral. Make me a diamond and drink to me.

Comments

[silentjack.livejournal.com]

So far, the most concise (and correct, in my opinion) analysis of this purveyed as of yet. This whole situation makes me vomit a little bit each time I think about it, and it frankly baffles me that the separation of powers and state sovereignty apparently no longer exist, let alone that more people the country over aren't seeing all of this for what it is and not going beyond whatever Brian Williams or Peter Jennings are telling them.

As for your last line: I find that incredible, and too good not to use in a piece of music somehow. With your permission, I'd like to borrow it at some point in the future. I'll give you as much credit as possible.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

It just makes me want to scream. There's something obscene about using this woman's life as a political stepping stool in the manner Tom DeLay has.

Oh aboslutely Tom. You are more than welcome to it. :D

[sammka.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a nice way to be remembered.

I'm so sick of everyone talking about how all this is about "keeping Terri alive or not". For all real intents and purposes, the poor woman is already dead. Persistent vegetative states aren't life. *sigh*

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I am a huge fan of the Life Gem idea, and having drinks instead of funerals.

I think it comes down to that terrible undecided issue- where do we seperate physical life and the life of the mind/soul? It's such a cruelty for this woman I think.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

There's real debate over whether she's really reacting, or if random twitches are being interpreted by her parents as reactions (this is very common). To my knowledge, most doctors think she's just not there, and I'm inclined to believe them.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I'd never heard of people with severe PVS "waking up". I guess it all has to do with whether enough brain cells are still alive and potentially active.

And I agree, I don't feel much sympathy for the husband. But at the same time I've definitely heard of people living in denial, thinking that their loved one was responding when they were really just twitching. This happens with live people, too- for example, babies have no conscious control of their smile muscles for a few months, but parents are perfectly happy to interpret their children's random facial twitches as "smiles". We're programmed for that, we have a huge bias toward interpreting human gestures as voluntary.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Isn't the crux of the issue a statement Schiavo made at the time of a relative's death, about how she didn't want to be hooked up to machines and go through the same ordeal as her relative?

I had an uncle who had the sleeping sickness. He was away for fourty years. When he finally woke up, he just wasn't right in the head. It was a very strange thing.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

But what I'm getting at is that the debate over what her wishes might have been centers around that statement? I thought that was one of the arguments for removing her from the feeding tube.

(If she's going to die without the feeding tube, shouldn't that be considered life sustaining support? It just puzzles me because I'm told she doesn't need life support but then that she will die without an artificial means of feeding. I think that whole issue is very confusing.)

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I'm just trying to sort out in my mind the issue of whether this feeding tube is life-sustaining. I've been hearing so many different things about it and I think the issue is very unclear in the public mash of media coverage.

It's a terrible thing, and there isn't a good answer for it. Personally, I think they should give the woman a peaceful comfortable death because I find keeping people's bodies alive when their minds are gone to be especially gruesome. I wouldn't do something like this to my dog and wouldn't do this to a loved one. But that's my own choice and hardly applicable to others. I think we all have to make these decisions on our own. That's why the involvement of Congress is making me foam at the mouth.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I think letting the woman starve to death is unneccesary. That just heaps on extra cruelty. Give her a heavy morphine drip and let her pass away peacefully at least. At the clinic where my mother works, they give the animals a sedative to take away the pain and make them sleep before they are euthanized. They make every effort to give pets the gentlest sort of death possible. Should we do less for people?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

The big question is, is Schiavo still there? Is she still thinking or conscious at all? If she isn't there anymore, in my opinion it is a mockery to keep her body alive as an empty shell.

I agree, our society needs to address the issue of euthanasia, the right to die and long term care. But what makes me so angry about Congress stepping in here is because they have no intention of addressing these issues. Schiavo's case is being used to whip people in a frenzy and not because anyone in Congress gives a damn. She's a political tool for Tom Delay to avoid talking about his corruption and greed.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Does Terri Schiavo have any higher brain functioning? Is there any indication she can think, or is any of this damage reversible? That's something I'm very curious about. From what I've been reading today she doesn't seem to have any. She can respond to stimulus but can't cognively function.

We don't KNOW. That's the thing. We don't know what her state really is, except that she is still alive and God, or Satan, or Nature, or the universe, or whatever hasn't seen fit to take her yet. Without a clear way paved for euthanasia - for Terri or any other non-terminally ill patients, even in the great state of Oregon - and without a clear declaration of her wishes in the form of a living will - it makes sense to err on the side of life and let nature run its course.

If we let nature run its course, Schiavo would die because she can't feed herself. If we went for nature, she would have died quite some time ago. It is only medical intervention that has kept her alive for years now.

As far as Tom Delay... he comes from my state and his corruption is something I can speak to with a fair bit of certainty. Delay is one of the slimiest bastards to ever crawl onto the national stage and I don't believe for one moment he cares about Schiavo's life or death.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

If she left no living will or instructions, then shouldn't the responsibility fall next to her spouse or partner? No one should have to make these decisions because they are painful and terrible. Are we next going to say family members can't put relatives in assisted living facilities when family members are too demented or mentally incapble?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Can Schiavo chew or swallow? Why exactly does she need a feeding tube? If she can't ingest food then her means of life is to some extent artificial. I think it is dishonest to say it isn't.

I don't want to go around euthanizing people, and I don't think we need laws about it. What we need is honest discussion of what is involved in this kind of care so people can make their own decisions. There shouldn't be legislation of this kind of issue. The issue of life, death and long term care is something that needs to be handled invidually. It is a decision that depends on the individual's own moral principles and desires. Morality is the last thing that needs to be legislated.

The Schiavo family should have handled this privately instead of making a political issue of it. That is what upsets me so much about it.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I think it is incredibly cruel that we euthanize animals gently, but we can't allow this woman a peaceful death.

I agree- it never should have been taken this far. Whatever decision made for Schiavo's life should not be made by Congress.

Also...

[silentjack.livejournal.com]

After a small bit of snooping, I found this, written by an acquaintance of mine (the s.o. of one of my closest friends)... That doesn't lend it credibility, but the fact that he's a final-year med student at UNC concentrating in cognitive/neuro medicine and medical ethics and at the top of his class does... Maybe. But it hammers a few points about the whole scenario that media and politicians aren't considering.

[cjwriter.livejournal.com]

Totally inappropriate for the government to get involved. IMO: It all boils down to a husband carrying out his wife's wishes and her parents being in denial about her medical condition.

The only good I can see in this situation is that it might get people thinking about their wills, medical power of attorney and such like. (I already knew about those things because I used to work at a hospital and I had to ask people if they had 'a living will or medical power of attorney'. I must have asked that 20 times a day at least.) I know my husband and I were watching the news last night and he told me what he wanted.
Thanks for posting the link to the medical student's blog. Very interesting.