The Funeral? Mayhem in the Hospice?
Although there are still a few options open, of course.
Last night the 11th Circuit appeals court denied the re-insertion of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube based on the same premise as always: there’s little likelihood the Schindlers(Terri’s parents) will win their case.
Two judges of the three judge panel held the opinion that Terri should not be hydrated or fed. One dissented in an interesting opinion mentioning the disingenuousness of the court in ignoring the wishes of congress which met so quickly to change the court review process to include review by federal courts.
The entire opinion is availableHERE.
There are two options left for the Schindlers as I understand it. They can either plead for the entire 11th circuit to hear the case-“en banc” as I think it’s called. Which would have all of the judges on that circuit hear the plea to reinsert the feeding tubes and hope that a majority of the larger pool of judges agrees.
Or the Schindlers can appeal to the Supreme Court. Which has refused to hear the case twice. But that was before the congressional change this past weekend. Also, as the legal pundits explain it, the fact that one of the three judge panel dissented might give the Supreme Court an opening to now hear the case. It’s not likely as I’m hearing from the “experts”.
So Terri Schiavo is going to die and it would seem not too very far in the future. What happens then?
My daughter is the same age as Terri was when her heart stopped beating. No, I could not stand by, given the same circumstances, and watch my daughter be starved to death by a husband who has long ago moved on and has so much to gain by her death. Of course my heart would break at her being in the condition as is Terri Schiavo but my heart would shatter to have her die by starvation. So if yon readers are smugly stating that THEY would not want to live that way, ask yourself, what if were your child?
This presupposes that I would be willing to take care of my greatly disabled daughter as the Schindlers are eager to do. This I don’t think I could do either.
My daughter has a child of her own. What if Terri Schiavo had a child? Would the sentiment to kill her be so passionate? Would that dynamic change the whole outlook of things? If so, why?
What’s going to happen when Terri dies?
Maybe she’ll die on Easter Sunday. Maybe she’ll die the same day the pope dies.
There will, of course, be a huge funeral. Possibly in a grand Catholic cathedral. There will be weeping and posturing. It will be a show that the American public will watch and ponder.
Polls allegedly show that the American public sides with Michael Schiavo and that Terri should die. Sure, ask most any sane person if they would espouse removing “extreme” measures for a badly brain-damaged individual, even themselves or their loved ones, and the knee jerk answer probably would be yes.
I’m not convinced the American public is aware of the extenuating circumstances in this case. I am convinced that the American public would not feel the same if it were fully aware of Michael Schiavo’s conflict of interest such as his new love, the money he would get and possibly the delving into questions he does not want asked, not to mention her parents so willing to care for her without taxpayer expense. All of which will surely be discussed during that sad funeral and the ceremonies to come. At some point the American public will tune in and wonder why on earth we killed this woman.
Surely the state of Florida knows this. Surely the judiciary knows this. Surely the politicians know this.
There’s also a possibility that the “public” will actually storm the hospice at some point in time in an attempt to “rescue” Terri. The “public” defined here as those keeping vigil at the hospice and hey, there’s talk all around hinting at this very action. Americans are normally law-abiding people. But the Schiavo case has passions running high. To many it is the outright murder or an individual who has lived fairly comfortably for 15 years in the same manner for which she is now being murdered even though she won a million dollar malpractice lawsuit for her care. To many it is tantamount to the judiciary raising its middle finger and daring us to revolt. To many the decision by a husband with so much to gain by his wife’s death is invalid not to mention his hearsay assertion that this is what Terri wanted.
It could happen and then what? Are the Florida cops going to shoot people for trying to give a dying woman a sip of water?
This humble Blogger doesn’t know what’s going to happen of course. But it doesn’t take genius to figure that the repercussions are not going to end when the poor woman dies.
Just throwing it out there.
First post on the Schiavo case
HERE.
Link to Slate.com where the article above and was quoted and linked:
Slate.com HERE.
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