Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Legal Travesty vs Human Tragedy

I have purposefully not posted about the Terri Schiavo case because I felt that I could not possible add anything new. Well, it may not be new, but I wanted to speak up nonetheless.

Charles Krauthammer eloquently sums up the situation in the Washington Post here . He writes, "We ended up having to choose between a legal travesty on the one hand and human tragedy on the other." How true. Mistakes, legal & otherwise, were made...

One fatal flaw was allowing a less-than-dutiful husband speak for Terri. The general rule of spousal supremacy requires amending to preclude guardianship being awarded to a spouse who has less than honorable intentions, i.e., a spouse like O.J.Simpson or Scott Peterson.

Another fatal flaw occurred when the case was presented as a pro-life case. Perhaps had it been framed as a spousal abuse case or as a disabled rights case, the ensuing political polarization -- left (pro-death) vs. right (pro-life)-- could have been avoided altogether. Instead, national media attention would have been focused on the inadequacy of Michael Schiavo's guardianship and his expedient removal from the case.

Yes, mistakes were made then...and mistakes are being made now.

The federal courts have ruled that a denovo look at the case is not going to happen despite extraordinary measures on the part of the House and the Senate. The Supreme Court appears to be the last recourse for the Schindlers, but hope is dwindling after losing 2 appeals.

It is looking like Terri will die soon...from the willfull withholding of food and water. How cruel is that? How barbaric? How?

Terri's humanity is not in question, but our's is.

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