(no subject)

[chelidon]

Last-ditch bid in right-to-die case

Oh my gods. This is so indescribably wrong.

Let her die. Let her soul lose its shackles to the hopelessly broken shell, to the body which shall never, ever work again (as every single competent doctor brought in to assess her over the weeks, months and fifteen years of this case has testified). Set her free, and let her go on to whatever reward awaits her. And if there is any justice for her, the reward shall be sweet indeed for having been so terribly abused -- by her sad, ignorant parents, by people who value the appearance of physical life over genuinely living. By people who are really looking for a miracle to somehow justify their own faith, and prove the existence of their god, to quiet their own deep fears that the universe isn't the ordered, simple place their book tells them it is, that the universe truly is a place where their daughter, and they themselves, will eventually die, and there are no guarantees that it will be at a time or in a manner of their choosing. This is a sad, hopeless attempt by frightened people to control the uncontrollable, to deny what was, is and ever shall be the one thing none of us can control, our mortality. And grief, though true and powerful, doesn't excuse the terrible thing her parents are doing. For a week, a month, a year, grief is an excuse for their actions, for not wanting to let go of their loved one and move on. But this is fifteen years later. Fifteen. Years.

In this situation, it would be no less likely for their daughter to return from the dead than it would be for her to be suddenly "cured" of a persistent vegetative state, so let her die. If your god wants to raise her, he will. Have faith in what you say you believe. Certainly it's not that simple, it's hard, incredibly hard. I'm a parent, and I can only imagine what it would be like to see my child in this state, to desperately want to cling to any small shreds of hope. I'm sure her parents loved her, and don't want to let her go, and that on some level, they know in their hearts that there is no unbelievable miracle waiting to happen, that she is, really, truly, already gone. But dragging their daughter's body and their daughter's living husband through hell for fifteen years is not merciful, wise, or just. It's wrong, it's inhumane, it's selfish, and it is really, truly, the opposite of what life is all about.

Let her die. Her body is kept physically alive only by extraordinary, artificial means. She is brain dead. Much like, apparently. many, many of the state and now Federal-level Republicans using this horrible, tragic case as a political football to rally the faithful. Much like the fundamentalist hordes who in the name of some obscene supposed "culture of life," force the broken shell of this poor woman, and the poor husband of this woman, to endure a lingering, interminable living death that goes on and on and on, trapped by a body with only the appearance of life. She deserves death. He deserves a life. We all deserve dignity. And we do not deserve to have religious morals imposed on us by our government.

The state and Federal Republicans in this case are now frantically making up their own laws, for us *all* to live by. Ignorance and fear have trapped this woman, trapped her husband, and in some sense, trapped us all, in this horrible state. If they can, those who say they support life, but truly are part of a culture of sheer theocratic inhumanity, will act to impose these kinds of illogical, unjust, ignorant decisions on us. Remember that.

And please, please, if you haven't already, put together a Living Will, and save your family, and us all, the pain of potentially having to go through this all over again. I am embarrassed to admit that I don't have one, but by the end of this weekend, I will. (do a Google search on "living will" and you'll find all the info you need).

May you live, and die, in dignity.

-------
"O Herr, gib jedem seinen eignen Tod

God, give us each our own death,
the dying that proceeds
from each of our lives:

the way we loved,
the meanings we made,
our need."

--Rainer Maria Rilke

Comments

[christeos-pir.livejournal.com]

I cannot for the life of me -- no pun intended -- understand how this can possibly fall within the purview of the House. Hello, Legislative <> Judiciary, folks. Go back to your pork barrels and your sellout of the Bill of Rights, and let the courts do their job.

Well, one advantage of studying US History is that you gain some perspective: namely that every time you think your government is insane, you find out if so, it ain't the first time.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

And that is one of the things that angers, and frightens me most about the neocons. Every party in power abuses it to some extent, plays the rules game and works the grey areas. But more than any other bunch of legislative nincompoops I've seen in my lifetime, this current administration and crop of Republican neocons is willing to act in ways which make it clear that they believe they are completely above the rule of law, the laws and constitutional structures of this country are theirs to be manipulated when they serve their purposes, and ignored, bypassed or changed when they do not. I get the impression that the neocons in power feel that it's their right, and perhaps duty and obligation to rewrite the laws as they see fit. This bogus subpoena, and the supposed "study," is a blatant abuse of legislative power in order to do an end-run around the law of the land, as supported by the courts up to and including the Florida State and U.S. Supreme Courts. Terrible, just terrible.

Timeless Quote

[erskine.livejournal.com]

Hermann Wilhelm Göring, Reichsmarschall of Nazi Germany, said at the time of the Nuremburg trials:

"......after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship ... That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."


And they wonder why I've always called Dubya a fascist...

[mystfemme.livejournal.com]

I have the same reaction to this that you did. FIFTEEN. YEARS. How is that even possible?

Although that seems to be my reaction almost any time our government is involved in anything anymore, "How is that even possible?"

I'm grateful that I do have a living will. It's now ancient and needs to be updated but it's right in my purse. And I have a mother who knows my wishes (and I hers) who will let me go. May we have at least that much respect for each other and for the cycles of life.

[morrigandaughtr.livejournal.com]

Amen.

Re: Timeless Quote

[mystfemme.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of people who are likening the government sanctioning this woman's right to die with the Nazi extermination of the disabled. Yet another reason I don't want the government setting any precedents.

I just want every individual to have the right to choose for themselves.

Smeggin' sniveling pukes

[lylythe-strega.livejournal.com]

Gods. A Bill Hicks (my own personal Jesus) comedy routine comes to mind - I used to think it was a lot more funny. Pro-life X-tians going completely over the top and linking arms and blocking cemeteries:

"She can't come in."

"She was 85 - she was hit by a bus!"

"There's options."

Is this what it's come to, folks?

[thefirespiral.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you and I did have to make this decision for my daughter. We could have continued to let her bloated body be kept alive by a ventilator, feeding tubes and eventually a heart-lung bypass machine in the hopes that another organ transplant might save her. Ultimately we knew in our hearts that it wouldn't be right for any of us. We freed Jasmine from a body that trapped her very spirit.

Having said that, I do feel for Terri's parents. Maybe it was easier for us in that it was so obvious that Jasmine's body was failing and that her soul was imprisoned in it. If the *only* thing keeping her alive had been a feeding tube -- if her body functioned otherwise -- maybe it would have been harder. I don't know. I like to think we would have come to the same conclusion. It helps, I suppose, that we both feel strongly that for ourselves, we wouldn't want that kind of "life" and that both our families are supportive of this view. My parents both having living wills -- and like you, I will too by the end of the weekend. While I have the utmost faith that my family would support my wishes, I'm not so sure about the government.

Our society is so afraid of death. Even now, I can't tell you how many times I heard, "It's not natural for a child to die before her parents." I disagree. It's quite natural, and up until the last century or so, was truly common. We all die -- that's what people want to run away from. It makes me wonder how deep their professed faith really is -- or whether its really more about judgment and less about reward. I am glad to have moved to a point where my views on death aren't all tangled up with that, and even more glad it happened before Jasmine died.

euthanasia.

[alzm.livejournal.com]

Being psychotic and knowing my entire life will just slowly but surely wind down untill nothing I have ever knwon is any good any more and i'm so weird nobody wants to deal with me, I know well the attraction of euthanasia.
As such..... I fully and totally agree that in the case of a debilitating disease that will not do anything but grind down the person untill no quality of life is left that euthanasia is very much a very valid solution.
Over here it is legal.
So i'm not especcially worried about myself.
Too bad the same courtesy cannot be extended due to other laws applying..

euthanasia again.

[alzm.livejournal.com]

There once was a man from new amsterdam..
He told me wanted, me man..
I ran then quick, and fell in the thick.
Canals off amsterdam...

Better that than some relations I do not want...

Things some of us will never know....unless....

[storm-and-raven.livejournal.com]

I am saddened by this difficult case, particularly because I will most likely be assisting families in situations medically similar to this one. There aren't any easy answers for me. Are her parents wrong for wanting to care for their daughter? I don't believe so. If they had truly been given an opportunity, which they clearly wanted, to take her home and care for her, they may have come to accept the hopelessness of the case. They do not want to let her go. They ask to be made her guardians so that they can care for her. For god's sake, grant the husband a termination of marital life, not a divorce per se, and let the parents care for her. The truest spirit inside her has probably passed over a good while back. What is left probably doesn't much care one way or the other.
Bad precedent is being set here. Until the time comes when every capable adult over the age of consent fills out a legal and binding Living Will, scenarios such as this one will be enacted over and over. The only logical and humane balance will be found when courts get the hell out of cases like this, and community becomes reality. The parents may be in dire need of true community about right now. A circle of people who could say to them, "I know how very much you love her, I know that you think she is still there. Care for her and see that all that is left for her is days and days of endless, unchanging behaviors that are not true indicators of the unique and beautiful child you knew. Care for her until you know in your bones that the living child you remember would never have desired to become what it is you see before you. Grieve to the ends of your heart.....then let your Beloved child go...." and then have the balls to hold them while they cry and scream out their grief. This isn't a legal case. It isn't black and white. It is an affair of the heart, and like all affairs of the heart, I can only imagine what I would do....I do not know with assurance. All I know is that if this were my child, I would probably do what her parents are doing. That doesn't mean I agree with what they are doing, only that I feel that I would make a similar decision.