- Tubes

I feel for the families involved in the sad Terri Schiavo fiasco in Florida. I won't go into all the details that I know you have seen/read about by now. I can't believe this scenario has gone on for 15 years. I know medical technology is wonderful, but there is no way her vegetative state is going to be reversed. Half of her brain is no longer there.

I can understand that a parent can never say "OK, let my child die." I can understand how hard that might be when you really think about having to say something like that. I can also understand that as a spouse, who has had this very conversation, removing the feeding tube is what she wants and he just wants to grant her wish. The fact that it wasn't in writing is what's causing all this.

In a very recent episode of ER, life was seen through the eyes of a female stroke victim, a soccer mom. On the outside, the left side of her face was contorted as a result of the stroke; she was unable to talk or move her facial muscles; her eyes were glassy and nonresponsive. On the inside, this woman was fully aware and screaming at the doctors to listen to her. She was talking and thinking and wishing and feeling and wondering. I pray that for the past 15 years, Terri Schiavo hasn't been screaming at the outside world to listen to her wishes, while the outside world sees a vegetable.

A couple of years ago, when K and I were pregnant with our first baby, we saw a lawyer and took care of our wills and especially our living wills, and we referenced this case "going on down in Florida". We each agreed that we did not want to be kept alive in that way. To our families: it is our individual wishes that we do not want to be kept alive by heroically attaching us to feeding tubes and respirators for years. We have the legal documents! We've made this decision while we are of sound mind and body. As spouses, we have agreed to honor each other's wishes, should *God forbid* one of us be in this situation.

A side note to all this: I find it interesting that as Mr. Bush is "erring on the side of life", and also spearheading a change in lawsuits that would place severe limits on rewards, it is just such a huge legal reward won by Terri's family several years ago for medical malpractice that is paying for Terri Schiavo's bills, and keeping her alive as Bush is wanting. Yet another shining example of the Bush administration talking out both sides of their ass. This is purely political, the Republicans keeping her alive in the name of the sanctity of life, while the Democrats look as if they want her to die and are 'pro-death'.

One more thing, what if Terri Schiavo had a lesbian domestic 'partner' (and not a husband) who wanted to respect her wishes to die, what then would the Republicans do? Yeah, I thought so.