Taking the Scenic Route

Anybody else not sure which side to take in this whole Schiavo case? 

I think way too many people have really strong opinions on this particular woman, and even thought there is consensus by professionals on the state of her brain, the parents aren’t listening.  According to one camp, the part of her brain that has thoughts, feels pain, gives us the characteristics of being human, isn’t there.  There is just fluid floating around and it is physically not possible for her to be communicating, and it isn’t possible for her to ever come out of it.  They attest that the video is several years old and heavily edited to make it appear that the woman has interactions and that if the communication was genuine, they wouldn’t hesitate to make a more current video.  Plus, the parents didn’t visit/weren’t interested in her until recently while the husband has been by her side and caring for her for over 15 years.

On the other side, the woman cried when removing her feeding tube, communicates quite well, just can’t speak, and her parents are saints trying to rescue her from her money hungry husband.  They seem to be oblivious to the fact that 15 years is an insanely long time to wait for her to ‘come out of it’, especially for a 20-something guy not married very long to the healthy her (relative to the length of time that she has been ill) and if there are any insurance benefits, the beneficiary will be lucky to have two pennies to rub together when all the finally bills are rung up. 

There is more on both sides, but it is along the same lines.  There is so much information that we aren’t getting, nor should we get, and there is a lot of conflicting information, but I really think the more valid info is on the side of the husband.  One side the dh is good, parents bad, the other side the parents are good, dh is bad. 

I actually hope she can’t think because living trapped inside a body, but able to think, would be worse than death.

I think the thing that disturbs me the most is the implications of the state stepping in.  If something happened to me, my husband has a lot better idea of what I would want, presented with the dx, than an unfeeling government agency.  However, I understand the fear of some that this means we will start to kill off anybody who might be a ‘burden’.  This issue is so complicated, but I really don’t think the government has any right to step in and over-ride the family decision. 

What I really don’t understand is that the Christian Neo-Cons are the ones pushing the issue.  Isn’t the reward of a comfortable, happy afterlife one of the basic tenets of Christianity?  Why is death such a horrible thing for these people?  I could understand if it was a group that believed that our experience here is it…for them  quantity would be more important than quality of life.  However, I have seen people first hand that were suffering and death was a blessing, and prolonging their life would have been cruel and heartless.  There was no quality of life there.  I also am shocked that the people who profess that they want less government intervention are the ones who are intervening.  It just makes no sense. 

So torn on this issue.  There is no right answer and everybody loses.  There is more than enough heartache all around on this issue.  I just pray that God walks with all the family and comforts them during this time, no matter what side they are on.