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Schiavo case simplified far too much
By Joe Palmersheim
Published:
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Well, another example of what happens when people see a situation that may work to their benefit came and went.
Congress stepped in, the media stepped in, and even the Pope added his two-cents to the fray. And in the end, it was all for naught - Terri Schiavo ended up dying anyways with a family that obviously loved her as much in death as they did in life.
What really bothers me about the whole thing is that within days, the media and the protesters had divided everything into black and white - either you wanted her to live (and were a good person) or wanted her to die (and were an evil one). I don't believe that something like this is so simple - it's a million shades of gray.
First off, our emotions cloud the entire thing. Let us be blunt- the woman had not shown any progression in behavior in the 14 years she was in hospice - her doctors even went so far as to say that her brain had atrophied. She was as close to a vegetable as you can get, and if that isn't a hell on earth, I don't know what would be. In a logical frame of mind, the kindest thing that one could do is set her free.
Secondly, it's another indication of what we as human beings are capable of to a point. We took a woman who probably would have died, had not the level of medical knowledge been what it was, and kept her alive. But just barely and there's the limit to what we can do. We could have a tube feeding her, but no machine or technology could bring back her mind. It's things like this that shows us that, for all our superiorities, we are not gods.
The memory now of Schaivo won't be a human one, it will be one of either symbol or saint. The truth, as far as I can see it, is that Schaivo was a young woman with an eating disorder that ended up destroying her. And that might be the saddest part of all.
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