“What’s the difference between these two cases, that Congress and the President act on one, but not the other?”
Great question. I have another (not a great one, but a question).
Terri’s hands are curled up around little soft cylinders that help her not to injure herself. I understand that these contractures are likely very painful, although there was a time when Terri was receiving simple motion therapy when her hands and arms relaxed and were no longer as constricted. When the therapy was discontinued by order of her guardian and the court, the contractures returned. These contractures would apparently be avoidable if Terri were given the simple range of motion therapy she previously received. It is very sad to observe firsthand these conditions that make her life more difficult, but that would be correctable with little effort.
Yes, it is very sad, that her parents didn’t perform the therapy once it was discontinued. ROM can be done by anyone in less than 15 minutes. Her parents visit every day?
I’m not saying a decision like this, absent a Living Will or other document signed by the person in question, should be made based upon the number of times a family visits. But it does say a lot about the depth of their concern as Terrance’s item does about America’s.
Interesting. If her parents had to pay for her medical care themselves and perform her therapy themselves, and do everything else themsevles….would she have come off the feeding tube long ago?
It seems to me that punishing Schiavo has always taken precedence over giving their daughter the best quality of life possible.
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It makes no sense, Diane. I’ll admit that I haven’t been as “involved” in this matter as most of the high-volume crowd likes to think they have, but good night!
I don’t know that I can say their motives are any less pure, or more evil, than Michael Schiavo’s must be, if that makes any sense.
I honestly see this as an extremely heated difference of opinion. I believe (although I’d never presume to state as fact) that both sides care immensely about Terri, and that they both believe they’re doing what’s best for her.
What’s really sad is that, instead of wrapping this sad little fiasco in the rule of law (and by that I mean the actual law, not the trumped-up last-ditch efforts of our US Congress), some people are choosing to argue that, in this one little circumstance, the law should no longer have any meaning.
Aggle–What you said about the people involved makes a lot of sense. Many families maintain rifts for reasons they can’t see clearly and this one has been under extreme pressure to remain divided.