Staying the Course for Terri

Times Against Humanity Asks if we can do it

An editorial worth reading

The problem with this case is that it is framed as a "right-to-die" case rather than what it is: the right of the disabled to live. Those who oppose Schiavo's continuing on life support constantly mention those stubborn "right-to-lifers" or "right-wingers," but they fail to notice that nearly every major disabilities advocacy group has also rightly come down against Michael Schiavo. Might this mean that there is more here than meets the average editorial board's eye?

I have to admit my own ulterior motives here. I have a 20-year old sister who has severe cerebral palsy. She cannot walk, or talk, or sit up on her own. In many ways, she resembles Terri Schiavo. Doctors don't call it a "persistent vegetative state" (because there is no incentive in my sister's case to do so), but it has much the same effect.

We would never countenance the idea of starving her to death, despite the feeding tubes that protrude from her stomach. Would the editorial board recommend that my family kill her slowly by cutting off her
feeding tubes? It is despicable that the opinion exists that that should be an acceptable choice! How did we get to the point in our "advanced" society where such actions are even debatable?

And another column from the disabilities columnist for the Cincinnati paper