Starvation
Well, in case you haven't heard, they removed Terri Schiavo's feeding tube yesterday. Here is a story about it.
I have read several accounts of the whole story. And I have watched video of Terri. Now, there weren't a lot, but from what I can see, she is far from what I would consider a vegetable.
I have a nephew who is nine years old. He, like Terri, is severely brain-damaged. He isn't dependent on a feeding tube, but his diet is almost exclusively liquid. He can't even sit up by himself.
Yet he communicates. He laughs, cries, and smiles. He moves around to the best of his limited abilities. No one doubts that he is a living person. So is Terri.
The scary part is, my sister-in-law told me that she and my stepbrother would have to adopt my nephew when he turns 18, or he becomes a ward of the state. If these so-called "persistant vegetative state" laws go into effect, what if the state blocks the adoption? What is keeping the state from witholding food and drink from my nephew? Where do you draw the line?
Anyway, dying of starvation is a horrible way to go. According to accounts, it could take her up to two weeks to die. Two weeks of excrutiating starvation. Think about it.
I have read several accounts of the whole story. And I have watched video of Terri. Now, there weren't a lot, but from what I can see, she is far from what I would consider a vegetable.
I have a nephew who is nine years old. He, like Terri, is severely brain-damaged. He isn't dependent on a feeding tube, but his diet is almost exclusively liquid. He can't even sit up by himself.
Yet he communicates. He laughs, cries, and smiles. He moves around to the best of his limited abilities. No one doubts that he is a living person. So is Terri.
The scary part is, my sister-in-law told me that she and my stepbrother would have to adopt my nephew when he turns 18, or he becomes a ward of the state. If these so-called "persistant vegetative state" laws go into effect, what if the state blocks the adoption? What is keeping the state from witholding food and drink from my nephew? Where do you draw the line?
Anyway, dying of starvation is a horrible way to go. According to accounts, it could take her up to two weeks to die. Two weeks of excrutiating starvation. Think about it.
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