posted 09-03-2003 12:42 AM
Shed a tear for Terri and us!
By Al Ruechel | 08-27-03
There is no sadder, more tragic story in America today than that of Terri Schiavo. You know the story, or at least enough of it to understand what is at stake and what is driving a stake into the hearts of all those involved.Terri suffered a heart attack that left her in a persistent vegetative state for the past 13 years. Her husband, Michael insists that Terri would not want to live like a vegetable. Still for the first couple of years he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on therapy, trips to a California clinic, trying to see if Terri could be brought back. Nothing has worked. In a long drawn out process the courts have concluded, based on Michael’s and other eyewitness testimony, that it was Terri’s wish to be allowed to die even though there is no paperwork, no living will, to prove that desire. After a lengthy trial where all of the issues were discussed and litigated, the courts gave Michael, as her legal guardian, authority to execute her wishes. That was four years and a half dozen court challenges ago. (If I get the time frames a bit wrong please forgive me. This story has stretched on for so long it’s difficult to remember)
Terri’s parents are convinced their daughter would want to live and that she is capable of recovering. They have paraded videotapes of Terri in her room around to the media trying to win public sympathy for their daughter. They even won a court stay two days after Terri’s feeding tube was removed, two days into the process of dying. That was two years ago. After new testimony from doctors on both sides of the issue the courts have ruled, based on current scientific data, her recovery is highly unlikely if not impossible given the condition of her brain and her body.
Finally, on September 11th, Judge Greer will hold a hearing to announce when Terri’s feeding tube will be removed and she be allowed to die. The end will not come easy for Terri or her parents or Michael her husband. Terri will essentially starve to death. She is not on a respirator. Some call this murder. Some call this mercy. It is a tragedy of epoch proportions even though so few people are directly affected.
Here is where this grabs at your gut. What if Terri has been lying there, in that bed, starring up at the walls and ceilings for the past 11 years not even able to swallow begging to be let go? Are you God enough to be certain she didn’t tell her husband, Michael, not to let her? Does quality of life include life without quality? Have you walked in Michael’s shoes, been apart of his dreams, held the love of your life to your breast and whispered sweet things that make no sense to others but so much to souls joined in union at marriage?
But what if this was your child in that bed? Doesn’t she look like she can recover? Her eyes move and she appears to laugh. This can’t just be autonomic reflexes. Wouldn’t you do everything you could to keep her alive? Wouldn’t you hold out hope for the one who can not hold hope for herself? Wouldn’t you listen to anyone who said they could improve your precious daughter’s life? Wouldn’t you say her physical condition, her inabilities would be no burden to bare for you? You brought her into this world a helpless bundle and you are willing to carry her through the remainder of this life just for the privilege to be in her presence. What if Terri is lying there, in that bed, starring up at the walls and ceilings begging to be healed, speaking with an internal voice that echoes only in her mind, whatever is left of it? For God’s sake, Michael, just divorce her and we will care for her!
Can anyone remain objective about this mess? I don’t think so. And now with the final hours approaching the true desperation begins. If there was any feeling of warmth between Michael and Terri’s family it has long since been replaced with hatred. They may deny it but you can see it in their eyes and hear in the arguments of their attorneys.
The media has also be drawn to this bizarre tale. Unfounded allegations and rumors are spinning like a water spout off the hot Florida coastline on local radio shows. Witnesses are suddenly popping out of the woodwork with the inside scoop on this story.
“Michael is the spawn of Satan”, a local radio talk host declares. “I dated Michael and he was brutal and told me he just wanted Terri to die,” declares another anonymous source. “I heard someone say that Michael beat Terri and that she has bruises and broken bones to prove it,” declares another person “close” to Michael. “He just wants the money!” “He never loved her and forced her into a starvation diet that brought on the heart attack.”
You wouldn’t believe some of the rumors that have been planted with local news organizations in hope of stirring the pot against Michael. The latest says that Michael arranged to have Terri taken to a local hospital for the sole purpose of exposing her to potentially deadly bacteria. To date, not one single rumor in this case attribute to Michael has held any weight with the courts. To date, the many circuit and appeals judges who have reviewed the record have found nothing to change their judicial and legal opinion of this matter. So what do they know that we missed along the way?
I don’t know Michael and I’m not her to plead his case. I will never understand how anyone could watch their most precious treasure starve to death. And if I were Mary and Bob Schindler, Terri’s parents, I would be grabbing for any single word, any whisper, anything to save my daughter. They cannot be faulted for the compassion that has driven them to their own Garden of Gethsemane.
My point is simply this. There is tremendous danger in judging by itself, much less judging in a situation that seems to require taking a stand for or against life. Could everyone be dead wrong about Michael? You bet. Anything is possible. Has the state placed itself in the position of the executioner extraordinaire? This is also true. Does that surprise you in a society where a fetus has no legal rights and teenage girls can have abortions without even telling their parents?
The courts are taking a stand that WE have accepted. A marriage contract still means something and spouses still have rights that are protected by law. Life is often defined by carefully measured verbiage that even our most sacred religious beliefs cannot undermine nor, at times, understand.
In the absence of incontrovertible written documentation of a person’s wishes should they be rendered paralytic, the living are left with the difficult choice of playing God. This is a game that no human, no husband, no mother or father was ever equipped to play without feeling that when it’s over, they have lost.
Shed a tear for Terri. And then shed a tear for us all.
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Al Ruechel, Copyright 2003, All Rights Reserved
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