Judicial Death Wish for Terri Schiavo

Judicial Death Wish for Terri Schiavo

by Fr. Michael Reilly
Thursday, March 24, 2005

Most people will agree that there are a lot of people who have almost a desperate death wish for Terri Schiavo.

Michael Schiavo has made it abundantly clear that he wants her dead. Judge Greer could have ordered the feeding tube restored in light of Congressional subpoenas, but he too wanted her dead. Judge Whittemore did his part in wasting more than 24 precious hours by delaying his hearing until 3 P.M. and his decision until the following morning.

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Now, with Terri's precious life slipping away from her grieving family, yet another court is squandering precious hours. After all, the court could take all the time they need to consider the case if they would just restore the feeding tube.

Apparently Terri Schiavo is the only human being with a condition that can't be cured by embryonic stem cell research.

There is, after all, a legitimate medical dispute. Dr. William Hammesfahr, nominated for a Nobel Prize for working with people just like Terri examined her on three separate occasions, spending more than ten hours with Terri.

He concluded that he "and others I know have treated many patients worse than Terri, and have seen them regain independence and dignity."

"It's time to help Terri instead of just warehousing her," Dr. Hammesfahr said. "She would have benefited from treatment years ago, but it is not too late to start now."

Dr. Hammesfahr is not alone. He is joined by 14 medical professionals, including 6 neurologists who believe that Terri is not in a persistent vegetative state and could be rehabilitated.

The woman has not received meaningful physical therapy since 1991 and so is it really unreasonable to give Dr. Hammesfahr a chance? After fifteen years, would one more year with a doctor committed to helping her really hurt anyone?

Of course we could speculate as to Mr. Schiavo's motives. But they are as unimportant as his opinion in this matter.

The real issue is the larger political agenda on the part of some of the major players in this case. Imagine if Dr. Hammesfahr were to succeed in rehabilitating Terri. Imagine if she could appear on national television and speak about her experience on a feeding tube and the pain she experienced when it was removed.

It shouldn't be too hard to imagine, since Katie Adamson did just that on Bill O' Reilly's program. She described the tremendous pain she experienced when her feeding tube was removed.

But in this case, the stakes are too high. The story has received too much national attention. If Terri Schiavo were to recover, the pro-euthanasia movement would be set back decades in the court of public opinion.

For that reason, there are a lot of people afraid that if they don't kill Terri now, she might indeed live and prove them wrong.

Editor's note:

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