Removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube violated the rights of the disabled

Theresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo (December 3, 1963 – March 31, 2005) was a woman from St. Petersburg, Florida. Her death decision was a federal matter and her husband selfishness. She was 26 when she collapsed in her home in 1990 and experienced respiratory and cardiac arrest. She remained in a coma for ten weeks. Within three years, she was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS).

From my prospective view, if a person becomes incapacitated and has no written statement that expresses his/her wishes regarding health care, should the law presumes that the person wants to live, even if the person is receiving food and water though a tube. Given lack of living will, Terri Schiavo’s husband claimed that she would not want to be kept on a machine with no hope to recovery while her parents claimed that she was a devout Roman Catholic who would not wish to violate the Church’s teachings on Euthanasia. Who was in her best interest her husband who has already a girlfriend with two children out of wedlock or her parents that brought her on the earth.?

The decision of a number of Florida courts was that during two funerals earlier in her life, she discussed with her husband, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law the possibility of being profoundly disabled in the future. She indicated that she would prefer to be allowed to die naturally. It is hard to believe. She never signed a formal medical directive or a living will, which was the least thing on her mind at that age . These battles could have been avoided if Terri had had one. Perhaps the greatest effect that she has had on the American psyche is to remind citizens to consider drawing up a living will while they is still mentally alert. Otherwise, husband, brother and sister-in-law, mother and father-in-law, son and daughter-in-law or a guardian (the court) will be making decision for you.

Although, according to the Christian doctrine, death is not the ultimate evil, but eternal damnation is; to allow Terri to die would be to allow her to join with God in eternal life. Yes, but NOT when it interfered without hydration and nourishment. Pope John Paul II discussed nourishment of patients in Terri Schiavo's condition during 2004-MAR: "...the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act. Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering....we are called to provide basic means of sustenance such as food and water unless they are doing more harm than good to the patient, or are useless because the patient’s death is imminent."