3/31/2005
Body, Soul, & Government
I wish I could say it was over, unfortunately we've merely entered a new phase of the Terri Schiavo milieu. Her body has finally come to rest. It is my belief that all the parts that made her "Terri", personality, intelligence, humor, wit and sense have been gone for years. Some would term those the soul, I hope that whatever is the case whether she has been dead fifteen years or merely a few hours is true that now she can rest fully. I suspect the "quantity of life" and "quality of life" camps will both use this case as a touchstone, and bludgeon for years to come. There have even been talks of disallowing living wills by members of the quantity camp on the basis that someone might change their mind at the last minute. I think that while there may be a miniscule percentage of people who do this, that there are enormous amounts more who would be greatly disserviced by this. More importantly this is a personal issue, and should not be subject to public, judicial, executive, or legislative interference. Upholding the desires of a persons right to delineate their medical care is one thing, telling them what their medical care must be is entirely another.
