At the order of a Florida judge, the feeding tubes to Terry Schiavo have been removed. Thus begins the slow starvation death of an innocent. In a matter of weeks, at most, she will be dead.
The contentious point in this whole, long affair has been the statement of her husband, Michael, that Terry had once indicated to him that she would prefer to die under the circumstances she now finds herself in. There was no living will, so we have only his statement. So say he. Do we believe him? In such a life & death matter - no. He may have his own reasons for leading us to believe she would prefer death. Call it inconvenient. He now lives with a woman who considers herself his "common law" wife & has fathered two of her children. Mind you, he is still legally married to Terri. Divorce would seem the answer for him, unless there is some benefit to gain from her death. Meanwhile, he remains her legal guardian & thus at his behest the feeding tubes have been removed. Why he will not relinquish guardianship to her parents is a mystery. They know their child better than he does. They want her to live.
Congress issued a subpoena for Terri & her husband to appear before them. This was an attempt to prolong Terri's life. However, the Florida judge who ordered the feeding tubes removed dismissively ignored the subpoena & now stands in contempt of Congress for ignoring it.
Meanwhile, Terri slowly starves to death. Scott Peterson, recently sentenced to death, will not suffer such a fate. If he is indeed eventually put to death for the brutal murders he committed, it will be by lethal injection - put into a peaceful sleep first. If he was slowly starved to death over weeks time instead, by being denied food & water, you can bet there would be screams of cruel & unusual punishment. But for Terri cruel & unusual punishment is okay.
UPDATE: 21 Mar
Just into Monday morning the House passed legislation to allow Federal court jurisdiction & review of Terri Schiavo's case. The feeding tubes should immediately be put back in place. Now the arguments on whether she should live or die will be presented to that court.
UPDATE: 22 Mar
A federal judge, James Wittmore, on Tuesday refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, denying an emergency request from the brain-damaged woman's parents. Now the case will go before a 3-judge panel of the 11th District Court. Wittmore, we thinks, failed to follow the intent of a Congressional Bill passed yesterday allowing Federal review of the case. Rather then reviewing the case, Wittmore treated it as an Appeal, stating that Terri's parents had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" at trial on the merits of their arguments. Where is the review of Terri's physical condition & guardianship questions? Rogue judges need to be reigned in & be made to follow, duh, the law.
....from sea to shining sea