Thursday, March 17, 2005

Suicide is Painless*

Human life consists in mutual service. No grief, pain, misfortune, or “broken heart,” is excuse for cutting off one’s life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935), writer

The House of Representatives is a joke. They have nothing more pressing to consider than sticking their collective noses into Schiavo's family issues regarding whether Terri’s feeding tube should be removed.

A Florida court has already granted her husband’s wishes to remove the feeding tube. Schiavo, 41, suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped temporarily, and court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially.

In this case the husband’s wishes outweigh those of the parents’ and those of the government. The husband said that his wife would not want to be kept alive. That should be the end of the story.

Why the hell is Congress getting involved except for the fact that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has sided with the parents. Washington is becoming a kangaroo court or is it really just another phase of the Scopes Monkey trial with all the religious issues going on lately?

*Just using a song title for a headline. Suicide is anything but painless for the survivors.

3 comments:

Chandira said...

Diana Trent said why should she suffer that when Timothy McVeigh had a quick painless injection, dying only a few hours later in his sleep?

That, I thought was a fucking awesome point.

The Misanthrope said...

That is an interesting point. I have been thinking about this story for a while. I can completely understand as a parent to want to keep your child alive. Or, is this just a selfish act on the parents' part because there daughter is essentially gone?

I think there should be a painless and quick way for her to pass away.

Chandira said...

Yeah, me too. We allow our cats and dogs that Grace, why not humans? Insane, isn't it?