One Last Time.......

O.K. I have skirted around this topic on more then one occasion! I can't believe I'm even going to go here! I've read dozens of blogs and responses on this topic and I'm about to give my own two cents now. I know the Blog Gods will tell me this is truly Blog Suicide, but I've had it up to here with all of the Terry Schiavo controversy! Once again as usual when it comes to an important life and death decision everything has turned political!!! Why does it always have to come down to this??

At work this morning I sat watching the Demo's blame the Repub's about the political atrocities of congress's fight against the removal of Terry Schiavo's feeding tube. I sat and watched the accusations fly back and forth about who is right and who is wrong. One man, Terry's husband Michael, says she never wanted to live like this, and one non elected Florida judge, Judge Greer agrees with him and decides she must die, because, well you see, the two of them agree.

If this case ever made me sure of one thing in my life it would be the importance of establishing an 'advanced medical directive' (living will) as early in your life that you are able to understand the importance of what quality of life you desire.

What we are relying on right now, when it comes to the life of Terry Schiavo is hearsay. Her husband says one thing, her parents and siblings say another. How do we decide who really knows the truth? Yeah, yeah, her legal guardian is her husband. Michael Schiavo has been able to move on with his life, he's found a new mate and has children by her. He has all the things his wife will never have, and yet that is still not enough. Her parents on the otherhand, refuse to give up hope and don't want to let her go. They believe she is still there fighting to go on. Yeah, I know, unless you travel either of those roads it's hard to know what each of us would do in this situation (yes, I've gone through this with a parent who was 81, but not a child). Perhaps neither party can see clearly, maybe they are both struggling with thier own definition of life or death, perhaps they are all 'clueless.'

Facts are, there is doubt on both sides about just what the right thing to do is. Life or death? I'm sorry, I'm having a tough time buying it. If Terry was in fact so adamant about her desire to live a life without assistance from feeding tubes or any other aide for that matter, then proper legal measures should have been taken to ensure any of this from happening. Did this indepth life and death conversation come up one night with her husband and friends over a round of drinks? At a party? When? Sure we've all been there, we've all contemplated this, discussed it in casual conversations, just as we are right now. But in our truest of convictions just how many of you under the age of 30 (which Terry was when this conversation took place) have taken the appropriate measures to ensure your wishes are carried out and your desire for a defined quality of life is expressed legally? Did you do it last year? Last month? Last week? Will it happen on the day Terry dies after her body shuts down from malnutrition and dehydration?

While we are all screaming about the lack of quality of life she must have being forced to live in a vegetative state or by being forced to die by starvation over the next 7 to 14 days, have you taken the appropriate actions to keep this from happening to you? Have you put your ducks in a row and come to terms with your own desire to maintain your own quality it all, pro or con? And if you didn't, are you secure in your knowledge that those who are closest to you will know what you want, life or death? And if they disagree...... Who are you hoping wins? Your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, brother, sister, parents, the state, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Federal Government? Who should choose how you live and die if you don't?

You know, I don't have an answer for the Terry Schiavo case, but I do know this........ What if we're wrong? Which is worse? Do we continue to let Terry live in a vegetative state where she is loved but has no awareness or quality of life she once had? Or do we terminate her life and put her out of her unaware misery? All I know for sure is, once dead, there's no going back. For me, one of those definitely carries a lighter burden on my conscious then the other.

Ideally, I do not want my government to question my decisions when it comes to the quality of life I wish to live. However, if I am not responsible or prepared to legally make that decision on my own, I do not want my outcome to be decided by a flip of a coin, a strangers personnal beliefs, my families conflicting opinions. I want to know that there are a group of people out there who are willing to look at my case individually and see beneath the coma, the empty eyes, the drifting facial expressions that I am/was a loving and hopefull human being with a soul that thrives to be recognized as such, not a vegetable, not a incoherant being, not an empty body without the need of compassion.

At this time the only thing I can see in preventing this would be the passing of the 'Incapcitated Persons Legal Protection Act' "This measure would allow federal review of cases in which there is no advanced medical directive and irregularities in state court proceedings. This act would not enroach on the privacy protections Americans now enjoy with regards to their medical treatment decisions. It only ensures that the individual's federal due process rights have been observed and protected by the state courts."

For more information on the 'Incapaciated Persons Legal Protection Act' check out: http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/Terri/FedLaw.html

P.S. Bloggers........... Rest easy tonight! Should I be where Terry is tomorrow, the choice belongs to none of you....... I made it myself, legally with clear and thoughtfull deliberation. There will be no doubt, no question. My destiny will not be determined by any individual on this earth other then myself or God.