Unsettled Questions On Schiavo
Our thanks to Hugh Hewitt, for pointing to this article in USNews.
The article written by John Leo entitled, End of the Affair, has a round-up of final thoughts about the Terri Schiavo case. Please read the entire article. It is worth your time and effort.
The most stunning paragraphs of the article are the “Unsettled Questions”. Here is the excerpt:
” Unsettled questions. Public opinion: Polls showed very strong opposition to the Republican intervention, but the likelihood is that those polled weren’t primarily concerned with Terri Schiavo or Republican overreaching, if that’s what it was. They were thinking about themselves and how to avoid being in Terri Schiavo’s predicament. Many, too, have pulled the plug on family members and don’t want these wrenching decisions second-guessed by the courts or the public.
If this is correct, it means the country has yet to make up its mind on the issue of personhood and whether it is moral and just to remove tube-supplied food and water from people with grave cognitive disabilities. The following candid exchange occurred on Court TV last month in a conversation between author Wesley Smith and bioethicist Bill Allen. Smith: “Bill, do you think Terri is a person?” Allen: “No, I do not. I think having awareness is an essential criterion for personhood.” Fetuses, babies, and Alzheimer’s patients are only minimally aware and might not fit this definition of personhood, and so would have no claim on our protections. Smith points out that other bioethicists narrow protection further, requiring rationality, the capacity to experience desire, or the ability to value one’s own existence. Tighter definitions of personhood expand the number of humans who can be killed without blame or harvested for their organs while still alive. On Court TV, Allen argued that the family could have removed Terri’s organs while she was alive, “just as we allow people to say what they want done with their assets.” This issue has been hiding behind the Terri Schiavo case for years. Soon it will be out in the open.”
What is said in the above paragraphs goes back to the question of our view on life which we posted about here.
We are standing on a slippery slope at the edge of a precipice with this issue. These are questions of staggering importance. These are questions of what constitutes life.
Let us hope and pray for a path leading out of this valley of death.
