And by the way..
Specifically in relation to the post below (read that first, come back here) I am sure a lot of people will think “yeah, but if he knew that situation firsthand, he’d think differently”.
I DO know that situation firsthand, and I do not think differently.
Four years ago, when I had only been in this home a year, I had several trees cut down. My close friend Mike and his co-worker Dan came and helped me deal with the firewood- dozens of cords of it. This was the first time I met Dan, and from the first moment I liked him, liked him a lot. See, Danis one of those guys like me, does a lot of stuff for a lot of people, and frankly, does more than he should for most.
Not long after that, dan fell at work. he suffered severe brain trauma. He is in nearly perfect health. He will always be cared for, for the rest of his life. He lacks the capacity to use a bathroom. Each and every one of us that know him, want him not to suffer, see dan-but-not-dan, and wonder why.
But none of us have any desire to see him dead. He is a human being. Yes, it’s hard, yes it’s tragic. Yes, it’s our responsibility as humans to see to it that he’s cared for.
I have told my family and friends if that happens to me, to send me on my way. I think Schiavo should be left to her parents care and not the husband(who sounds like a truely worthless piece of work), but for my self I’d choose the misricorde and not death by bedsore. And I have been bedside when one of my kin has passed, so I am not just posturing.
JD
That’s why it’s important to let those feelings be known, jd. Good for you for preparing. What it probably means is that you’ll never need those preparations
This is such a hard one. I mean, as I’ve talked about before, I always thought that I would be of the camp of “If life is going to suck with treatment, let them go.” And then my dad got sick, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep him around just a little while longer. In my case, I never had to make any more decisions, because he died too quickly. Still, I knew there would’ve come a point that even if the treatments would’ve worked somewhat, the diagnosis was still going to be the same. And if the treatment we started pursuing didn’t even help him be better somewhat, I would’ve never made him continue to go through it. (We started, but it was too late.)
Anyway, that being said, I guess if the Schiavos want to pay to continue to keep Terri alive, that’s their prerogative. I do think her care does need to be taken out of her husband’s hands, because he’s a dick.
That seems to be the only unquestionable thing here, that her husband is a dick.