DeLay's own brush with end-of-life tragedy Well, it turns out Delay's father was in a persistent vegitative state (while he was in his 3rd term) when the family decided not to keep him alive any further using machines. Tom Delay, with the rest of the family, was in the room when he passed. Delay is an a$$! I don't want to make light of his father's death...but with all due respect...Delay has contributed to the circus event that is Schaivo so I can't feel too much pitty for Delay himself.
I think many would argue there's a distinction between removing a feeding tube and removing a ventilator and/or starting dialysis. A pretty significant difference, actually. Don't get me wrong, though...I'm no Tom DeLay fan.
Really? Do people inherently draw a morality line between dialysis + feeding tube and only feeding tube? I think we are seeing why Delay is facing ethics problems. I'd call Delay's grand-standing on the Schaivo case a serious ethical lapse. But to be honest, I've been fortunate enough to not know anything about this subject. So maybe this is common knowledge and I just missed the boat previously.
Not even close... there are huge differences between the two. For one Terri Shaivo is "active" which means she can move/moan/speak/interact, while his father was in complete vegetative state, meaning he just layed there. You also failed to compare the age difference between the two... his father had a full life, while Terri was struck young. To be honest I don't really have a stance on this issue because it's a "he said she said" situation, but I don't see the harm in letting her parents take care of her. I know if it was my wife, and I had a new family (he as a girlfriend and kids with her) I'd let her be and move on with my life... if they want to keep hope alive, so be it. I do find it unlikely though that she would have requested to be "mercy killed" because she was supposively a devout Catholic, and last I checked with catholocism is is a big no-no to take your own life. Either way, your comparison (and other left winger's) to the two cases is way off base.
Actually she can't interact, and can't even swallow on her own. It is debatable to say that she can speak as well. There have been those that say she can, but others say it is nothing but reflexive noises. 5 of the 6 doctors who actually examined her in person say that the only part of her brain that wasn't dead controled only the most basic of functions such as breathing, and organ function, etc.
Its extremely simplistic and idiotic to believe that those who wish Terry to be left in peace are left-wingers. Read some polls.
I heard that Schiavo can, infact swallow. The court order prevents people from attempting to feed her water or solids in any way, shape, or form. Sticking a buffalo wing in her mouth would result in an arrest. I don't think Delay is being hypocritical in this situation. If Shiavo's parents shared Michael Schiavo's intentions, then there would be no controversy at all. I don't think Delay's case involved any sort of legal battle between family or ex-familiy members. What seems to anger people here is that the parents DO want her to live and ARE willing to pay for it. If the husband simply relinquished his custodial rights, then there would be no controversy whatsoever. While I personally think that he should do such a thing, the law has spoken and should be upheld. I hear that the next controversy would be over the corpse. Husband wants it cremated immediately against the wishes of her parents. Again, he may have every legal recourse to enforce such an action - but it may not necessarily be the moral thing to do. He should at the very least allow the parents to decide how they want her interred.
You misread, I was stating the "left wing view" of Delay's supposed "hypocrisy" by standing for Terri while pulling the plug on his father in 1988... That comment had nothing to do with Terri directly. Like I said, I don't really have a stance because I don't know who to believe... they both make compelling cases. However, if she was catholic I believe whatever they do should align with catholic beliefs... and no, I'm not catholic. Also, FranchiseBlade she does interact because she moves/moans when touched... I'm NOT saying she's coherent or knows what's going on, she's just not motionless like patients on ventilators.
I don't see much difference in having to have a machine feed you through a tube or having to have a machine breathe for you through a tube. It may just be playing symantics, but they're both critical life functions that are not under the control of person in question.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3789436 The moral of the story is to write a living will so your family won't have to deal with any ambiguity and conflict.
...and so both political parties don't take away the last moments of dignity in your life and w**** your lifeless body for personal political gain.
'Doctors advised that he would "basically be a vegetable," said the congressman's aunt, JoAnne DeLay, who suffered broken bones in the crash. "There was no point to even really talking about it," Maxine DeLay, the congressman's 81-year-old mother, told the Times. "Tom knew, we all knew, his father wouldn't have wanted to live that way." ' link
People who think they are doing this for political gain are crazy... especially considering that nearly every poll thas has been cast on the subject shows that 3/4 of the US sides with the Husband. I don't know why they're all doing it (vast majority of both sides voted to help her), but it isn't political gain. If you think it is then you obviously don't know how politics works. If you stand for something that 75% of your voters disagree with that doesn't help you. I think the situation has simply struck a cord with people because it is such a unique case.
My statement had nothing to do with hypocrisy in politics, it had to do with the statement of hypocisy placed on DeLay by comparing his father's case to Terri's... Feel free to read.
The Republican stance on this issue is two fold: First and foremost, this was another situation in which they thought they could elevate a tragedy to further ingratiate themselves to the uber-conservative Christian Right, plain and simple. This make my hypocrisy meter redline since DeLay advocates executing the mentally r****ded and his choice to support pulling the plug on a family member.....I grow weary of using the term "hypocrisy" as it is loaded and overused, but I simply can't think of a better alternative--a spade is a spade right? Second, they wanted to play moral values "chicken" with the Democratic party--daring the Dems to blink first. W/Frist/DeLay and Company will jump on an issue that has any sort of religious underpinning or an opportunity to further hijack the "family values/morals" debate and slander the Democrats to look like godless communists. The reason why they are going against 75% of the country is firstly due to their supposed mandate but mostly due to not wanting to lose face. They have reached a point of critical mass, they cannot disengage untill they have exhausted every shred of political capitol they have left. Methinks the game of chicken may have backfired on the party of values...
A couple of things here: 1. Terry Schiavo cannot swallow. Swallowing is one of the test of consciousness which she hasn't passed and if she could swallow they wouldn't need a feeding tube. They aren't feeding her orally because its against the law but because she can't chew or swallow. 2. The feeding tube isn't merely a funnel they put in her mouth but is actually implanted into her stomach. For people who claim that the difference is that she's being kept alive through food and water like the rest of us are missing the point that this isn't just a matter of feeding her but medically implanting an artificial esophagus that also has to be continuously monitored to prevent infection and other such problems when you create an artificial opening. Saying this is just the continuous of a natural process is the same as saying that dialysis is as natural as what the kidneys do. I think the problem is that too few people understand exactly how extreme her condition is. Its not a matter that out of cruelty by her husband or by legal fiat that she's not allowed to eat or that all they need to do is hand her over to parents and they can feed her like a baby. A baby can still take food and water orally. This is more like giving her an artificial umbilical cord.
Michael Schiavo's lawyer announced today that an autopsy would be done on Terry Schiavo. I believe this was largely in response to claims that he was cremating her to cover up abuse.
