Last week I met with my lawyer to update my will and to make sure everything was in order. Should anything ever happen to me, I do not want to be kept alive in the event of a coma or some other debilitating condition.
I am not married, so I gave my parents power of attorney over my life. Should I ever decide to get married, that responsibility will of course be transferred over to my husband.
It’s hard to think about our own mortality, but even harder to think about what will happen to our loved ones if anything horrible ever does happen. It is out of responsibility, and consideration of the people in my life, to go ahead and make these major decisions for them.
Unfortunately for Terri Schiavo, her fate had been sealed by dueling family members who deeply cared about her, but had very different opinions about how her life should be.
Regardless of the situation over her fate, Schiavo’s death last week most certainly had been carried into the wrong hands. The attempt by the U.S. Congress to save her life was totally uncalled for. This is just one example of how the religious right has stuck its nose in where it should not be. Religious conservatives need to re-examine their activism in what are major contradictions of true Republican beliefs.
Religious conservatives have many wonderful things to offer, such as morality and strong families, but at a certain point we must remember the original intent of the structure of our government. There is a strong belief, particularly among Republicans, in federalism. The government should not play a part in people’s personal lives.
Another issue is that Schiavo has been referred to as, “The most famous Medicaid patient in the country.” Her intense care over the last 14 years has cost taxpayers literally millions of dollars. While one main premise of conservatism is that there be lower taxes and even lower spending, many Republicans have been fighting to keep this woman alive, despite her own husband’s wishes. Why should American taxpayers fund millions, only to ignore what her partner in life wants?
A major issue, which the mainstream media has seemingly ignored, is that a bulimic woman was being force-fed. I have personally known someone who has suffered from the disease, and while it is a terrible thing, I don’t think that she really has a will to live. Bulimia is a serious mental disease in which the person can only be helped through some serious therapy and not through a feeding tube.
The religious right consistently argues for the “sanctity of marriage” when they argue against gay marriage, so where were they when Schiavo’s husband was making his case? The husband, in my opinion, most certainly trumps the parents in any decision. Religious conservatives cannot continue to make the sanctity argument over marriage when they can’t even logically and reasonably apply it in other areas.
Though I am the furthest thing from a Christian, I thought that there was some kind of belief in Christianity in letting nature run its course and to leave life and death up to God. If this is true, then humans have no right in playing God by forcing a woman to live on machines her entire life.
The right to life certainly includes the right to a dignified and peaceful death if at all possible, and Schiavo’s death was anything but. She entered into a debilitating state through her own fault, and probably could have had a peaceful and quiet death among her family and friends. The circus and controversy surrounding her fate has taken that right away from her, something she surely would never have imagined for herself.
If the religious right really wants to remain a legitimate force, it will avoid these major contradictions in the future and to remember the true role of the federal government.
