Have you noticed that for about the last week or so, no matter what the latest development may be in the Terri Schiavo case, the news stories are usually headlined either,"Judge Denies Request to Reinsert Feeding Tube" or "Terri's Parents Low on Options"? For people who were low on options seven days ago, they sure seem to have found a steady supply.
I may have erred in posting anything here about this sad dispute. It prompted a flood of e-mail, some of it even from people who fully understood my position, which is that I don't fully understand my position. After hearing more about this case than I have about any number of more important issues, I've come hesitantly to a viewpoint which some will think is contradictory but, hey, that's how these things sometimes go.
To some extent, this whole debate has been about process. Terri's parents, the Schindlers, have lost petition after petition, court decision after court decision. They have lost at different levels of government and they have lost before Democratic-appointed judges and Republican-appointed ones. (One of the 11th Circuit Judges who voted against them is William Pryor, who was recently and stubbornly appointed by George W. Bush over fierce Democratic opposition.) Now, our courts are fallible and there should be a multi-level appeals process, especially when a matter of life and death is involved. But our courts also can't work if a perpetually-losing party can keep getting do-overs for all infinity, demanding endless new hearings in new venues, desperately trying to find some judge who'll see it another way. At some point, in the absence of better "new evidence" than the Schindlers seem to have, the appeals process has to end.
So I must be in favor of pulling the plug on Terri, right? Well, no. First off, I don't think it's my decision, nor is it yours. In fact, one of the things that bothers me here is the vast number of people who have injected themselves into a case that should involve the lady's immediate family and the appropriate court…and no one else. Terri Schiavo has not been helped by all these strangers weighing in, since strangers bring with them other issues, unrelated to her actual welfare. They also, as should be obvious by now, bring in a lot of bogus information and needlessly inflammatory rhetoric. What's my vote? I don't think I have a vote. I don't think I should have a vote.
If I did, I'm not sure what I'd do. Against my own logic, something about ending Terri Schiavo's life feels wrong. When those who stand with her parents (including both Bushes) say they believe in compassion and erring on the side of life, they almost convince me. Where they lose me, I guess, is when they try equating this with pure murder and dragging in inadmissible religious arguments. I also don't see them "erring on the side of life" regarding so many other people in this world — many of them, more "alive" than Terri Schiavo will ever be and perhaps a better investment of our limited national compassion. Which is another reason I don't think I should have a vote on Terri's fate. I don't know what it would be. but it would probably be something impractical like, "I vote to feed Terri Schiavo if we don't stop there. Let's pass a law that we feed everyone who's in danger of starving to death."
Three things interest me about this case. One is watching how dysfunctional the public debate has become, littered as it is with grandstand plays, questionable data and people arguing against the positions they press for on non-Terri matters. The most meaningful medical care Ms. Schiavo has received was funded by a large medical malpractice award and by Medicare. Now, we see people who have always opposed large medical malpractice awards and who wish to slash Medicare arguing that everything possible must be done to keep this woman alive.
The second aspect that interests me is the Strange Bedfellows factor. Positions have not divided on a straight Right/Left axis so, for example, you have people who have always loathed Ralph Nader and Jesse Jackson now welcoming their support. This kind of thing is always amusing.
Lastly, we have yet another example of folks who attempt to use a situation for political advantage probably achieving the opposite of their goal. Some of the loudest voices in this argument have come from those who want to roll back or eliminate the "right to die." As a result of their efforts, millions of Americans are scurrying to write Living Wills and to declare inarguably to their mates and friends that they want the plug pulled if they ever get anywhere near Terri Schiavo's condition. I'm specifying that I want my breathing terminated if my continued existence ever becomes a topic on Hannity and Colmes. Once a matter of life and death gets to those forums, there's zero chance of a decision that will focus on what's best for me. Just as we long since passed the stage where the Schiavo case is about what's best for that poor woman in Florida.