Reply #13: I once saw a headless turtle [View All]

[booksenkatz]

When we lived in Florida on a pond, I once came upon a headless turtle in my yard. Apparently an alligator had snapped at its face and taken its head, yet there was still just enough of the brain stem left to leave that poor creature alive and flailing. There was a hole there at the neck, and being the animal freak that I am, I was trying to think of a way to get food down that hole! But I knew it was hopeless. I watched that thing suffer for a few more days before it crawled off to finish dying its miserable death. Looking at Terri, looking at her brain scan, I'm reminded of that turtle. In fact, you could even say that the turtle had more brain than Terri has, because you could tell that the turtle was suffering and feeling pain. Terri is even further gone than that turtle was.

The interview with the husband on LKL the other night changed my mind. I had been in favor of turning Terri over to her family and letting them keep her alive, I had been in favor of coming down on the side of "life" when things are in doubt; but the brain scans totally changed my feelings about it. I would certainly want my husband to fight for me, and it sounds like Terri's husband is fighting for her right to die with dignity. And how horrified I'd be if one of the Bushes stepped in and overrode what my husband was trying to do for me.

How can anyone compare a disabled person with Terri's case? If you want to live, well holy cow, of course you should live! I certainly am one who believes that every life is valuable, but if you have said that you don't want to live that way, you should have the right to say ENOUGH. Or to have your husband say ENOUGH when you cannot.

It's just a horrible, horrible case, any way you slice it, but it is definitely time for this society to examine/ask/answer these questions.