Are You Thirsty?
Terri Schiavo is. On March 18, 2005 a Florida judge ordered that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be removed. Terri Schiavo stopped breathing some 15 years ago while at home with her husband. The cause of her injury is not known, although some news outlets describe it as "an electrolyte imbalance". Others wonder if her husband, Michael Schiavo, tried to harm her in some way. To be sure, Michael Schiavo has not behaved the way a grieving husband would be portrayed on a Lifetime movie of the week. He sued the hospital, received 1.7 million dollar settlement for Terri's care, spent very little on her care, moved in with his "fiance" and had two children by her, and has been fighting for 15 years to "allow her to die with dignity".
Terri is brain-damaged. She cannot eat or drink by mouth and so has been fed and hydrated through a tube placed in her stomach 15 years ago. She is loved by her parents, who occasionally are not allowed to see her by her husband, Michael. They say that Terri tries to communicate with them, tracks them with her eyes, recognizes them, and could improve if allowed proper therapy. Michael does not want Terri to get therapy. She is waiting to die and that is all he desires. He says Terri once told him that she would not want to live if she had to be kept alive by machines. They watched a movie together and that was what Michael recalled her saying at the time.
Until March 18, 2005 Terri was being kept alive by a feeding tube. No machines are connected to her. She breathes on her own. Every few hours a nurse used to come in her room, attach a bag of liquid nourishment and/or water to her tube, and then let gravity send the food to her body. The last time I ate was 6:00am. It is now 10:20am. I'm already getting hungry. I finished my coffee a few minutes ago and when I finish this I may go down the hall to the drinking fountain and get a sip of cool water. Terri is thirsty and hungry and has been for three days now! Thankfully, the US Congress and the President have enacted a law that will send Terri's case to a Federal Court, which may save her life. But it may be too late. Terri has lived six days before when her tube was removed at Michael's demand. She's a tough lady but, she's thirsty.
I remember my five children when they were infants. Not a one of them could feed themselves for about five months or so of their lives. If I did not feed them, they would not have survived. Some of my friends had children who could not take food by mouth and had to be tube fed, like Terri. They got therapy to help them take food by mouth again. Michael refuses this for Terri. Does the fact that a person cannot feed themselves require us to allow them to die? I have worked with many people like Terri. Where I work there are dozens of people like Terri. If we did to Terri what Florida is doing, we would be arrested. In fact, if a dog owner in Florida decided to starve their sick dog to death, he would be guilty of violating Florida Statute 828.13 (Confinement of animals without sufficient food, water, or exercise; abandonment of animals). If only Terri were a dog!
Terri is thirsty. By the time you read this, Terri may be gone or perhaps Terri will be saved by a miracle. I am praying for the latter - please do the same. I worry about Terri and her parents, who have offered to completely take over the care of Terri so her husband can get on with his life. Michael has abandoned Terri. I cannot see how the courts in Florida could possibly still assume him to be her husband and a person who can make life or death decisions for her.
But the bigger problem with all this (beyond even Terri's death) is what all this does to America. Can we, as a Nation, long survive if we do not save Terri's life? If we stand by and allow it to happen are we not just as guilty? What will God say about our Nation?
Today, when you drink that soda and eat that meal, think about Terri Schiavo, who will be thirsty and hungry all day today, and the next, and the next, and . . .